Novaya Gazeta journalist Elena Milashina suggests that the attack on her and lawyer Alexander Nemov in Grozny was connected with their search for Yasin Khalidov, a former employee of the Chechen Ministry of Internal Affairs and the National Guard. “Alexander Nemov and I were attacked so that we would stop looking for Yasin Khalidov. And as a result, they did everything so that not only journalists and lawyers, but also investigators would start looking for him, ”wrote Milashina.

The journalist reported her assumption to the investigator who interrogated her. According to her, the attackers, most likely, work in the transport riot police of the Department of the Russian Guard in Chechnya.

Milashina also said that Yasin Khalidov was detained on the basis of an orientation that the Chechen Center for Combating Extremism (CPE) of the Ministry of Internal Affairs sent to colleagues from other regions. The reason was allegedly operational information that Khalidov wants to enter Ukraine and join "the armed formation" fighting against the Russian army.

Under the orientation text are the name and surname of the head of the CPE for the Chechen Republic, Isa Elmurzaev. “For interaction”, the data of three employees of the CPE are indicated: Colonel I.S. Israilov, major A.V. Malsagov, Senior Lieutenant A.L. Batagov.

Recall that nothing has been known about the fate of Yasin Khalidov for two and a half months. The former policeman was detained while trying to cross the border with Kazakhstan. Prior to that, he managed to convey information about the work of the police to opposition bloggers.

We also recall that on July 4, Milashina and Nemov were traveling from Grozny airport to the sentencing of Zarema Musayeva. Their taxi blocked three cars. Unidentified men in balaclavas beat the journalist and the lawyer with their feet and truncheons, threatened them with murder, and confiscated their equipment. They shaved Milashina's head and doused it with brilliant green, Nemov was stabbed in the leg.