April 11, 1996 on the section of the Atagi-Goyskoye highway as a result of an attack
armed stable group (gang) under the leadership of A. Zakayev on the military personnel of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, military personnel of the 245th MSP, military unit 62892, performing their duty, were captured:
- contract sergeant Eduard Vadimovich Fedotkov
- ml. contract sergeant Pavel Viktorovich Sharonov
- private contract-based Sergey Ivanovich Mitryaev
- private contract-based Alexey Alexandrovich Shcherbatykh
Contract drivers followed unaccompanied by two army "Urals".

ml. contract sergeant Pavel Viktorovich Sharonov

private contract-based Alexey Alexandrovich Shcherbatykh

contract sergeant Eduard Vadimovich Fedotkov

private contract-based Sergey Ivanovich Mitryaev

April 12, 1996 Timirbulatov, by prior agreement with members of a stable armed group (gang) Bakharchiev, Magomadov, Khamzat, Dukuakh and Askhab and other unidentified persons, took all four servicemen in a UAZ-469 car to the area of ​​the Surata height, located 5 km south of the village of Komsomolskoye. There Bakharchiev struck P.V. Sharonov with a dagger. incised neck wound, as a result of which Sharonov died. Then Timirbulatov from a pistol of the PM brand finished off Mitryaev S.I. with a shot in the head. Other members of the gang committed the murder of servicemen Fedotkov E.V. and Shcherbatykh A.A. The bandits were so sure of their impunity that the terrible scenes of murders and abuse of Russian servicemen were filmed on video cameras, they themselves posed in front of them.

The search for contractors "in hot pursuit" did not bring any results. The first information about them appeared only a month later as a result of a military operation: "May 13. The RO began combing Kharsenoy to check houses, dugouts for the presence of mine-explosive barriers. The bypassing detachment of the 4th MSR could not reach the the northern outskirts of Kharsenoy and therefore moved out from the crossroads of field roads along the route of the advance of the 1st motorized brigade, concentrated in Kharsenoy by 11.00.
As a result of Kharsenoy's check, they were released Two women, <...>, forcibly kept in a gang of field commanders Doku and Musa9 Ataev since April 1, 1995. Many passports, military cards and other documents were found. During searches in Kharsenoy, a BM "Grad" installation with ammunition was discovered. The base was destroyed, guides and ammunition captured by the RO. In addition, it was captured: a KPVT machine gun, a DShK machine gun on home-made machines, and it was established that in Kharsenoi the brigades of commanders Khamzat, Salakh, Ramzan, up to 30 people each, resisted.
Losses for the past day: irretrievable - 1, sanitary - no.
After the survey of freed women from their words, it became known that contract servicemen Sergeant Fedotkov L., junior sergeant Sharonov P.V., privates Shcherbatykh A.A. and Mitryaev S.I. were shot in early April, they don’t remember exactly, perhaps on the southern outskirts of Komsomolskoye.

Major General Vladimir Shamanov, Commander of the Defense Ministry in Chechnya: “The other day we freed Kharsenoy. Not far from the village, on the banks of the river, my guys found two pretty Russian girls, exhausted from beatings and bullying. What they said shocked me .. .
... There were three of them - Katya, Go ahead Lena. From November 1995, they came to watch in Grozny, lived on a train that was at the depot, with builders. The work was simple: maintain order, heat the oven and the "titanium" for tea. The builders are calm guys, they worked all day to restore the city, the girls only saw them in the evenings.
On April 2, their watch assigned to the construction ended. And the girls, on the eve of leaving home, decided to go to the bathhouse, which was within easy reach. But they did not manage to wash themselves that evening. They had just left the gates of the depot when a "nurse" drove up to them, from which two bearded men jumped out and pushed the girls into the car.
We drove for a long time, finally the car stopped. They were taken to a lonely house standing on the side of a mountain. Below, the fires of some large village were burning. As it turned out later, it was the village of Komsomolskoye.
The hut without windows and doors was terribly cold. Russian girls, clinging to each other, tried to warm up and fall asleep. They did not yet know what fate awaited them. The militants, glancing in their direction, warmed themselves in the car. Leoncio's harassment of the poor slave Izaura is childish pranks compared to what Valya, Katya and Lena experienced in Chechen captivity.
Workers were brought in the next morning. Almost all Russians. They were forced to board up the windows, put on oilcloth, put together bunks and put up a potbelly stove. About forty militants arrived together with the hostages.
The first time Russian slaves were raised at night. They took me out into the yard and started beating me. First there were slaps, then sticks and fists went. They also kicked. Having enjoyed enough of their cruelty, the militants began to reassure the girls, asking who they were, where they came from, where they worked. And then they began to rape, beat and rape again ...
This nightmare lasted for a month and a half. On May 10 they were taken to the mountains, to Kharsenoy. Lena was transferred to another gang, and where she is now, the girlfriends do not know. On the eve of the special operation, on May 12, Valya and Katya were brutally beaten and, since they could not move independently, they were taken to the river and hidden behind concrete slabs. The whole day, overcoming pain, the girls lay under the scorching sun, and in the evening, hearing the noise of a moving car, they thought that the guard was returning, promising to bring Lena and pick them up. With the last of their strength, Katya and Valya began to crawl away to hide, but when they heard Russian speech and saw a tank, they called our guys for help ... "

As can be seen from the 245 MRR combat log, information was collected on the whereabouts of the missing servicemen, but, unfortunately, the search did not lead to anything. In 1996, a tape recording the execution appeared on the Chechen markets. “In the hope of identifying and searching for the killers, the operatives showed the tape to “loyal” Chechens. Several people immediately stated that the main executioner on the tape was none other than field commander Salautdin Temirbulatov, well-known in the republic.<...>In 1996, immediately after Temirbulatov was identified on film, the Prosecutor General's Office opened a criminal case against him for murder and banditry. The tractor driver was put on the wanted list.

