October 7 marks the 20th anniversary of the murder of *Novaya Gazeta* journalist Anna Politkovskaya. While the courts have identified the perpetrators and organizers of the crime, the person who ordered the killing has never been named. The statute of limitations for the case expired in 2021—fifteen years after the murder took place.
Rustam Shipiyev, a contract soldier from Chechnya, was sentenced to six years in a general regime penal colony. According to the case file, he failed to return to his military unit after undergoing treatment at a sanatorium. Instead, he went home, where he was detained by military commandant's office officers.
Shipiyev admitted his guilt but claimed he was unaware of the requirement to return to duty after his early discharge from the sanatorium. The sanatorium director, in turn, stated that the contract soldier's discharge was due to repeated violations of the regime, and he had been notified of the requirement to return to his unit.
Earlier, the garrison military court in Grozny sentenced serviceman Abdulla Busazhev to two years. He was found guilty of abandoning his duty station during mobilization.