MOSCOW, July 23 (Itar-Tass) — The secret services of Ukraine and Belarus have extradited to Russia two gunmen involved in a chain of assaults committed to raise money for North Caucasian terrorist leader Doku Umarov, sources from the Federal Security Service told Tass on Monday.
The gunmen group that specialized in assaults in the capital of Chechnya, Grozny, was neutralized in a joint operation of staffers of the Russian FSBand Interior Ministry, the State Security Committee of Belarus and the Ukrainian Security Service.
“The bulk of revenues from the criminal activity of gunmen was used to finance Doku Umarov,” the sources from the FSB’s public relations centre said. In March, three gunmen from the group, Ibragim Bakaniyev, Magomed Akayev and Elsi Movsarov, left for Belarus fleeing law enforcement agencies.
In April they arrived at the border with Poland in the Brest region, for illegal crossing into Poland, but they were detained by Belarusian border guards. One of the gunmen, Elsi Movsarov (who serves his sentence in Belarus), wounded a security officer.
The other two tried to illegally cross into Poland from Belarus on April 30, but were detained by Polish border guards and deported to Ukraine.
On July 19, Bakaniyev and Akayev were extradited from Belarus to Russia. Movsarov will be extradited after he serves his sentence in Belarus for an attack on a security officer.
The public relations centre said this is “an example of close cooperation of Russian, Belarusian and Ukrainian colleagues in fight against terrorism”. An efficient system of information exchange, search and detainment of terrorists and their accomplices has been worked out over the past few years, they said.
In this connection the sources mentioned the extradition from Belarus in 2011 of Aindi Ukushev as well as the detainment in Ukraine last winter of Adam Osmayev and Ilya Pyanzin, who prepared an attempt on the life of Vladimir Putin by orders of Doku Umarov.