Journalists claim absence of influential militants in Dagestan

Two persons wounded in a shootout between Valid Motsaev, the leader of the Khasavyurt militant grouping, and law enforcers start to recover, reported the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) for Dagestan. According to editors-in-chief of Dagestani editions, the name of Motsaev is not known in the republic.

On September 5, Valid Motsaev, the leader of the Khasavyurt militant grouping, was killed in a special operation carried out in Khasavyurt, the National Antiterrorist Committee (NAC) reports. Meanwhile, according to the Investigating Department for Dagestan of the Investigating Committee of the Russian Federation (ICRF), a civilian who appeared to be nearby was killed and a policeman was wounded.

The "Caucasian Knot" correspondent has been informed by the press service of the Dagestani MIA that the policeman feels now well. Besides, nothing threatens the life of the young man wounded in a shootout between Valid Motsaev and the policemen.

The activity of the current leaders of the armed underground cannot be compared with the grouping leaders in the late 2000s and early 2010s, believes Gadjimurad Sagitov, the editor-in-chief of the weekly newspaper "Novoe Delo".

Meanwhile, according to him, the arbitrariness of some law enforcers turns some young people against the law enforcement agencies.

"The terrorist field in the republic is cleaned up, and new leaders do not have time to declare themselves," noted Milrad Fatullaev, the editor-in-chief of the agency "Derbent".

Orkhan Djemal, a Forbes journalist, believes that the role of Valid Motsaev in the underground was most likely insignificant.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.