Russian security forces seized at Mineralnye Vody airport the body of Ingushetia native Ilyas Belkharoев, who died in Poland, and detained two men who had come to meet it. Belkharoев’s relatives intended to bury him in Ingushetia, but his body has not yet been handed over to the family.

Fortanga reported the incident, citing a source. According to the report, two residents of Ingushetia, whom the outlet described as followers of the Batал-Khadzhi vird, came to the airport to collect Belkharoев’s body, which had been transported from Poland. They were detained there by security forces, who also took the body.

The names of those detained, their legal status and their place of detention have not been disclosed. The exact whereabouts of Belkharoев’s body are also unknown.

Lawyer Timofey Shirokov told Kavkaz.Realii that the actions of the security forces may be related to the need to officially identify the deceased, as Belkharoев was wanted in Russia and was involved in several criminal cases. According to him, the body should be handed over to the relatives after the necessary procedures have been completed.

Thirty-nine-year-old Ilyas Belkharoев died in custody in Poland, where he had been detained in a case involving the smuggling of weapons from Ukraine. The cause of his death has not been publicly disclosed. After receiving the body, his relatives planned to bury him in the Ingush village of Surkhakhi.

Belkharoев was the great-grandson of the prominent Ingush sheikh Batal-Khadzhi Belkhoroev and had lived outside Russia for many years.

He was wanted in Russia in connection with several criminal cases. In particular, investigators linked Belkharoев to the 2019 murder in Moscow of Ibrahim Eldzharkhiev, head of the Ingush Interior Ministry’s Centre for Countering Extremism, and his brother Akhmed. According to Russian security officials, Belkharoев was involved in supplying weapons from Ukraine to Russia, and one of the pistols delivered in this way may have been used in the killings.

Belkharoев denied involvement in the crime and described his prosecution as politically motivated. Ukraine’s Interior Ministry had previously confirmed that criminal proceedings against him had been terminated.

After Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Belkharoев publicly spoke out against the actions of the Russian authorities and military. The Russian Investigative Committee opened a separate criminal case against him over his publications.

“I wrote many posts expressing my contempt for Russian servicemen who kill civilians in Ukraine and use torture… I confirm that I condemn the actions of the Russian military, the Putin regime and the citizens who support their actions. My posts are not discrediting the actions of the Russian army; they are condemning them,” Belkharoев told a correspondent of Novy Dosh magazine.

Russian security officials later claimed that Belkharoев had joined the Dzhokhar Dudayev Battalion, which is fighting on Ukraine’s side. His relatives denied that he had directly taken part in combat, saying that Belkharoев had provided volunteer assistance in Ukraine before moving to Europe.

According to the latest available information, Belkharoев’s body has not been handed over to his relatives. There is also no official information about the fate of the two Ingushetia residents detained at the airport.