During the annual "Year in Review" press conference, Russian President Vladimir Putin, responding to a question about support for young families, noted the tradition of early marriages in the North Caucasus. He said he believed this was "right" and suggested "following their example," citing Ramzan Kadyrov's large family.
The investigation of criminal cases against Taimuraz Nakusov, Anzor Batyrov and Aslanbek Kazanchev from the KBR has been completed. According to investigators, in February 2000 they took part in an attack on Pskov paratroopers of the 6th company in Chechnya as part of the detachments of field commanders Shamil Basayev and Khattab during the second Russian-Chechen war.
The investigation established that Taimuraz Nakusov, Aslanbek Kazanchev and Anzor Batyrov were trained in the Islamic Institute of the Caucasus camp in Chechnya in 1999. They became part of the detachments operating under the command of Shamil Basayev and Amir ibn al-Khattab.
In February 2000, the defendants took part in an attack on the 6th company, which resulted in the death of 84 Russian servicemen and four injuries.
The attack went down in history as the “Battle at Height 776.” The men were charged with armed rebellion, participation in a gang and encroachment on the lives of military personnel.
As human rights activists from Memorial noted earlier, the same type of testimony from relatives of Russian military personnel as witnesses is presented in almost all identical criminal cases that were brought against natives of Chechnya and other republics. Witnesses copied the official version.