Chechens commemorate banker Arsamakov's brothers, who disappeared in 2007

The village of Alkhan-Kala, Grozny District of Chechnya, hosted a commemoration party (tezet) of Yunus and Yusup Arsamakov, brothers of the well-known Moscow banker Abubakar Arsamakov; the brothers were kidnapped last February and until recently were regarded as missing. Their relatives cherished hopes that they are alive.

Yunus Arsamakov, 56, head of the Public Services Committee of the Chechen Republic, his brother Yusup, 59 (brothers of Abubakar Arsamakov, President of the Moscow Industrial Bank (MIB)) and their driver Hamzat Magomadov disappeared on February 8 in the mountainous Shatoy District under unidentified circumstances.

Rumours spread over Chechnya that the kidnapping of Arsamakovs could be organized by the fighters of the "Vostok" (East) special-purpose battalion, subordinated to the so-called GRU (Main intelligence Directorate of the Russian General Staff), then commanded by Sulim Yamadaev, who had serious frictions with Abubakar Arsamakov.

However, it became known later that Sulim Yamadaev and his deputies had personally visited Alkhan-Yurt village where Arsamakovs' parents live and swore on the Koran that they had nothing to do with this case.

However, now it becomes clear that Sulim Yamadaev was personally involved in disappearance of Arsamakov brothers. Yesterday, on November 10, evidences of former servicemen of the "Vostok" disbanded last week were made public - of Rasul Baimuradov, group commander for the Shatoy direction, and Gurman Gadzhimuradov, company commander, who had informed the law enforcement bodies of Chechnya that on February 8 last year they kidnapped two Arsamakov brothers under Sulim Yamadaev's order and brought them to the "Vostok" base.

According to the witnesses, the Arsamakovs then were taken away from the battalion base by Yamadaev's younger brother Badruddi, who was de-facto commander of one of "Vostok" subdivisions. Witness Baimuradov has stated that Yunus and Yusup Arsamakovs were shot dead by Badruddi Yamadaev; their bodies were then fragmented.