The arrest of Temirbulatov took place on March 19, 2000 by the forces of the North Caucasian RUBOP and the Far Eastern SOBR, and the next day a film with the execution of contractors was shown on Central Television.

Prosecutor General Vladimir Ustinov: "At the hearing, the defendant Timirbulatov confirmed his testimony given during preliminary investigation, that four servicemen of the Russian Army were killed with his participation. During the verification of his testimony, Timirbulatov pointed to the road leading through the southern outskirts of the village of Komsomolskoye, Urus-Martan District, to southbound to a mountainous area, and explained that it was along this road that the servicemen had been taken out for subsequent killing.
During an additional inspection of the scene with the participation of the accused Timirbulatov, five kilometers south of the village of Komsomolskoye, Urus-Martan District, in a mountainous area, a burial was discovered from which the remains of three people were recovered, and the remains of a fourth person were found nearby on an open surface.<...>
On April 12, 1996, he took part in the execution of four servicemen of the Russian Army, captured by militants, by prior agreement with Bakharchiev, Magomadov, Khamzat, Dukuakh and Askhab. The first serviceman, Sharonov, was killed by Bakharchiev, the second, Mitryaev, was personally killed by Timirbulatov, putting him on his knees and shooting him in the head. The third serviceman, Fedotkov, was killed by Khamzat with a machine gun. The fourth - Shcherbatov - was killed by Dukuakh. He cut his throat with a dagger. After the murder, they threw the corpses into the trench and covered them with earth."
In the Khankala lists - prisoners who went missing or who arbitrarily left a part (about half of the prisoners and missing were drawn up in this manner) - they were not in the 245th small regiment or in the next “colonel Ivanov” sent to Khankala for two months. Despite the fact that Colonel Pilipenko, for example, has already worked in the search group somewhere since late spring.

And the film that went into the criminal case - ours - was brought from Grozny at the beginning of 1997 and sent to the Prosecutor General's Office in the spring of 1997. From there they answered indistinctly, - like, go to the territorial prosecutor's office (Ichkeria, or what?). In fact, they sent it to the Caucasian Interregional, and there it went into action. For almost three years. And in the winter of 2000, investigator Krivorotov, sorting through old cases, stumbled upon her .... And everything began to spin. The road from Atagi goes to Goyty. And these cars went, it seems, in a circle - along the Shatoi highway to the crossroads (opposite the Chiriyurt dam), there is a turn to the right, past Alkhazurovo.
In May 2001, militant Movladi Khasanov was detained in Chechnya, who participated, together with field commander Salaudin Temirbulatov, nicknamed Tractor Driver, in the execution of Russian servicemen.
Khasanov was captured along with Salaudin Temirbulatov on a videotape recording the execution of Russian soldiers.
It was established that in 1996 Khasanov was a member of the detachment of field commander Doku Umarov, who was subordinate to Ruslan Gelaev. He participated in battles against federal forces in Goyskoye, during the storming of Grozny by militants in August 1996, he was wounded in the head and neck.
After the wide distribution of a videotape recording the execution of Russian contractors, Khasanov went into hiding.

NAMED "TRACTOR MANAGER"

Hunching his shoulders and lowering his head, he sits dejectedly in a cage set up in the courtroom. His large, vein-knotted hands lie calmly on his knees. In appearance - an ordinary rural workaholic. But no, this "hard worker" is in a completely different field - a bloody trail of crimes stretches behind him. The trial is being held over one of the most inveterate Chechen bandits.

