MOSCOW. Nov 5 (Interfax-AVN) - Material evidence confiscated from foreign mercenaries in Chechnya suggests that most of them entered the republic from Georgia.
The evidence includes a letter that federal forces spokesman Major General Ilya Shabalkin gave to Interfax on Friday.
The letter, which is addressed to a person known as Mukhretdir-bei, was confiscated from a Turkish citizen who was killed in an operation in the suburbs of Grozny.
"I reached the place without any problems. In Georgia we found the people to whom you asked me to hand over this note. They gave us a warm welcome and helped us cross the Georgian border. I paid $70 for crossing into Chechnya," reads the letter.
"I easily crossed the border in Georgia and asked to hand over the money to Georgian colleagues from the intelligence service and a guide. I also asked them to help obtain a Georgian visa on my way back to Turkey," the letter reads.
In his letter, the mercenary complained about problems in Chechnya and said the Chechen militants were not easy to deal with.
"On the whole, the situation here is terrible. It is safe to move only at night, and we live in a basement. People are reluctant to help Mojaheed followers. And threats and arson no longer help. Commanders do not trust each other. Medicines are in short supply," the mercenary said.
Mentioning a shortage of funds facing guerrilla groups, he suggested that the terrorist attack in the North Ossetian town of Beslan might have been financed from abroad.
"They hoped that more money would arrive after Beslan. But no funds have arrived yet," he said.
At the same time, the Turkish mercenary wanted his foreign supporters to mastermind new terrorist attacks in Chechnya, including the possibility "of applying the Silver Mist plan," which envisioned contaminating drinking water with chemical substances.
Commenting on the letter, Shabalkin said that "regular detentions of mercenaries from foreign countries on the territory of Russia's North Caucasus region come as further evidence that there are forces outside the country that are interested in destabilizing the situation in this region sending new recruits, who die there."
The latest report suggests that Mukhretdir-bei (presumably Ilkhan Mukhretdir) is secretary general of the committee of Caucasian-Chechen solidarity and maintains close contacts with Turkish intelligence service officials.
The committee, which has its headquarters in Ankara, is responsible for raising funds for people affected by the hostilities in Chechnya.