Interview Transcript Excerpt

Date: August 20, 2002
Interviewee: A. Gochiyaev

Note: The spelling and punctuation of the document have been preserved. In this interview, much remained off-camera. The names and surnames of those currently active FSB officers involved in these events are known. To this day, they live peacefully in their homes and hold high positions. This is the only interview. The correspondent is a person close to him.

Q&A Transcript

Question: Please introduce yourself?

Answer: I am Gochiyaev Achemez Shagabanovich. I was born in the Karachay-Cherkess Republic. Until 1988, I lived in the KChR. After graduating from school in 1988, I went to Moscow to study. From there, I was drafted into the army. I returned and lived in Moscow again. Until September 1999, I lived in Moscow on Marshal Batukova [Katukova] St.

Question: How did it happen that your name specifically became associated with the bombings in Moscow? The Russian special services accuse you specifically of organizing these bombings in Moscow. Why you specifically?

Answer: How I ended up in this situation. In 1997, I opened a cottage construction firm. I was involved in construction. In the summer of 1999, an old acquaintance of mine, whom I had known since school, came to my firm. His name is (K.). He suggested we go into business together. He said he had places to sell goods, i.e., food products, and asked me to help him. I would supply him with food products, he would sell them and pay me. Once he ordered mineral water from me, I delivered it, and he paid me. Then he asked me to help him rent warehouses in the south of Moscow; he said he had good sales points there. I found 4 premises, showed them to him, and helped rent them. Immediately after this, the explosion on Guryanova St. occurred on September 9. That day I was not at home; I was visiting friends. He called me on my mobile and said that some kind of fire had happened at the warehouse and that I needed to go there. I said: 'Okay,'—and started getting ready. This was already towards morning. I called a taxi and turned on... (text cuts off)