WEREWOLF FROM GROUNDGREEN
In the criminal case of Salaudin Timirbulatov, nicknamed "Tractor Driver", there is a curious document - a public reference signed by Ruslan Mucharov, head of the administration of the village of Borzoi, Shatoi district of the Chechen Republic. "After serving in the army, in the fall of 1979, Timirbulatov returned to his native collective farm named after S.M. Kirov, worked as a tractor driver. He took an active part in public life village, helping the poor and disadvantaged. He was awarded dozens of honorary and commendable letters, and was awarded a car. He ran as a candidate for deputies of the Supreme Council of the Chechen-Ingush ASSR. Married. Has 6 daughters. He was a member of the CPSU, a deputy of the district council of several convocations, a deputy of the Borzoevsky village council of all convocations since 1980.
What can you say? An exemplary Soviet citizen - judging by the characteristics. They trusted, nominated, rewarded - not realizing what villainy this outwardly restrained, law-abiding villager was capable of. Konstantin Krivorotov, senior prosecutor-criminalist of the Main Directorate of the Prosecutor's Office of the Russian Federation in the North Caucasus, believes that the defendant was naturally endowed with the qualities of a criminal. But he hid them under the guise of a respectable worker until a criminal regime was established in Chechnya, which awakened the basest instincts and vices in many.
With the coming to power of Dzhokhar Dudayev, Timirbulatov abandoned the collective farm and moved to Grozny. Here he becomes a member of one of the illegal armed groups, called the "Shatoi regiment". He was given a machine gun and 200 rounds of ammunition, and the leader of the gang, Beloev, set the task of actively counteracting Russian troops, attacking civilians, and taking them hostage. The gang bosses liked the special zeal of the newly minted "militant", and soon he received command of a detachment of several dozen of the same thugs, became a "field commander". Here began the bloody "exploits" of the former tractor driver.
On April 11, 1996, Akhmed Zakayev's gang attacked a military unit on the section of the Atagi-Goiskoye highway. Senior sergeant Eduard Fedotkov, privates Sergei Mitryaev, Alexei Shcherbatykh and junior sergeant Pavel Sharonov were captured. Timirbulatov volunteered to personally participate in their execution. Together with several henchmen, he took the captives to the skyscraper of Suraty, which is five kilometers from the village of Komsomolskoye. The bloodthirsty bandits came up with a particularly sophisticated execution. By order of the leader, the militant Bakharchiev slashed Sharonov's throat with a dagger, and the killers, laughing and patting each other on the shoulder, watched the agony of the junior sergeant. Private Shcherbatykh was subjected to the same execution. He was decapitated by the bandit Dukuah. Then it was the turn of Mitryaev and Fedotkov. Having given the senior sergeant to be punished by one of the militants named Khamzat, Timirbulatov ordered Mitryaev to kneel down and shot him in the back of the head from a pistol ... The killers were so sure of their impunity that they filmed this whole terrible scene with a video camera, taking proud poses. The video cassette became one of the irrefutable evidence.
HERO OF RUSSIA IDENTIFIED THE ENEMY
Trud recently published an article about the heroism of Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Zhukov, who went through all the circles of hell in Chechen captivity. For courage and courage, the officer was awarded the title of Hero of Russia. From the materials available at the Prosecutor General's Office, it became known that Timirbulatov was directly related to the capture of Zhukov.
In the summer of 1999, "Tractor Driver" went on promotion - he became the head of the so-called Shatoi regional department of Sharia security. And on January 31, 2000, his gang, along with other separatist formations, entered into battle with a detachment of Russian special forces in the vicinity of the village of Kharsenoy. There were wounded among the scouts. Helicopters with rescuers were sent for them. But the fire of the militants intensified, and the helicopters were forced to return. Lieutenant Colonel Zhukov, Captain Mogutnov and Sergeant Beglenko, who landed from them for the wounded, remained on the ground. It was on this handful of fighters that Timirbulatov's gang fell with all its might. The bleeding officers and sergeant were captured. Subsequently, Mogutnov and Beglenko managed to escape, and the bandits took Zhukov to Komsomolskoye, where they guarded especially carefully in the hope of exchanging for some "deserved" militant.
At the preliminary investigation, Timirbulatov admitted only the most obvious - his participation in the execution of military personnel. The capture of wounded officers and sergeants was categorically denied. The investigators had to take the arrested man to Rostov-on-Don, where Lieutenant Colonel Zhukov was in one of the hospitals. He immediately recognized the bandit.
IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF THE KILLER
The tractor driver was detained in March 2000 in the Chechen village of Babayurt, where he was hiding under the guise of a refugee. An investigation has begun. The degree of guilt and the measure of punishment, even for the most hardened recidivist, can only be determined by the court. The task of the preliminary investigation is to scrupulously collect evidence that unconditionally confirms the criminal activity of the suspect. This work, Konstantin Krivorotov admits, was not easy.
- People affected by Timirbulatov live in various regions of the country, so almost all of Russia turned out to be the area of ​​our investigation - from the Far East to the North Caucasus. In addition to armed confrontation with federal forces, the Traktorist gang was engaged in robbery, hostage-taking for ransom. For example, in January 1997, in Nalchik, they stole Turkish businessman Nazim Sabangioglu, for whose release they received 250,000 US dollars. And this is not the only such case. Timirbulatov is accused under 24 articles - a whole bunch of crimes, and the investigators had to prove each of them. When investigating the brutal murder of four servicemen, the investigation at first did not even know the names of the executed people. It was not possible to go to the crime scene for a long time, all the roads near the village of Komsomolskoye were mined by militants. But, despite this, we still managed to find the remains of the dead soldiers, and I personally had to carry out a difficult mission - to transfer them to unfortunate parents in Rostov-on-Don ...
The investigation has completed its work, now it's up to the court.
The trial of Timirbulatov is the first act of legal retribution against the leaders of the Chechen bandits. Konstantin Krivorotov is sure that others will follow this trial. It is only important, he believes, that the hearings be open. The Russians must see in the face of those who brought innumerable troubles and sufferings to our land under the bandit banners of Maskhadov, Basayev, Khattab... The Supreme Court of Kabardino-Balkaria sentenced a Chechen terrorist nicknamed "Tractor Driver" to life imprisonment. The public prosecutor V. Kravchenko demanded that the Chechen field commander be sentenced to death with confiscation of property.

The terrorist was detained by officers of the Ministry of Internal Affairs during the Whirlwind-Anti-Terror operation in March 2000 near the village of Duba-Yurt in Chechnya. He is accused of 24 crimes under 38 articles of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. Among them are premeditated murder, kidnapping, banditry, extortion and participation in illegal armed groups. The reading of the indictment at the beginning of the process lasted 5 hours. According to the public prosecutor, the Traktorist's guilt has been fully proven.

The first criminal case against Temirbulatov was initiated by the Main Directorate of the Prosecutor General's Office of the Russian Federation in the North Caucasus back in 1996, when he was identified on a videotape depicting the massacre of Russian servicemen. Later, these shots were seen by the whole country.

The second criminal case was initiated after the kidnapping in January 1997 of the Turkish businessman Sabanci-Oglu, whose relatives ransomed him for $250,000. At the same time, in Grozny, Temirbulatov's bandits captured a resident of Ossetia. "Traktorist" is also accused of kidnapping and encroachment on the lives of Russian servicemen in January 2000.

The trial of Temirbulatov began on 11 January. The testimonies of witnesses were heard, including Turkish citizen Sabanci-Oglu, who confirmed that the "Tractor Driver" held him as a hostage. Temirbulatov was also recognized by the lieutenant colonel of the parachute troops Alexander Zhukov, who was captured by bandits a year ago. He miraculously managed to stay alive: as a result of a special operation, he was released.

Former officer Mikhail Isaichenkov told the court that back in 1996 he fell into "slavery" to Temirbulatov. According to him, the "master" periodically beat his slaves and threatened to kill them. According to witnesses, "Traktorist" led a detachment of 20 militants, which was distinguished by particular cruelty towards captured Russian soldiers and officers.

