Basayev - V

Timur Aliev, in IWPR:

some of Basayev’s opponents... firmly believe that he is being protected by the Russian special forces. Some say he keeps connections he made with the Russians when they fought on the same side in the war in Abkhazia.

“If they really wanted to take Basayev they would have done it long ago,” said Aslanbek Dubzaev, a member of the Chechen OMON. “Chechnya is not that big. The federals need him to keep the war going in Chechnya. That’s why they forewarn him of any danger.”

Dubzayev believes the incursion of Basayev into Dagestan was provoked by the Russian special forces in order to have a reason to invade Chechnya, “I don’t know whether they paid him to do it or just took a gamble, but many people saw how Basayev was accompanied by Russian helicopters when he was given an escape corridor to get out of Dagestan.”

“Somebody is covering Basayev, someone from the military or the GRU [Russian military intelligence],” said Pavel Solodovnikov, a captain with the FSB, the main civilian intelligence service.