TBILISI. July 19 (Interfax-AVN) - The Georgian special services are looking for Yusuf Krymshakhanov and Timur Batchayev, who are charged with blowing up residential buildings in Moscow and Volgodonsk in 1999, a source in the Georgian State Security Ministry told Interfax.
The search is going on in the Pankisi Gorge and certain other regions of Georgia.
On July 14, 2002, Georgia extradited Adam Dekkushev to Russia, who is suspected of preparing and carrying out the explosions. Dekkushev is currently in the Lefortovo detention facility, the Russian Federal Security Service told Interfax on Wednesday.
A Chechen named Ayyub Paikayev was arrested on July 9 in the Georgian autonomous region of Adzharia while trying to cross the Turkish border with fake documents. He is currently charged only with an attempt to cross the border carrying a fake passport. However, the State Security Ministry has information that Paikayev, who said he was an employee of the special services of the Republic of Ichkeria, is involved in the illegal arms trade.
Two months ago, Paikayev made sensational statements on the work of General Tristan Tsitelashvili, who allegedly sold arms to Chechen rebels in the Pankisi Gorge. Rustavi-2 television made a video of Paikayev's conversation with Tsitelashvili using a hidden video camera, in which the general, who owed some money to the Chechens, promised to deliver weapons to them in the near future.
A source in the Georgian State Security Ministry told Interfax that the special services are currently checking whether Paikayev is involved in the abduction of people.