August 21, 2001

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At dawn, the Russian military bombarded the vicinity of Assinovskaya station with artillery. As a result of the fire strike, several houses were partially destroyed and six combines belonging to the Assinovskoye state farm were damaged. There were no reports of civilian casualties.

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Near the village of Chechen-Aul, the bodies of a local resident Madina and her cousin Ismail Islamov, who lived permanently in the village of Novye Atagi, were found. In mid-July 2001 they went missing. On the third day after the disappearance, their white VAZ-2106 car was found without passengers in the central market of the capital of the republic.

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In the afternoon, in the vicinity of the village of Starye Atagi, on the Grozny-Shatoi highway, at the turn to the village of Goity, a short battle took place. According to the testimonies of local residents, for more than two months, a retractable post was installed at this place every day. Of the armored vehicles, there was always an armored personnel carrier (tail number 312) there. Under the pretext of checking documents, the Russian military stopped passing vehicles and charged drivers money.

On this day, for some reason, they fired at the Niva car of Dudulov, a resident of Starye Atagi. Zainap Umarova, born in 1971, who was in it (lived in the village of Novye Varandy) was killed. Some time later, in retaliation for this, the participants of the CRI VF fired at an armored personnel carrier from a grenade launcher. A battle ensued between them and the Russian military. There is no information about the victims among them.

But the names of civilians who ended up in the firefight zone and were injured are known:
1. Alu Khachukaev, born in 1929, resident of the village of Muskali (Mus-Kala);
2. Lyuba Bisaeva, born in 1971, resident of the village of Starye Atagi;
3. Aina Saparova, born in 1977, resident of the state farm 60 years of October, Staropromyslovsky district, Grozny;
4. Alvi Akhmadov, resident of the village of Starye Atagi, about 60 years old, taxi driver.
In the village itself, on Shosseinaya Street, hay was burned at the Gekhaev family.

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On M.Merzoev Street in Urus-Martan, the Russian military found a landmine. Wires from it stretched to the house of Aset Usmanovna Saydulaeva, located nearby and destroyed during the hostilities. With the help of the Danish Refugee Council, its restoration was in full swing. The work was already coming to an end, it only remained to install window and door blocks and the owners, who temporarily lived with their relatives, should soon move into it. However, the military blew up the house.

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Between 2 and 3 pm, near the stationary post No. 36 (Staropromyslovskoye highway in Grozny), the Russian military stopped a red VAZ-2104 car (registration number 46-76 20/rus ). Vakha Magomedovich Artsikhaev, born in 1962, who was driving it, was detained by them and taken away in an unknown direction, as indicated, "for further verification." His further fate is unknown to the employees of Memorial Human Rights Center.

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In the village of Michurin, Grozny, in the center of the bazaar, the bodies of two pensioners, local residents, were found. According to the footprints on the ground, it looks like they were dragged, tied to the BMP.

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At night in the village of Novye Atagi, a local resident Sharpuddin Tsakaraev, born in 1943, pensioner, was killed by unknown persons in camouflage uniforms and masks in his house.

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In the city of Urus-Martan, 100 meters from his house, located at the address: Proletarskaya St., 16, employees of the VOVD of the Urus-Martan district repeatedly detained and took away Isa Musaevich Makhmudkhadzhiev, born in 1977. The reason was the lack of a passport, which was taken from him by the military commandant of the Urus-Martan district, Heydar Hajiyev, on August 15.

Isa Mahmudkhadzhiev is a private driver. On that day, he was taken to the commandant's office, accused of taking two Russians in civilian clothes from the city center to the market on August 12. It turned out that his passengers were deserter soldiers. Where they then went and where they could be, the taxi driver, of course, did not know. But he was required to find and bring them. When he answered that he could not do it, the military commandant took away his passport. Saying: “When you bring two, I will give it back,” he sent him home.

After the second detention, Isa Makhmudkhadzhiev was placed in a temporary detention center at the Urus-Martan VOVD. A lawyer was allowed to see him. It was from him that his relatives learned that in the police department they put 1.75 grams of marijuana in his pocket. According to the lawyer, he saw how the drug was slipped into him, and demanded not to do this.

Another resident of the Urus-Martan district was kept in the same cell with him. He was released. He then told his relatives that Isa Makhmudkhadzhiev was beaten in the temporary detention facility and demanded to recognize the drugs as his own.

On September 13, 2001, the detainee's mother applied to V. Kalamanov's bureau with a request to assist in releasing her son and returning his illegally confiscated passport.

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In the village of Tsotsin-Yurt, the famous Chechen artist Myakhdi Mukhadievich Shepiev (creative pseudonym: M. Eskerkhanov), aged 40–45, was killed. Leaving the house to his first wife and children from her, together with his second wife, Yakha Murtazaliyeva, and a one-year-old child, he lived in a trailer in the courtyard of school No. 3. At night, unknown people in masks called him outside and shot him with a pistol. A shell casing from him was found the next morning. The killers ran into the trailer and pointed their weapons at the woman, but then, without touching either her or the child, they suddenly left.

Despite the fact that the attackers spoke Russian without any accent, rumors later circulated in the village that Myakhdi Shepiev (Eskerkhanov) might have been killed by armed supporters of Chechen independence. This version was substantiated, however, by only one thing: the eccentric behavior of the artist himself. He spoke rather impartially about those who fought against Russia, and could declare in the presence of people that Islam does not allow him to draw, and therefore he is an atheist.

But at the same time, his son, Ali Myakhdievich Shepiev, born in 1980, was an active participant in the resistance and died on September 4, 2000 in a battle with the Russian military, injuring or killing at least two of them.

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In the forest near the village of Meskety, the body of O.U.Ortsuev was found with signs of violent death.

From the book "People Live Here", Usam Baisaev, Dmitry Grushkin, 2006