However, Temirbulatov himself does not admit to most of the charges brought against him. According to Traktorist, the only thing he is guilty of is the execution of Russian soldiers in the spring of 1996, filmed by the militants themselves. It is difficult to deny such a fact. If not for this film, then nothing would be known about Temirbulatov at all.

Salautdin Temirbulatov - Chechen militant

S.Temirbulatov since 1994 participated in illegal armed formations.
In 1995, he headed the detachment he formed and was one of the irreconcilable and cruel field commanders.
On April 12, 1996, in the village of Komsomolskoye, Urus-Martan District, Temirbulatov personally participated in the execution of four Russian contract servicemen, one of whom he shot with his own hand. Documentary evidence of these crimes was a videotape that fell into the hands of the Russian special services in 1997. At the same time, a criminal case was initiated against him.
On March 19, 2000, he was detained near the village of Dubai-Yurt by members of the Russian special services.
On March 20, 2000, the General Prosecutor's Office of the Russian Federation filed a formal charge of committing a crime under Article 105, Part 2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation ("Murder"), Article 222 ("Use of weapons") and Article 208 ("Participation in illegal armed groups" ).
On January 11, 2001, the trial of Temirbulatov began in the Supreme Court of Kabardino-Balkaria.

Salaudin Timirbulatov is a well-known Chechen field commander and terrorist. Known as Tractor Driver. This criminal became infamous in 1996, when during the execution of four Russian soldiers who were captured. The execution scene was filmed and then released to the public as a deterrent.

early years

Salaudin Timirbulatov was born in 1960. He was born in a small village called Borzoi. It is located on the territory of the Chechen-Ingush Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. After school he went to serve in the army, he returned to the "citizen" in 1979.

Arriving in his native village, he got a job as a tractor driver at the collective farm named after Sergei Mironovich Kirov. While Salaudin Timirbulatov worked, he had exclusively positive characteristics, literally dozens of letters of thanks and letters of commendation, he was even awarded a car for hard work.

He married and raised six children. Became a member of the Communist Party in 1980 Soviet Union, after that he was repeatedly elected a deputy of the village and district councils, even ran for the Supreme Council of the Chechen-Ingush Autonomous Republic, but did not pass.

During the time of Dzhokhar Dudayev

In 1991, an ex-general of the Soviet army turned out to be at the head of Chechnya. He began to pursue a tough nationalist course, which was ultimately aimed at separating the republic from the Soviet Union - this is what he sought, called for in his speeches.

His appeals and speeches then inspired many Chechens, among whom was Salaudin Khasmagamadovich Timirbulatov. Soon, he decided for himself to join the ranks of illegal armed groups as part of the Dudayev army, which began to resist the federal authorities sent to the region to maintain the constitutional order.

At first, Salaudin Timirbulatov served under the command of Beloev in the so-called Shatoi regiment, which got its name from a village in the south of the republic, in the Argun Gorge region. For his collective farm past, he soon received the nickname Tractor Driver, under which he became known to other members of the armed gangs.

Dudayev's service was very successful. Soon, Salaudin Timirbulatov, nicknamed Tractor Driver, was appointed as the commander of an armed formation, which included several dozen militants. Since then, the gang under his leadership began to regularly attack units of the federal troops with varying degrees of success.

With the coming to power of Dzhokhar Dudayev, Timirbulatov abandoned the collective farm and moved to Grozny. Here he becomes a member of one of the illegal armed groups, called the "Shatoi regiment". He was given a machine gun and 200 rounds of ammunition, and the leader of the gang, Beloev, set the task of actively counteracting Russian troops, attacking civilians, and taking them hostage. The bandit bosses liked the special zeal of the newly minted "militant", and soon he received command of a detachment of several dozen of the same thugs, and became a "field commander". Here began the bloody "exploits" of the former tractor driver.

Demonstration execution

On April 11, 1996, on the section of the Atagi-Goyskoye highway, the gang of Akhmed Zakayev attacked a military unit. Senior sergeant Eduard Fedotkov, privates Sergei Mitryaev, Alexei Shcherbatykh and junior sergeant Pavel Sharonov were captured. Timirbulatov volunteered to personally participate in their execution. Together with several henchmen, he took the captives to the skyscraper of Suraty, which is five kilometers from the village of Komsomolskoye.

The bloodthirsty bandits came up with a particularly sophisticated execution. By order of the leader, the militant Bakharchiev slashed Sharonov's throat with a dagger, and the killers, laughing and patting each other on the shoulder, watched the agony of the junior sergeant. Private Shcherbatykh was subjected to the same execution. He was decapitated by the bandit Dukuah.

Then it was the turn of Mitryaev and Fedotkov. Giving the senior sergeant to be punished by one of the militants named Khamzat, Timirbulatov ordered Mitryaev to kneel down and shot him in the back of the head with a pistol ... The killers were so sure of their impunity that they filmed this whole terrible scene with a video camera, taking proud poses.

This crime gained public outcry, as the militants filmed the entire process on camera. In the future, when most of them were detained, it was this video that became the decisive evidence in court. The execution of soldiers by Salaudin Timirbulatov was his worst, but not the only crime.

Tractor gang crimes

The gang led by Timirbulatov was spotted and later charged with numerous crimes. Its members carried out repeated abductions of people in order to then demand a ransom for them.

For example, at the very beginning of 1997, a Turkish businessman named Nazim Sabanciglou was captured by members of the gang. For him, they managed to bail out about 250 thousand dollars.

In mid-1999, the militant Timirbulatov headed the so-called Shatoi regional department of Sharia security under the new Chechen government, which did not last long.

