Three suspected militants from Basayev's group have been arrested.

Security officials reported the arrest of three individuals in the Astrakhan and Moscow regions. Two of them have been charged in connection with Basayev's militant raid on Dagestan, and the third with participating in an attack on Pskov paratroopers in Chechnya.

As reported by "Caucasian Knot," security officials regularly report the criminal prosecution of alleged members of Shamil Basayev and Khattab's group. Thus, in May 2025, security forces reported the arrest of four men suspected of involvement in an attack by Basayev and Khattab militants on Russian military personnel.

The FSB reported today on its website the detention of three Russian citizens, whom security forces believe to be former members of the Basayev and Khattab group.

According to the publication, Khadis Khalilov and Ali Aliyev, both born in 1975, are suspected of participating in the armed incursion of militants into Dagestan, and Turko Boltiev, born in 1974, is suspected of participating in the attack on the Pskov paratroopers.

A preventive measure in the form of detention has been chosen guard

"The aforementioned individuals were detained at their addresses in the Astrakhan and Moscow regions and taken to the preliminary investigation agency, where they were charged with crimes under Articles 209 (banditry), 279 (armed rebellion), and 317 (attempt on the life of a law enforcement officer) of the Russian Criminal Code, and were remanded in custody," the statement reads.

Human rights activists see an element of propaganda in the new arrests in the case of the attack on the Pskov paratroopers in Chechnya

As a reminder, security forces also arrested 63-year-old Grozny resident Alavdi Batykaev He was accused of attacking Pskov paratroopers. The Grozny resident claimed his innocence, while his lawyer claimed there was no evidence in the case file. However, in September 2024, a military court sentenced Alavdi Batykayev to 16 years in a maximum security penal colony.

At the same time, none of the victims could identify Batykayev, and their accounts of the battle fundamentally contradicted the testimony of secret witnesses, which formed the basis of the case, Batykayev's lawyer and human rights activist Oyub Titiev stated in November 2023.

They recognize people from a photograph whom they saw briefly 22 years ago

"The testimony of three secret witnesses is the same: they recognize people from a photograph whom they saw briefly 22 years ago and were not personally acquainted with them, but they even remember "names," Oyub Titiev noted at the time.

Testimonies from victims in the case of the deaths of the Pskov paratroopers are used in every criminal case on this matter and are not related to a specific defendant, human rights activists previously noted.

On the night of March 1, 2000, soldiers of the 6th Company of the 104th Regiment of the 76th Guards Airborne Division engaged a large detachment of Basayev and Khattab in Chechnya. The company held off the onslaught of approximately 2,000 militants for about a day, who were trying to break out of the encirclement. Then, 84 of the 90 servicemen were killed, and 370 militants were killed. Analysts cite corruption and incompetence among the command and officers as the causes of the tragedy, according to the "Caucasian Knot" report "Battle for Hill 776: How the Pskov paratroopers died".