Chechnya marks the second anniversary of Maskhadov's death

Two years ago, on March 8, 2005, it became known about the death of Aslan Maskhadov, former Colonel of the Soviet Army, former Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ichkeria, who was elected in January 1997 the president of the self-proclaimed Chechen Republic of Ichkeria (ChRI). According to the official data, a special operation during which Maskhadov was killed was conducted by employees of Russian power agencies in the settlement of Tolstoi-Yurt (Doikur-Evl) of the Nadterechny District.

The owner of the house, where Aslan Maskhadov was found, his assistant and two bodyguards were detained and later sentenced to long imprisonment terms. It was initially announced that Maskhadov was killed from an explosion of a grenade thrown by special agents, but later it was declared that he was shot dead by his nephew Viskhan Hadzhimuradov who was Maskhadov's bodyguard.

However, many people in Chechnya are still sure that Aslan Maskhadov was killed not in the Nadterechny District, but under other circumstances and in some other place. After the militaries had hastily blown up the house where Maskhadov was reportedly killed in the cellar, such assumptions have only become stronger.

"I do not believe that Maskhadov was killed in Tolstoi-Yurt. An acquaintance of mine showed me a video cassette with a record of Aslan Maskhadov's presentation, which had been made some two-three weeks before his death. He said that in the near future negotiations would start with the Russian leadership under mediation of a number of western countries, and that peace would settle in Chechnya quite soon. He was absolutely sure of that," Ahmad, 48, a resident of Grozny, said. "Like the overwhelming majority of Chechnya residents, I'm convinced that Maskhadov was killed in a different place, where he had been invited for negotiations, although nobody was going to hold them."