Description of Pavel Kosolapov

"By all appearances, he was an absolutely normal person; our employees did not notice anything suspicious in his behavior. He paid monthly, and upon the expiration of the contract, he moved out on time," a company manager said about Kosolapov.

Biography and Radicalization

As "Vremya Novostey" writes, Pavel Kosolapov was born in the Serafimovichsky district of the Volgograd region. In the late 90s, he entered one of the military schools in the Rostov region, but was soon expelled for violating the regime. Kosolapov returned to his native farmstead, where he met representatives of the local Chechen diaspora. They were the ones who suggested the young man go to Chechnya. There, Kosolapov underwent training in the camps of Arab field commanders, converted to Islam, and began fighting against federal forces.

Activity in Chechnya and Recruitment

In this field, Kosolapov managed to prove himself, and soon he was appointed as an instructor at a terrorist base located near Serzhen-Yurt. Among Kosolapov's students were Erkingali Taizhanov and Azamat Toleubay. At one time, at the suggestion of friends, they moved from Kazakhstan to the city of Buguruslan in the Orenburg region and entered a local madrasa. There they were recruited for the war in Chechnya. Russian special services managed to find several video cassettes with footage of Taizhanov and Toleubay's participation in battles. One of the Kazakhs later confessed during interrogations that they acted as part of the detachments of Arab field commanders Abu Umar and Abu Dzeit.

Cooperation with Basaev

When Shamil Basaev decided to commit another series of terrorist attacks on Russian territory, he remembered Pavel Kosolapov, who, thanks to his appearance, would not arouse suspicion among the special services. As a result, it was he who was tasked with creating a sabotage group. In addition to Kosolapov himself, it included the same Taizhanov and Toleubay and several other people. The militants arrived in the Moscow region presumably at the end of 2003. After that, Kosolapov began to choose places for terrorist attacks - both in Moscow and the Moscow region, and in other regions. It is already known that he traveled several times to Samara and Voronezh.

Samara Market Bombing and Search

In March 2004, an explosion at a market in Samara, on Kosolapov's orders, according to investigators, was carried out by two citizens of Kazakhstan - Erkingali Taizhanov and Azamat Toleubay, who were detained in their homeland at the end of last year. Taizhanov hanged himself in his cell, and the Kazakh authorities recently refused to extradite Toleubay. As for Kosolapov, he was put on the wanted list back in the spring of last year, but the special services have not yet managed to track him down.

Moscow Metro Bombing

According to the special services, one of the first major terrorist attacks organized by Kosolapov was the explosion in a capital metro car on February 6, 2004. Then 42 people died, and more than 250 were injured. As Moscow prosecutor's office employees later found out, the bomb was detonated by Anzor Izhaev - a militant who was part of one of the jamaats of Karachay-Cherkessia. The suicide bomber had a curator who accompanied him to the site of the explosion and prepared the terrorist attack. As the special services suspect, it was Kosolapov.

Further Plans

Just a few weeks later, according to operatives, he prepared a series of new terrorist attacks, some of which were carried out by Taizhanov and Toleubay. At the end of February