Involved in extortion and arms smuggling to Chechnya, but was soon released after the intervention of high-ranking FSB officials.
It was then that Trepashkin was informed that Romanovich worked for the FSB.
Information on Tatyana Koroleva
From Trepashkin's reports to his clients, it follows that he also collected information about Tatyana Koroleva, who registered the company that rented the basements for planting the bombs on behalf of terrorists acting under a fake passport.
According to press reports of that period, Koroleva was detained between the first and second explosions, but was then released for unclear reasons.
Later, reports appeared in the press, citing sources in law enforcement agencies, that Koroleva was allegedly Gochiyayev's mistress and fled with him to Chechnya.
Nevertheless, Trepashkin managed to establish that Koroleva never left and continued to work in Moscow throughout the years of the bombings, and dozens of companies were registered by her.
Gochiyayev's Version
Evidence and Statements
This evidence of the existence of "another person" who rented the basements confirms the account of Achimez Gochiyayev himself—the main suspect, who is still at large.
In July 2002, Gochiyayev sent a written statement and a video recording from his hideout to Yuri Felshtinsky, a Russian historian living in Boston, and Alexander Litvinenko, a former FSB officer living in London, who had previously written a book about the 1999 bombings.
Gochiyayev's Claims
Gochiyayev claims that four basements in Moscow were rented in the name of his company, but it was not he himself who rented them, but his partner, who, he believes, was connected to the FSB.
He did not disclose the name of this partner.
Gochiyayev states that he knew nothing about the explosive devices.
He said that after the second explosion, when he realized he had been framed, he fled.