13 July 2009, 12:00
Chechnya: captured separatists' leader calls Doku Umarov to surrender
In the evening on July 12, one of Chechen TV Channels showed a video report with Rustam Makhauri, the militants' field commander captured in the end of last week by power agents in the Sunzha District of Ingushetia. He said that he had understood his misbehaviour and called the leader of separatists Doku Umarov to surrender to the authorities.
According to those who saw the report, Makhauri looked not quite adequate and spoke in a very low voice.
Initially Makhauri was presented as the Minister of Defence of Ichkeria, but then - as Doku Umarov's security.
In the meantime, information about Rustam Makhauri's health conditions and whereabouts is contradictory. It became known from a source in law enforcement bodies of Chechnya that he has heavy wounds of his legs. It was reported that he had been wounded some days before his captivity in a mortar shelling of a militants' base in the vicinity of the village of Arshty, Sunzha District of Ingushetia.
Other sources assert that Makhauri is in hospital under reinforced guard awaiting a possible amputation of both legs. According to other data, the militants' Amir is kept at the base of one of Kadyrov's units in Tsentaroy village.
Author: Alexander Ivanov Source: CK correspondent
