Fight and hostage-taking in the Vedeno district, cleansing in Starye Atagi

May 31, 2011
 
***
In the evening, in the mountainous Vedeno region, soldiers of the CRI armed formations, who were heading to the village of Elistanzhi, were ambushed by the Russian military. Three people were killed in the ensuing skirmish: 32-year-old resident of this settlement Khasan (Dunga) Gakaev and natives of the villages of Tsa-Vedeno and Khatuni. One of them was Idris Labazanov, 20 years old. Then the military broke into Elistanji and took hostage the family of the murdered Khasan Gakaev, as well as his closest relatives. In total - about 20 people, including the elderly and children.


However, at the exit from the village, the convoy, which consisted of more than ten armored personnel carriers, infantry fighting vehicles and Ural vehicles, was blocked by members of the CRI VF. Opening fire with mortars and automatic weapons, according to local residents, they killed eight servicemen.


The skirmish continued for several hours and stopped only after the Chechen fighters offered to release the captured people in exchange for leaving the encirclement. This condition was soon met, and the armored column managed to escape the encirclement without further losses.
 
 
***


On May 31, the “cleansing” in the village of Old Atagi, Grozny region. During it, the Russian military detained three people: 19-year-old Movldi Nasukhanov, 35-year-old deputy head of the administration of the settlement Ruslan Dzhumaev, and a 16-year-old teenager. All of them were released immediately after the end of the operation. At the same time, the military beat Movldi Nasukhanov and the teenager, and Ruslan Dzhumaev was warned that next time they would make him see his village "from a bird's eye view."


The military beat the shepherds grazing their flocks on the outskirts of Starye Atagi, and robbed several private shops in the village. For example, they took food from Koka Magomadova, whose outlet is located near the Ataginsky state farm. Mansur Atkaev's store on Nuradilov Street was subjected to a devastating raid even twice: on May 30 - on the first day of the "cleansing" - and just before its end.

 

From the book "People Live Here", Usam Baisaev, Dmitry Grushkin, 2006

Последние новости
Saakashvili calls for closing Georgia's border with Russia over plague reports
Politics
Saakashvili calls for closing Georgia's border with Russia over plague reports
7 October 2026

Former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili has urged the country's authorities to close the border with Russia and ban Russian citizens from entering. He outlined his position on Facebook from custody, commenting on reports regarding the death of an employee at the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Institute.

Keys to 52 new homes handed to Dagestan flood victims
Society
Keys to 52 new homes handed to Dagestan flood victims
6 October 2026

On October 6, in the settlement of Mamedkala in Dagestan’s Derbent District, keys to 52 new homes were handed to families who had lost their housing due to spring flooding. The ceremony was attended by Yana Lantratova, Russia’s Commissioner for Human Rights, and Fedor Shchukin, the Acting Head of the Republic.

Sixteen imprisoned female journalists from Russia and Ukraine receive Politkovskaya Award
Human rights
Sixteen imprisoned female journalists from Russia and Ukraine receive Politkovskaya Award
6 October 2026

The Anna Politkovskaya Award has this year been given to 11 Russian and five Ukrainian female journalists who are imprisoned in Russia and in the occupied territories of Ukraine.

 

According to the award’s founder, the international organisation RAW in WAR (Reach All Women in WAR), the nominations committee praised the “courage and integrity” of the laureates, who “risk their freedom and even their lives to report on the war and speak out against human rights violations, war crimes and the escalating repression of journalists, human rights defenders and anti-war activists in Russia”.

Lawmakers from the ruling and opposition parties clashed in the Armenian parliament
Politics
Lawmakers from the ruling and opposition parties clashed in the Armenian parliament
6 October 2026

A scuffle broke out in the National Assembly of Armenia on October 6 between MPs from the ruling "Civil Contract" party and the opposition "Strong Armenia" bloc.