Capture of officer Alexander Zhukov

In the biography of Salaudin Timirbulatov there is another well-known episode related to the capture of Russian military personnel. He was one of the participants in the capture of a lieutenant colonel of the Russian army.

This happened in January 2000, during an operation by federal troops to rescue scouts from the third motorized rifle division. Zhukov led the search and rescue operation, which was carried out near the village of Kharsenoy in the Argun Gorge. The scouts were in an ambush, were forced to evade pursuit, having three seriously wounded comrades in their arms.

Zhukov arrived at the scene in Mi-24 helicopters, despite the fact that the scouts were fighting with the militants surrounding them, and descended to the ground on a winch. With her help, seriously wounded soldiers began to be lifted aboard the helicopter. At this time, the militants fired at the helicopter in order to prevent the death of the aircraft, the lieutenant colonel decided to interrupt the rescue operation, and he joined the scouts.

Helicopters at its coordinates attacked the militants, which allowed the group to make a breakthrough. They managed to break away, but the next day the Chechens tracked them down by the roar of helicopters that arrived for evacuation, attacked again. By this time, almost all the scouts managed to be saved. When the helicopters began to fire, Zhukov ordered them to leave, while he himself remained with Sergeant Dmitry Beglenko and Captain Anatoly Mogutnov. The three of them again tried to escape from the encirclement, but all three were seriously wounded and captured.

In Chechen captivity, Zhukov was tortured and beaten. His group was captured just by a gang under the command of Timirbulatov. The tractor driver demanded that the Russian policy in Chechnya be condemned by the Western world, Zhukov was forced to convert to Islam and issue codes for calling combat helicopters. They did not kill the lieutenant colonel, hoping to still get this information or exchange him for one of the relatives of the field commander. After some time, he was transferred to a detachment of a more influential commander.

In March, he was brought to the village, where the militants were found by federal troops. When trying to escape from the village through mine traps and stretch marks, they put the prisoner in front of them as a human shield. Caught in the crossfire, Zhukov received 4 wounds. He was taken to hospital in critical condition. He was awarded the title of Hero of Russia for his courage in Chechen captivity.

At the same time, Timirbulatov himself was detained. This was done by domestic special services during the operation on March 19, 2000. During the investigation, the field commander denied his involvement in the kidnappings and keeping them in captivity.

In this regard, the testimony of Lieutenant Colonel Zhukov became decisive, who, despite severe injuries, fully recovered after eight months and returned to the ranks of the Russian army. Zhukov spoke at the trial, testifying against the terrorist. Officially, only the most obvious crime was recognized as a terrorist - the execution of four Russian servicemen, which was recorded on a video that ended up in the hands of investigators.

In January 2001, the process began in the Supreme Court of the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic. Already in mid-February, a Chechen terrorist was found guilty of committing crimes under eleven articles of the criminal code.

Among them were the holding of hostages recognized by the court, the infringement on life, theft of firearms, robbery, the acquisition and carrying of firearms, the distribution of drugs, the execution of military personnel, murders.

According to the totality of the crimes committed, the Chechen field commander Timirbulatov was sentenced to life imprisonment in a special regime correctional colony. The verdict was appealed to the Supreme Court, but this instance left it unchanged.

Serving the sentence

The tractor driver was detained in March last year in the Chechen village of Babayurt, where he was hiding under the guise of a refugee. An investigation has begun. The degree of guilt and the measure of punishment, even for the most hardened recidivist, can only be determined by the court. The task of the preliminary investigation is to scrupulously collect evidence that unconditionally confirms the criminal activity of the suspect. This work, Konstantin Krivorotov admits, was not easy.

“People who suffered from Timirbulatov live in various regions of the country, so almost all of Russia turned out to be the area of ​​our investigation, from the Far East to the North Caucasus. In addition to armed confrontation with federal forces, the Traktorist gang was engaged in robbery, hostage-taking for ransom.

For example, in January 1997, in Nalchik, they stole Turkish businessman Nazim Sabangioglu, for whose release they received 250,000 US dollars. And this is not the only such case. Timirbulatov is accused under 24 articles - a whole bunch of crimes, and the investigators had to prove each of them. When investigating the brutal murder of four servicemen, the investigation at first did not even know the names of the executed people. It was not possible to go to the crime scene for a long time, all the roads near the village of Komsomolskoye were mined by militants. But, despite this, we still managed to find the remains of the dead soldiers, and I personally had to complete a difficult mission - to transfer them to unfortunate parents in Rostov-on-Don ...

In the criminal case of Salaudin Timirbulatov, nicknamed "Tractor Driver", there is a curious document - a public reference signed by the head of the administration of the village of Borzoi, Shatoi district of the Chechen Republic, Ruslan Mucharov. “After serving in the army, in the fall of 1979, Timirbulatov returned to his native collective farm named after S.M. Kirov, worked as a tractor driver. He took an active part in the social life of the village, helped the poor and disadvantaged. He was awarded dozens of honorary and commendable letters, and was awarded a car. He ran as a candidate for deputies of the Supreme Council of the Chechen-Ingush ASSR. Married. Has 6 daughters. He was a member of the CPSU, a deputy of the district council of several convocations, a deputy of the Borzoevsky village council of all convocations since 1980.

Currently, the militant remains imprisoned in the Black Dolphin colony. Salaudin Timirbulatov has been in prison for 17 years. Now he is 58. At the trial, he pleaded not guilty, despite the terrible video evidence. Said it was a montage. The court managed to prove only one murder and participation in illegal armed groups. However, there were legends about the victims of the Tractor Driver in Chechnya.

... The tractor driver at first kept a greyhound. I did not want to scrub the "point". Exactly two months later educational work everything fell into place. A measured rustling was heard from the chamber - this was the “field commander of the army of Dudaev” who was scrubbing a brass crane, for which he received a new nickname - the Crane Operator.

