HEXOGEN TRACE

The more terrorist attacks in the country, the less clarity regarding their masterminds and perpetrators.

Since 1999, "Novaya Gazeta" has been monitoring how the perpetrators and masterminds of the residential building bombings in Moscow and Volgodonsk are being sought (series of materials "FSB. Hexogen. Ryazan", "Hexogen Trace", etc.).

• In 2004, the Moscow City Court passed sentence on Adam Dekkushev and Yusuf Krymshamkhalov, who were charged with preparing and carrying out these monstrous terrorist attacks.
• Besides them, Timur Batchayev (but he was killed during an operation by Russian special services in Georgia) and Achimez Gochiyayev, who is still hiding outside Russia, should have been in the dock.

In 2003, "Novaya Gazeta" published an open letter from Krymshamkhalov and Batchayev to the commission investigating the residential building bombings in Moscow and Volgodonsk. The letter stated:

• "Due to the statements recently made by us and Gochiyayev <...>, it seems that in the near future we will indeed face detention or death <...>"
• "1. We admit to being accomplices in the terrorist acts that took place in Moscow and Volgodonsk in September 1999 <...>"
• "2. We are accomplices in the terrorist attacks at the lowest executive level, and we have nothing to do with the explosions themselves."

Later, we received a videotape with an appeal from Gochiyayev himself, in which he asserts that FSB officers were involved in the preparation of the terrorist attacks.

As we learned, at the time this recording was made, Gochiyayev himself was in the position of a hostage. He was ready to share the information known to him, but in his notes he demanded quite large sums of money for it — obviously, it was not he himself who demanded it, but those who were holding him. The first price was set at 500,000 US dollars, the last fell to 150,000. As one might guess, Gochiyayev was indeed turned into a commodity obliged to bring in money. And those who fully control him release the information known to Gochiyayev according to the laws of kidnapping — in portions.

Another document has reached our editorial office: the handwritten (as presented to us) testimony of Gochiyayev. It was handed over to the editorial office by historian Yuri Felshtinsky, who received it from an intermediary in February 2005 in two formats: written and on an audio cassette.

The newspaper is not a special service, so we cannot claim that this letter is original, nor can we confirm or deny the information set forth in it. We do not know where the author of the letter is at the moment, whether he is free in his actions or still under someone's control. We can only officially state: we did not pay a single kopeck for these few sheets. Yuri Felshtinsky's cover letter also stated that he received the materials on a gratuitous basis.

Why are we publishing it? Because we believe that the trial of Gochiyayev's accomplices, held behind closed doors, did not provide exhaustive answers to all the questions that arose during the independent investigation conducted by State Duma deputies and journalists. And perhaps this new information will allow us to get closer to the truth? This is a question for the special services. Otherwise, a strange pattern emerges: the more terrorist attacks in the country, the less clarity regarding their masterminds and perpetrators.

"I WANT TO TELL ABOUT THE EXPLOSIONS OF RESIDENTIAL BUILDINGS"

My name is A...

The Prosecutor's Office of Russia accuses me of organizing the residential building bombings that occurred in the fall of '99 in Moscow. I consider myself innocent and accuse the special services, specifically the FSB of Russia, of preparing and carrying out these monstrous explosions.

My name is Achimez Gochiyayev, I want to tell the truth and convey to all people the hidden truth of what happened. Having analyzed all those events that took place before these explosions and subsequent events, I came to the conclusion that this was a pre-planned operation of the special services.

When these events took place, I lived and worked in Moscow, was engaged in construction, the company was called "Kapstroy-2000" and was located near the "Barrikadnaya" metro station. In the early summer of '99, an old school friend of mine came to my company, whom I hadn't seen since almost school, his name is... [text breaks off]

...on Guryanova and after everything I saw there, I did not meet with Ramazan, I decided to wait it out, but on September 13, when the second explosion occurred in the house on Kashirskoye Highway and when they showed my photo on television, I realized that they wanted to frame me. I contacted Raul, found out from him about other premises, then called the police and... [text breaks off]

Narrative Account

Business Arrangements

• Subsequently, he came by several more times and once he suggested that I join him in selling mineral water and asked me to find water for him.
• A fellow countryman of mine named Raul Chinchikov worked at my company; I assigned this matter to him, and thereafter Raul handled all the work from my company with Ramazan.
• Our work went normally; Ramazan paid on time, and there were no problems.
• After some time, Ramazan asked me to help him rent premises for warehouses in the south of Moscow and in the city of Ryazan; he said that he had good sales points in those areas.
• I asked Raul to look for these premises; he found many options and proposed them to Ramazan, who in turn selected suitable premises, and the two of them rented them with my money for the rent of these premises.
• Ramazan personally rented these premises under his own company.

The Explosion and Subsequent Events

• When the explosion occurred in the building on Guryanova, I was visiting someone, and Ramazan called me on my mobile, saying that he had an urgent matter and we needed to meet; he asked where I was, calling towards morning around 5 o'clock; I told him I would go myself and started getting ready.
• And when I was already about to leave the house, I saw on the news on TV what had happened. I immediately went...

Disputing FSB Evidence

• On the FSB website, a photograph of a young man in a black cap with a beard is posted, and the FSB presents this photograph as evidence in its favor; I declare that this is a lie—the person depicted in this photograph is not me.
• This can be verified even if one carefully compares my photograph and the photograph of this person.
• Furthermore, an expert examination was conducted, the results of which proved that this person is not me.
• It is on such blatant lies that the FSB builds all the accusations against me.

Television Appearance and Witness Testimony

• Immediately after the bombings, my photograph was shown on television, and it was said that this was a photograph of the person who rented these premises, and allegedly this was a photograph from a photocopy of a passport left in one of the realtor offices.
• But this photograph is identical to the photograph in my actual passport, and as we all know, when a person receives a passport, a copy of the photograph remains in the passport office, and when the FSB was fabricating this case against me, it was not difficult for them to take a copy of the photograph and show it on television.
• There is an important fact here: the testimony of the person who rented out the premises on Guryanova.
• He did not recognize the person to whom he rented his premises in my photograph, but Ramazan Dyshekov fits the description of the appearance of the person to whom he rented his premises; I think if he were shown a photograph of Ramazan, then he...

Elimination of Witness and Family Pressure

• ...killed, and they tried to burn the body. Thus, the FSB eliminated the main witness in this case.
• My relatives and friends are subjected to the harshest pressure from the FSB; they are constantly interrogated and searched.
• My sister was forced to leave the republic after FSB officers took her and her young daughter to a cemetery and, threatening to kill the child, demanded that she give an interview to the press saying that I am a mentally unstable person and that I did it; fearing for the lives of her children, she was forced to leave.

Hiding and Connections

• ...I live and returned to Karachay-Cherkessia.
• At home, from my brother, who at that time worked in the criminal investigation department, I learned that they were searching for me intensely and that they had an unofficial order from Moscow not to take me alive, and from that time until today I have been forced to hide.
• Now I know that Ramazan Dyshekov officially works for the FSB; at that time, no one could even guess any of his connections with the FSB—he was a deep-cover agent then.
• Raul Chinchikov, who handled business with Ramazan on behalf of my company, was killed a short time after these events; his body was found in the settlement of "Moskovsky" in the Karachay-Cherkess Republic; his...

Locations

• Moscow. Guryanova St.
• Moscow. Kashirskoye Highway
• Volgodonsk