This week, I've been super busy with client work, so I don't have any exciting new insights for you. But fear not: below, you'll find all the key developments from the last week-and-a-bit, and I should be back in your inbox next week with something new!
Have a lovely weekend :)
In the news
đź’Ł Terrorism & insurgency
Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) claimed that it had prevented a terrorist attack on an Interior Ministry building in Smolensk Oblast. According to the official account, a 30-year-old resident of Tver Oblast attempted to enter the building with an improvised explosive device disguised as a document file but was intercepted. The suspect and two policemen were wounded in the incident.
The Second Western District Military Court sentenced Yevgeniy Mishchenko to 12 years in prison on charges of membership of a terrorist organisation. According to prosecutors, Mishchenko joined the Free Russia Legion and provided intelligence on military facilities. Mishchenko accepted the facts of the case but not his guilt, portraying himself as someone concerned about Russia’s war on Ukraine.
The Southern District Military Court sentenced four natives of Dagestan to between seven and 20 years for their alleged membership of a terrorist group while already serving time in prison.
An unknown assailant attempted to kill Sherip Alikhadzhiyev, a former deputy prime minister for Ingushetia, in a Moscow suburb. The attacker fired four shots at Alikhadzhiyev, who is now being treated in hospital. The motives for the attack are unknown.
Three people — Samail Batayev from Dagestan, Rustam Chagilov from Stavropol Kray and Adam Magamadov from Chechnya — were arrested for their alleged role in an attack on Pskov paratroopers in Chechnya in 2000. Prosecutors regularly bring new charges in relation to the incident: human rights activists estimate that more than 40 people have featured in the case thus far. What role these three are alleged to have played is not known.
The Southern District Military Court sentenced a 48-year-old resident of Sevastopol to 21 years in prison on treason and terrorism charges. According to the FSB, the man was recruited by the Security Service of Ukraine, provided intelligence on Russian military facilities in Sevastopol, and planned to burn down a local administrative building.
A court in Krasnodar sentenced local resident Yevgeniy Shabanov to six years in prison after he phoned police and told them he planned to burn down a local court that had prevented him entering. The court found him guilty of making a hoax call about a terrorist attack. Shabanov’s appeal was rejected.
Three people were killed near the federal highway in Nazran, Ingushetia, after unknown assailants opened fire on a car. All three men were employees of the local Centre for Combatting Extremism. Adam Khamkhoyev, deputy head of the centre, was in the car at the time but escaped unhurt; TASS reported that Khamkhoyev was the main target.
Said-Magomed Mereshkov, a native of Ingushetia who was detained in September, was arrested in Moscow on charges of aiding terrorism. He has been charged with recruiting people to engage in terrorism, but no further details were available.
The Southern District Military Court sentenced Rostov-on-the-Don resident Dmitriy Kravtsov to 15 years in prison on charges of preparing a terrorist attack in Berdinsk, Zaporizhzhia Oblast. According to prosecutors, in 2022 Kravtsov joined a terrorist group acting in the interests of Ukraine, gathered intelligence on pro-Russian individuals in the occupied territories, obtained an improvised explosive device, and planned to carry out a terrorist attack.
🪖 Private military companies (PMCs)
Wagner has claimed via Telegram that it had successfully repatriated the bodies of members of the group killed in recent clashes with rebels in Mali. Rebels denied the claims, saying they had moved the bodies after the clashes.
Denis Stepanov, a resident of Yermakovskoye, Krasnodar Kray and a former Wagner fighter, has been sentenced to 19 years in prison for murdering his former partner and her mother. The man was apparently drunk when he decided to seek revenge on the partner for having left him, set fire to their home, and burned them alive. Stepanov has previously served time for theft, robbery and assault but was pardoned after fighting in Ukraine (which presumably means he was recruited from prison).
Russia’s Supreme Court has accepted the appeal of a former Wagner fighter, Ilya Kurlov, who was sentenced to prison for a drink-driving incident that left two passengers with serious injuries. The accident occurred in November 2021; Kurlov paid for the injured parties’ medical treatment along with compensation and a city court dropped its criminal investigation because the parties had reached a settlement. However, the prosecutor’s office appealed the court’s decision and secured a three year prison sentence for Kurlov. Kurlov appealed this new sentence, claiming that he was fighting in Syria with Wagner between September 2022 and January 2024, and as a result was unable to contest the charges. The Supreme Court accepted Kurlov’s claim and annulled the verdict.
đźš” State-linked security services
BBC Russian Service has profiled Aid, a subordinate of Spetsnaz Akhmat Apti Alaudinov, who has frequently appeared in the group’s videos. Although Aid tries to maintain his anonymity, with his face always partially concealed, the BBC has identified him as Bekkhan Yunusov, a former Moscow suburb policeman. In 2016, he acquired the nickname “Khimki batman” for attacking drug dens and their customers while still working as a policeman, and he continued to perform the role until 2018, when he was arrested for abuse of office. In 2019, he was sentenced to four years but was released early on parole. In February 2022, a fraud investigation was opened against him; however, his decision to fight in Ukraine appears to have saved him from more time behind bars.
Alaudinov confirmed that Denis Shapiro, a lawyer arrested in Moscow on fraud charges, represented him after he was poisoned in February 2023 and has provided logistical support to Akhmat Spetsnaz.
🚨 Everything else
Chechen Head Ramzan Kadyrov declared a blood feud against Federation Council Senator for Dagestan Suleyman Kerimov, State Duma Deputy for Ingushetia Bekkhan Barakhoyev, and State Duma Deputy for Dagestan Rizvan Kurbanov over their alleged involvement in a recent shootout at the offices of online marketplace Wildberries. Kadyrov has publicly defended Vladislav Bakalchuk, who is engaged in a bitter battle over the company with his estranged wife, Tatyana Kim/Bakalchuk. Kadyrov made his comments — his first since the shootout — in Chechen at a meeting with members of the Chechen security services. The Dagestani authorities have backed Kerimov, while Barakkhoyev and Kurbanov have denied plotting Kadyrov's demise.