On March 9, the Investigative Committee of Russia opened a criminal case into the poisoning of the commander of the Akhmat special forces, deputy commander of the 2nd Army Corps, Major General Apti Alaudinov.
The attempt on the life of the major general took place back in February. The victim spoke about how this happened in his telegram channel: “On the 8th, my adjutant received a package from the courier service. Having signed, he brought it in, opened it, and handed the documents into my hands. I looked at these papers, began to read them and felt a pungent smell. I say to the adjutant: “What did you give me, don’t you smell it?” He sniffed and almost fainted. We put the papers in a plastic bag, washed our hands and nose, and thought everything was fine. An hour and a half later it turned out that I ended up in our medical battalion. I was conscious, then my right leg began to experience cramps, and all the symptoms of poisoning began. Thanks to the fact that there was a professional toxicologist there who did his job very correctly, we remained alive.”
On February 11, the general and his adjutant were sent to Moscow, where they were treated for a week at the Vishnevsky Ministry of Defense hospital with a diagnosis of poisoning by an unknown substance.
The sender of the letter was an 83-year-old resident of the Russian Federation. Now investigators are figuring out how it could have gotten into the courier service.
The head of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, spoke about Alaudinov’s poisoning in his blog. Later, the patient was visited in the hospital by the head of the Wagner PMC, Yevgeny Prigozhin. But a criminal case regarding the attempt on the general’s life was opened only after Alaudinov’s representative Denis Shapiro turned to the chief military prosecutor Valery Petrov with a request to transfer the pre-investigation materials from the military unit to the central office of the Investigative Committee. Shapiro also asked the head of the Investigative Committee, Alexander Bastrykin, to take personal control of the investigation.
On March 9, Bastrykin instructed the leadership of the Main Military Investigation Department of the Investigative Committee to initiate a criminal case, and on the same day this was done. As Kommersant reported, the investigation is being conducted by a unit specializing in the investigation of crimes committed in new regions of Russia by the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the Security Service of Ukraine, which, obviously, were interested in trying to eliminate the famous commander. The case was initiated under Article 30-105 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (attempted murder of two or more persons, committed in a generally dangerous manner in connection with the latter’s performance of official activities). It was established that a mixture of cyanogen bromide and another, as yet unidentified, toxic substance was used for the poisoning. Major General Apti Alaudinov and his adjutant Lieutenant Dzhambulat Mizaev were recognized as victims in the case.
It is reported that Alaudinov, together with his adjutant, returned to serve in the SVO zone, but continue to undergo treatment.
Chechen human rights activists received the news of the assassination attempt on Alaudinov with skepticism, suggesting that it was more likely self-promotion. Some observers do not rule out that his colleagues wanted to eliminate him. Others agree with the main version of the investigation that the commander could have become a target of the Ukrainian special services.
However, Alaudinov has quite a scandalous reputation. As Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs of the Chechen Republic, he openly called for cracking down on everyone who, in his opinion, has similarities with Wahhabis and those who are opponents of the government.
“...I swear by the Koran, if there is even the slightest resemblance to the Wahhabis, I personally took it upon myself, the new head of the police department is sitting here, I personally said: “Mow down!” Whoever can be imprisoned, imprisoned. If there is an opportunity to plant something, something in your pocket, plant it, do what you want, and kill whoever you want. The ruler [Ramzan Kadyrov] said to convey this to him...” Alaudinov swore then (in 2013). A video of this performance is still available on Youtube.

Touching upon the topic of combating critics of local authorities, the deputy minister, without stinting on oaths in the name of Allah and the Koran, called on his subordinates not to disdain the executioner’s craft: “Just know what I’m telling you, I want to convey to you, I swear by Allah and the Koran, now on these matters The work will be surprisingly tough. More or less, more or less, even with a fingernail, where you can catch someone who even blathers against the authorities, I swear by Allah and the Koran, up to...... the maximum possible.... I won’t say this on camera, I personally I will try to make a problem for this person as much as possible. I swear to Allah, I will try.”
However, after some time, the police chief himself, as some media claimed, became a hidden critic of the head of Chechnya and fell out of favor with him, and was dismissed from his post in March 2021.
One of the reasons for the scandalous general’s disgrace, as Novaya Gazeta wrote in 2019, was “a comic slap on the head to the portrait of Ramzan Kadyrov,” which he gave while visiting the former mayor of Argun, Ibragim Temirbayev.”
The latter, as Kavkaz.Realii wrote in April 2021, fell into the abyss on the Shatoi-Grozny highway. “It’s not entirely clear why he ended up in that area,” the publication’s source said at the time. He also recalled that the former mayor spent a year and a half before this in unofficial captivity in colony-settlement No. 3 in Argun.
Alaudinov himself vehemently denied the publication in Novaya, making a video message in which he swore to everyone of his loyalty to the head of the republic. However, despite everything, Alaudinov (formally, at least) retained the position of deputy minister, and soon after his dismissal he was appointed assistant to the head of Chechnya.
The war in Ukraine, according to a number of observers, became Alaudinov’s finest hour and an opportunity to fully rehabilitate himself before the powerful head of Chechnya: in July 2022, Ramzan Kadyrov appointed the police major general and commander of the Akhmat special unit as secretary of the Chechen Security Council and called him “dear brother."