According to some reports, the prisoner is sick with a severe form of tuberculosis. The colony "Black Dolphin" is located in the Orenburg region, in the city of Sol-Iletsk. Now it contains 863 people who are under constant video surveillance.

Now 26 citizens convicted of terrorism and participation in illegal armed formations are serving sentences in places of deprivation of liberty. They are serving their terms in the Orenburg, Smolensk, Saratov, Kemerovo regions, Stavropol and Khabarovsk territories. A few dozen more militants are awaiting trial in a pre-trial detention center. Such a meager figure is explained by the fact that it is very difficult to prove in court that the accused fought against the state. A militant is easier to jail for robbery and murder or for drug distribution.

TERRORIST NAMED TRACTOR OPERATOR

Russian special services detained Chechen field commander Salautdin Temirbulatov. He personally shot the prisoners, filmed the execution on video, and sent the cassettes to the Russian troops, hoping in this way to intimidate the feds.

During the first Chechen campaign, video cassettes with recordings of the executions of soldiers and officers were planted at the locations of Russian troops more than once. On one of the tapes, the murder of three contract servicemen was filmed.

In the foreground is a group of bearded men in black masks with machine guns at the ready. Only one of them - without a beard, mask and machine gun, but in camouflage and in a black beret. He looks like he's in charge here. In front of the militants - four captives in military uniform without insignia with their hands tied. The beardless man takes a pistol from his shoulder holster and shoots a kneeling soldier in the back of the head. A few seconds later, the militants are already kicking three corpses with their boots. The fourth soldier, who turned out to be not a contract soldier, but a conscript, is untied and released to the feds. To say: “So it will be with everyone!”

Hoping to identify and find the killers, the operatives showed the cassette to “loyal” Chechens. Several people immediately stated that the main executioner on the film was none other than the field commander Salautdin Temirbulatov, well-known in the republic.

40-year-old Temirbulatov, a native of Borzoi, was an ordinary machine operator at the local state farm ten years ago, for which he received the nickname Tractor Driver. In the early 90s, he and his countrymen actively supported the rebellious General Dudayev, and when he came to power, he received the post of head of the Urus-Martan district of Chechnya. When did the first Chechen War, Temirbulatov, who already enjoys a certain authority in the republic, recruited a detachment of 200 people and became one of the most implacable and cruel field commanders. Formally, his detachment entered the armed formation of the well-known in Chechnya Daud Akhmadov, and Temirbulatov himself became his right hand. In turn, Akhmadov with his army was personally subordinate to Ruslan Gelaev.

In 1996, immediately after Temirbulatov was identified on film, the Prosecutor General's Office opened a criminal case against him for murder and banditry. The tractor driver was put on the wanted list, but could only be found four years later.

Electronic version reprinted from the site
http://conrad2001.narod.ru/

Six months ago, the Chechen bandit Salman Raduev was sentenced. The verdict, upheld by the Collegium of the Supreme Court, entered into force. Now Raduev is being transferred to one of the colonies intended for serving a life sentence. Raduev is not the first and, God forbid, not the last. Izvestia correspondents visited the city of Sol-Iletsk, Orenburg Region, where five terrorists are serving life sentences in colony YuK-25/6, including Salautdin Temirbulatov, nicknamed Tractor Driver. This report is an attempt to make the punishment that the terrorists bear public. As in the Middle Ages, as in modern America. And even if this is not the death penalty, but society has the right to see that these people are punished and how exactly they are punished. See and get moral satisfaction.

Black Dolphin

Passing by the administrative building of the colony, one might think that in the small town of Sol-Iletsk there is a dolphinarium: in front of the porch, two human-sized cast-iron black dolphins froze in a jump. Looks ominous and incomprehensible. What's with the dolphins?

Back in the 1980s, when there was a special regime colony for tuberculosis patients here, one convict craftsman made two fountains in the form of black dolphins. They are still in the restricted area. These are not as sinister as those two remakes that are at large. But the impression is like iron on glass. The dolphins are black, and the balls on which they stand are red. Resort style.

The name stuck by analogy with the "White Swan", - the head of the colony Rafis Abdyushev told me. - This is the name of the colony in Solikamsk, Perm region, where now a site for PLS has also been opened - life imprisonment. We went there to gain experience.

What's the point of this dolphin?

Since we, too, have become a colony for PLS, the meaning has appeared. The black dolphin is a convict who dives here to us and does not come up. People also say that here all the convicts here live in the pose of a black dolphin. Sometimes this pose is called differently - Ku.

Is it like in the movie "Kin-dza-dza"?

Salautdin Temirbulatov, Colonel Dudaev's army, nicknamed Tractor Driver, lives in the Black Dolphin. On the next floor - two organizers of the explosion of a house in Buynaksk on September 4, 1999, which killed 58 people, Alisultan Salikhov and Isa Zainutdinov. In the same cell, Tamerlan Aliyev and Zubayru Murtuzaliev, convicted of aiding the organizers of the terrorist act in Makhachkala on Parkhomenko Street on September 4, 1998, which claimed the lives of 18 people. Their neighbors in the colony are the convicted Rylkov, who accounted for 37 rapes and 4 murders, the convicted Bukhankin, who considers himself a student of Chikatilo, a certain Nikolaev and Maslich, convicted of cannibalism. And another 540 convicts.

We meet each new batch of convicts in this way, - said deputy political officer Alexei Viktorovich Tribushnoy. - They are blindfolded through the line of dogs on a leash, which bark in their ear. From the paddy wagon to the camera itself. The convicts do not know that the dogs are on a leash, so they expect reprisals at any moment. After this procedure, they are already in such a state that it is almost not necessary to use rubber batons and bird cherry. But all the same, once here, each convict goes through a fifteen-day educational period.

