We arrived in Chechnya with Batchayev by taxi from the city of Pyatigorsk.
We settled in Khattab's camp in the settlement of Serzhen-Yurt.
Moaz was already in this camp, and later others appeared who took part in the manufacture and transportation of explosives.
Military Actions and Preparation
Military actions began.
I had to go out to positions in the village of Chervlenoye, where we dug trenches, but I did not take part in the battles.
I was armed with a Kalashnikov assault rifle, caliber 5.45 mm with a wooden stock.
I was dressed in camouflage uniform and wearing a "load-bearing vest" with eight magazines for the assault rifle and two hand grenades.
Joining a Group and Training
When the army approached closer, we retreated and eventually ended up in Shatoy.
At Gochiyaev's suggestion, I joined his group, which consisted of:
Francuzov Taukan (his son-in-law)
Abubakr (real name Marat)
Abubakr the younger
Haris (who looked like a Kazakh)
Abdu Sabur
We all underwent training in explosives with Abu Umar and an Uzbek named Huzeyfa.
This training involved practicing the assembly of an explosive device with a timer based on "CASIO" electronic watches.
I note that a sheet with an image of this diagram was seized from me during my detention.
Movement Through the Caucasus
After the training, Gochiyaev, the Abubakrs, and Francuzov left Chechnya.
I, with Haris and Abdu Sabur, went in the second group.
We traveled with a guide—an Ingush named Vakha (call sign "Sheikh") and another Chechen named Kuraish—along the main Caucasian ridge.
On Mount Surat, we accidentally met a resident of Karachayevsk (or a Lezgin, or a Kumyk) named Igor (later I saw him in Pankisi, where he arrived together with Gochiyaev).
We then came out in the area of the village of Komsomolskoye.
Without entering it, we turned left and approached the direction of Tangi-Chu—the village of Orekhovoye (Yandi khutor).
Vakha and Abdu Sabur died while trying to find food there.
We came out onto the territory of Ingushetia in the area of the village of Nesterovskaya.