August 1, 2001

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Early in the morning in the first half of August, the Russian military took away the mother of two children, Satsita Sadykova, born in 1969, from a 9-storey building on Olimpiyskiy Proezd in Grozny. In addition, they took 17 thousand rubles, gold earrings, a ring and a chain from the apartment.

The woman, who, as it turned out, was detained as the wife of the deceased commander of the CRI VF, was kept in a pit about 6 meters deep in the territory of the village of Khankala. Her hands were handcuffed all the time. During interrogations, they were beaten with batons and a metal cable, and threatened with rape. After each interrogation, they pushed me into a pit. Three days later she was taken by helicopter to Mozdok along with three other women who had been detained on the same morning and on the same grounds.

Satsita Sadykova stayed there for another three days; she was interrogated, beaten, and then taken to Krasnodar, where she was no longer beaten. In total, she spent two weeks in custody, after which she was released. Together with her, one of the women was released, and another, a certain Zara, who lived near the bus stop "Beryozka" in the Staropromyslovsky district of Grozny, was charged with participating in hostilities.

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At 10 a.m. on the Rostov-Baku highway, at the crossroads leading to the villages of Chechen-Aul and the village of Goity, a crowded anti-war picket (up to 300 people) took place, in which residents of the cities of Grozny, Gudermes, Shali and nearby settlements took part: s.Prigorodnoye, pos. Gikalovsky, the village of Chechen-Aul, Starye Atagi and Novye Atagi, the village of Kurchaloy and others. Since the spring of 2001, such protests have become more widespread in Chechnya.

The picket was mainly attended by elderly people, women and children. They demanded an end to the genocide of the Chechen people, the release of forcibly detained persons, an end to "cleansing operations" and robberies, and the start of political negotiations with the legal leadership of the republic.

In the hands of the children were posters: “Give me back my dad!”, “We want to live!”, “Putin is a murderer!” 13-year-old Eliza said she opposed the war that killed her mother: she was shot by members of the security forces of the Russian Federation.

The military on two armored personnel carriers tried to disperse the picket, firing under the feet and over the heads of the protesters. They took away video cameras from two journalists, rudely swearing, and beat several people. But the people did not disperse, the anti-war action continued until 17:00.

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From August 1 to 5, the Russian military carried out “cleansing operations” in the villages of Mesker-Yurt, Geldagan, Starye Atagi, Tsotsin-Yurt, Belgata, the cities of Shali, Argun, and also in some districts of the capital of the republic, Grozny.

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In the city of Grozny, an explosion occurred at an idle gas station (Staropromyslovskoe Highway between the Shkolnaya and Katayama bus stops). Residents of nearby houses said that three military men patrolling this place were killed.

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Every 80-100 m on the Grozny-Shali highway, mobile posts were set up. For two weeks, the Russian military took money from the owners of passing cars.

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At 13 o'clock at the destroyed plant. A. Sheripov in the Zavodskoy district of Grozny, on an armored personnel carrier and an infantry fighting vehicle with smeared numbers, the military arrived, stationed nearby on the territory of the former fire station. Having attached a residential trailer to the BMP, they dragged it away with them. They explained their actions simply: “We need him.”

An hour later, an explosion was heard on the territory of the plant. The military detained Sulim Makaev, born in 1974, a resident of the village of Andreevskaya Dolina, who, as usual, was grazing goats here. They put a bag over his head, tied his hands and feet, and, saying that they had found half a bag of cartridges and a grenade launcher, pushed him into an armored personnel carrier. The factory guards (Chechens) hardly managed to convince them to let the shepherd go. As a ransom, they gave a box of vodka. Sulim Makaev claimed that the military planted a grenade launcher and ammunition on him, and he did not even know what was in the bag until they themselves told him about it.

Situations like this happen all the time in the factory. The military takes everything they think might be useful. And if they don’t find anything, they detain the guards or workers, having previously thrown something to them.

***
The corpse of Magomed Magomed-Salievich Tsagaraev, located in the village of Khankala, was not handed over to his relatives for burial. Malika Tsagarayeva, the mother of the victim, met with “political officer of the military counterintelligence Oleg” (as he introduced himself), who demanded that five military men be found and brought in for the victim: Private Vepryakov Vitaly Mikhailovich, military unit 44822 (291 MSP, 42 MSD), listed as SOC since June 11, 2001; Private Manyak Yuri Vladimirovich, military unit 44822 (291 SMEs, 42 MSDs), also left the unit on June 11, 2001; Private Korsesov Vitaly Sergeevich, Internal Troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation, arbitrarily left the airport named after Sheikh Mansur ("Northern"), where the unit in which he served was stationed; Private Zimin Nikolai Viktorovich, born in 1980 (no other data available); private Vorobyov Sergey Valentinovich, born in 1981, a native of Arkhangelsk.

Additionally, “Oleg” demanded the release of five military prisoners who were in captivity (or the release of their corpses). “Khattab has an abundance of this product,” he said.

The mother of Magomed Tsagaraev cannot understand what all these people and Khattab have to do with the corpse of her son. She only wanted to bury him, so, hoping for help, she decided to contact Vladimir Kalamanov's bureau.

***
At 20.15, two kilometers west of the Severny airport in Grozny, militants fired from automatic weapons on a Mi-26 helicopter of the Russian Interior Ministry's military aviation. At that moment, three crew members and 23 passengers were on board the car. The helicopter, which received numerous holes, made an emergency landing, no one was injured.

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