Do you teach "rubber alphabet"?

Now there is almost no need to use special equipment. These are the first stages in 2000, I had to bring up the full program. People still did not quite understand what life imprisonment meant. The same Temirbulatov did not understand Russian at first. We call the head of the regional UIN Alexander Gnezdilov: "Comrade General, he doesn't understand Russian!" - "How does he not understand, so that tomorrow morning he understands." Two hours later we call back: "Comrade General, everything is in order, we are already going through the conjugations." Now the new arrivals are simply pouring into the existing system. They need these 15 days only to learn all the reports and learn how to take the Ku posture.

We went up to the third floor of the prison building still built by Catherine. Once upon a time, Pugachev's "militants" were sitting here, working at local salt mines. I looked into the camera's peephole. The convicts in black robes with stripes on their trousers, sleeves and caps sat 2-4 people in a cell. Or rather, they didn’t sit, but walked from corner to corner - three steps there, three steps back. Some ran. Many scrubbed the toilets or washed the floors - out of boredom they do this 3-4 times a day. I walked along the corridor in both directions and looked into each eye - the same thing. The political officer rattled the bolt and the convicts in the peephole, as if struck by an electric current, rushed to the walls.

What are they?

When the door opens, everyone should already be in the pose of Ku.

The door opened, leaving a floor-to-ceiling grate in front of it. To the right and left, people froze against the walls. If you want to understand what Ku Pose is, stand facing the wall so that you can reach it with your hand. Legs twice as wide as shoulders. Now bend so that you rest against the wall not with your forehead, but with the back of your head. Raise your arms behind your back as far as possible and spread your fingers. That's not all. Close your eyes and open your mouth. That's it.

Why open your mouth? I asked the political officer.

Something sharp can be hidden in the mouth. You do not think that we came up with this for fun. All instructions are written in blood. A life-sentenced prisoner is the most dangerous convict. You know, there is such a word - nishtyak. This is when nothing is scary. There is no death penalty, and no matter what you do, they will not give you worse than a life sentence.

This question and answer came later. Because immediately after opening the door, one of the convicts rushed to the middle of the room, bent before us in the Ku position and chattered in a very loud and very happy voice:

Hello, citizen chief! The convict Sviridov, the convict on duty, reports!!!

Then followed without hesitation full list articles under which Sviridov was convicted of robbery, premeditated murder under aggravating circumstances, theft as part of an organized group and involvement of a minor in criminal activity, information about which court and when it passed the verdict, decisions on cassation complaints. And all this - without a single hesitation and with three exclamation points.

Questions, complaints, statements?

To the original. Second.

The first stuck his head against the wall, the second rushed to the middle.

Yes, Citizen Chief!!! Hello, citizen chief! Convicted Barbaryan reports!!!

It followed from what followed that Barbaryan was imprisoned for the murder of four people.

To the original. The third.

Yes, Citizen Chief!!! Hello, citizen chief!

The last report lasted especially long. The enumeration of articles alone took half a minute: 102nd, 317th, 206th, 126th, 222nd, 109th, 118th, 119th, 325th ...

The political officer closed the cell and turned on the light in it.

The political officer turned off the light:

Thank you, citizen chief!!!

Post number fifteen, questions, complaints, statements?

A short pause and a slender roar from all cameras at once:

No way, citizen boss!

If the political officer had not told me, I would never have guessed that the third report was delivered by Temirbulatov, nicknamed Tractor Driver. In the pose of Ku, all people are the same. The administration of the colony did not even immediately understand what other terrorists, besides Temirbulatov, they were talking about.

Camera 141

Alisultan Salikhov and Isa Zainutdinov, convicted of blowing up a house in Buynaksk, were already waiting for us on another floor, in a special corridor cage. In profile, with their mouths open, they looked like a fish thrown out on the sand. In the same position, they were escorted to the cell for a conversation, put on a stool built into the concrete and handcuffed to a special eyelet. Again a report and an order to open your eyes. Alisultan Salikhov finally became like a man, not a robot, but his eyes ran past me like crazy.

What is he?

They are not allowed to make eye contact. To not remember faces.

Salikhov and Zainutdinov were sentenced to life for organizing the bombing of a house in Buynaksk in September 1999. This was the first of a series of monstrous terrorist attacks, after which the counterterrorist operation was resumed in Chechnya. 58 people died under the ruins. Salikhov personally drove a truck filled with explosives to a house on Levanevsky Street. He still does not admit his guilt.

I was a private driver. My older brother called me and said that his car had broken down and that I should come and help. I drove the car to where he said, but I did not know that it contained explosives!

Do you feel remorse?

What repentance can there be if I do not consider myself guilty?

How are your relationships with your cellmates?

Fine. They are all sitting on the same article.

Are you reading anything?

Now I am reading the Quran. And before that, I read Orthodox newspapers.

And how are you - both?

To know. Everything must be known by man.

Do you perform a religious ceremony?

5 times a day.

Isa Zainutdinov is almost an old man, although when he was wanted, among his signs was an "athletic physique." In Russian, he does not speak very well yet, but the report is already uttering without an accent. He also does not consider himself guilty.

It's all politics. Religious people interfered with our authorities. Interfered with their corruption, their business. And in order to deal with them, the officials did not disdain to blow them up. And I just got into debt, I had to sell the car. I didn't know what it was for. I can swear on the Koran.

What are your first impressions of this establishment? In such strict conditions, is it possible to remain human at all?

I'll tell you this: I met people at the stage who killed 3-4-5 people. For money. You can't make these people human anymore. We didn't kill a man in our cell. Our people are calm, good, normal people.

What are you hoping for?

To the Almighty. And I also have hope that someday this power will go away. A year, two, three - and gone. Brezhnev is gone, Putin is gone, another one is gone.

