Interview Transcript: A. Gochiyayev

Printout of a handwritten transcript of a video interview with A. Gochiyayev, August 20, 2002

• Text shortened by the editors. The cuts do not affect the essence of the case.

The spelling and punctuation of the document have been preserved.
This is the only interview. The correspondent is a person close to him.

Interview Questions and Answers

Question: Please introduce yourself.
Answer: I am Gochiyayev Achemez Shagabanovich. Born in the Karachay-Cherkess Republic. Lived in KChR until 1988. After finishing school in 1988, went to Moscow to study. Drafted into the army from there. Returned and lived in Moscow again. Until September 1999, lived in Moscow on Marshal Batukov St.

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

...continue 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 that day, I was not at home; I was visiting. Guryanova St., September 9. On that day I was not at home; I was visiting. He called me on my mobile and said that some kind of fire had happened at the warehouse and I needed to come there. I said, "Okay," and started getting ready. This was already towards morning. I called a taxi and turned on the TV. From the morning news, I saw that the house was practically gone. This alerted me, and I began to wait. And when, a few days later, the second explosion occurred on Kashirskoye Highway, I finally realized that I had been framed. I immediately called the police and even the rescue service and reported two more warehouses: at Borisovskie Prudy and in the Kapotnya area, there was another warehouse in a garage box there.
After that, I had to leave Moscow. I returned to the republic and lived there for a certain time. Now, what I can say. I know that this person (K.) no longer hides that he is an FSB employee, working in the city of Cherkessk in the FSB. Before that, I didn't know this when I was helping him.

Question: Do you believe that it was specifically (K.) who framed you?
Answer: Yes, of course. I am sure of it, that it is his doing. When I came to visit, he wasn't expecting me. When I entered his home, there was another person with him. After I said hello, that person left immediately. Following the press and looking through the internet, quite recently I found out who that person was. It was (Kh.)...!!

Question: Are you sure it was specifically the person you saw?
Answer: Yes, I recognized him from a photograph...!! Besides this, in late August – early September, (K.) went to the city of Ryazan several times and asked me to help him there too. He allegedly also had sales points there, but since he didn't have them in his own firm, as he told me, he wanted me to arrange the rental of these warehouses through my firm. But then he seemingly found some other firm that helped him rent the premises. I know for sure that (K.) went to the city of Ryazan in early September.

Question: Why do you think he chose you specifically, and not someone else, to rent these warehouses?
Answer: As I think, the point is that I worked in Moscow.

Question: When did you work?
Answer: In 1997, I worked directly, building cottages.

Question: Was the firm registered?
Answer: Yes. The firm was called "Kapstroy-2000". My construction office was located in the area of the metro...

...[bombings of] houses in Moscow were organized by Khattab, that you were part of Khattab's group. There is a photograph published on the internet where you and Khattab are captured in one frame. How truthful are these photographs?
Answer: Regarding this, I can say the following. If you mean that photograph on the internet where I am supposedly with a beard and in a hat next to Khattab — I saw that photograph on the internet. That person is not me and doesn't even look like me, and it has already been proven that it is a photomontage! Although the FSB claims every day that it is me. Why this was done, we now see and understand. A "Chechen trace" was needed. Even in my search documents, I figured as a Chechen, although my documents were issued by the Karachay ROVD, and, consequently, the FSB definitely knew that I am a Karachay. They needed to link me to Chechnya. It was done for that. I was never acquainted with Khattab or his group and had nothing in common with them. Why this was necessary for them is now obvious.

Question: You say you are innocent. What then is the reason you are hiding?
Answer: The reason is that the special services are diligently searching for me. After the explosions in Moscow, I returned to my homeland and, knowing I had been framed, understood that now I am forced to hide...

The suspect demanded $500,000. Now the price has dropped to $150,000.
An empty interview is a way for information traders to say: Gochiyayev is still alive.

From the Editors

Gochiyayev said nothing new compared to what was published in "Novaya Gazeta" (No. 1 of January 9, 2003). Let us emphasize: he and those who manipulate him still want to do their business: they demand money for certain names of special service employees. Although, undoubtedly, they understand: paid information loses all value.
The main question today: who is holding Gochiyayev and presenting him as a commodity?

...capitalize on the mistakes of the authorities. The executive branch in any country makes mistakes, and the opposition capitalizes on these mistakes. In this sense, I am doing nothing unusual. And what you call "spiting" is a lack of political culture in Russia, a sign of a mentality arranged for the moment. Like, they say, Putin was helped to become president, then Putin kicked you out of the country, and now you strive to "spite" him... It is pointless to discuss that Putin didn't kick me out at all, but rather I took a position that led to Putin no longer being able to tolerate me in the country. This was not Putin's choice, but my own. And now what I am doing is absolutely not emotional, but rational.
— And yet, for what purpose?
— The goal is to change the existing regime in Russia. And then I will return. Yes, I would like to live in Russia, but I don't want to live there at the cost of an agreement with the existing authorities.
— However, the year '99, the bombings, Gochiyayev, the start of the second Chechen war — this was still formally Yeltsin in power, and it is you, in this way, who are making Putin...
— Formally, of course, not so — Putin was already acting prime minister, and Yeltsin made the decision that, from his point of view, it would be good if Putin became the next president, and I supported his decision in every way... At that time, I really believed that Putin could become the next president of Russia.