I read personal files, and doubts about their innocence dissipate. At the trial, Zainutdinov admitted that his son Magomedrasul worked for Khattab and that he went to visit him in Chechnya and there met Salikhov, a regular visitor to the Wahhabi mosque on Pirogov Street in Buynaksk. The investigation found that, returning from Khattab, they got two cars for the attack (the second truck, parked at another house, did not explode by pure chance). Then Salikhov himself parked the truck in right place, and after the explosion, both left for Grozny to Khattab. There they carried weapons for a long time, but they claim that they never fired a shot. Khattab then made them fake passports and tried to smuggle them to Azerbaijan. Zainutdinov was detained in Makhachkala, Salikhov - in Baku.

Now they are sitting in cell 141. Tamerlan Aliyev, chief commissioner of the Pension Fund for Buinaksk district, and police lieutenant colonel Zubaira Murtuzaliev, organizers of the assassination attempt on Makhachkala Mayor Said Amirov, who killed 18 people, are also there. The first two are here only 3 weeks, the second - a month and a half. Aliyev and Murtuzaliev, of course, are also innocent. It is especially natural for Aliyev to be innocent. He is a man of superior economic education, disposes to itself.

After lunch break pea soup, potatoes, soy meat) brought Temirbulatov. It was more interesting to talk to him, because he could not talk about his innocence. Everyone remembers the video in which he puts a Russian soldier on the ground with a shot in the back of the head.

machine operator

Temirbulatov, do you want to talk to the press, do you allow yourself to be photographed? the political officer asked when the tractor driver, handcuffed to a stool, opened his eyes.

Citizen chief, - Temirbulatov's voice was hoarse and crying. Compared to the one we saw on the video recording of the executions of soldiers, he seemed half the size. - Thank you, citizen chief, for asking. I can answer questions. It is desirable to shoot, I do not agree. Because... Can I answer why?

You can.

On March 20, 2000, photojournalists did something to me that had never happened to me before. They made me - how to say - Santa Claus. Thank you, citizen chief.

What does Santa Claus mean? Mounting? - I did not understand.

No, they just made a clown out of me. After all, if you treat me fairly, I'm nobody.

What does nobody mean?

You heard, probably, they gave me the nickname Tractor Driver. I am a mechanic by trade. But I never had such a nickname. The journalists who filmed me for the first time asked me what my specialty was. I said tractor driver. Since that day, for the third year now, everyone calls me a tractor driver. You make ten words from one word.

How are you kept here?

I have nothing to say about this mode. They support me normally, they treat me normally, they feed me normally, I have no complaints.

I'm not about compliance with the regime, but about severity.

I have no complaints about rigor. What I have to do, I have done and will do, I have nothing against it.

You have been living here since August 27 last year. Do you feel any inadequate changes in yourself?

No, I can't say that. Compared to what they did to me in the pre-trial detention center, it's very good here.

What happened in jail?

You do not know? I'll tell you then. How I came to this institution, I do not know. I was not conscious most of the time. Everything was with me, everything was. I just didn't die why, I don't know. In this institution, I came to my senses a little, to tell the truth. Here they treat normally, they feed normally, I have no complaints about this institution.

They say you have tuberculosis.

Yes, still in jail. I have a closed form.

Do you communicate with cellmates?

We sit together, we are together. So, we listen to the radio, read books, newspapers. At first I did not read Russian well, but now I have learned well. I do not read the Koran, because I do not know Arabic, I read the "Talisman" - these are prayers.

Are you remorseful?

Did not understand you.

Do you regret what you did?

To be honest, I didn't commit the crime. And who brought us to this, they must answer for it. We had elected a president, parliament, ministries, we had everything - we were subordinate to them. People do not know anything, people obey the authorities. I killed at a time when there was President Dudayev, Dzhokhar Dudayev.

Does your family visit?

Yes, letters are written, parcels are sent. Once the wife came, the uncle came.

What did you talk about?

The main thing is to see you. In general, I consider myself a dead person at the moment. They don't think so, they still hope.

Are you treated well enough here?

Yes... they treat... enough...

When Temirbulatov again stood in the pose of Ku, I saw his tears on the floor.

Silier Curve

Political officer Aleksey Tribushnoy, a physician by training, diagnosed what he saw from the point of view of the theory of stress.

There is such a Canadian scientist Jean Silier. He deduced the general effect of stress on the human body - the so-called Silier curve. Everyone goes along this curve. In two years, 30 people have already reached the cemetery. The first year, as a rule, a person lives by knowing these conditions and himself in these conditions. Then another three years there is a period of stabilization, at which time a person is like a robot, he executes commands without hesitation. Next - two ways. If a person adapts, he can continue to be a robot. If not, it will fade rather quickly. Both mental and physical. Inflammation of the lymph nodes, ulceration gastrointestinal tract, growth of the cortical layer of the adrenal glands. Those four are still in the learning stage. They hope and believe. Temirbulatov has already entered the phase of stabilization, has reached, so to speak, full Ku.

Do you feel sorry for them?

No. You know, I had pigeons as a child. I cherished them, cherished them, loved them. And once my dovecote was broken into, the pigeons were taken away, and the chicks, left without parents, died before my eyes. It was such a shock for me! Why? I raised them, fed them, loved them, and someone who doesn’t give a damn about all this, just came and did it. That's probably why I went into the correctional system. And when compassion wakes up in me, I remember these doves.

You shouldn't have come to write about them at all, - the director of the colony Rafis Abdyushev said at parting. - You don't need to write about them, you just need to forget them. So write: "Everything, forget it." Although our employees work for 2,000 rubles a month, they know their duty and will never let anyone out of here. You only need one thing: erase these people from memory. Consider that they are no longer on Earth, consider that they are already in space.