Gennady Nikolayevich Shpigun was one of the few people devoted to their work. He was a decisive person, always ready to go to the end and not compromising with the enemy. These qualities aroused confidence on the part of the country's leadership, and the active actions in the first Chechen war inspired confidence in the success of his mission. Therefore, he was appointed the representative of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation to the very epicenter of hostilities - the Republic of Ichkeria. Further abduction and death of General G.N. Shpigun did not underestimate his merits to the country.
short biography
The biography of General Shpigun from the very beginning went exclusively upward (although at the end it ended tragically). The future Major General of the Ministry of Internal Affairs was born on February 5, 1947 in the Babayurt district of the Dagestan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. His youthful years passed there. Until 1969, he was listed at the Dagdiesel factory, where he perfectly mastered the use of the milling machine.
After 1969, he decided to begin social and political activities. Until 1980, his track record included posts in the secretariat of the Caspian Mining Committee, assistant to the head of the regional committee of Dagestan, secretary of the Komsomol Council in Dagdiesel. In 1980, Shpigun was appointed assistant to the head of the branch of the Dagestan Regional Committee of the CPSU.
In 1984, he swung even higher and began work in the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs. Subsequently, his career went uphill even after the collapse of the Soviet regime. As mentioned above, General Shpigun did not stand aside during the First Chechen War. He was responsible for all the detention facilities in Chechnya. The Chechen politician and supporter of the independence of Ichkeria, Dzhokhar Dudaev, even included him in his black list.
Starting in 1996 and for 2 years, Major General Shpigun became a special expert of the General Staff of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia in the emergency department, and then an inspector. In 1998, he was appointed to the post of head of inspection at the main department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation. At the end of January 1999, he received a new assignment, which was his last.
Abduction
In early February of the same year, General Shpigun took up the post of plenipotentiary of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation in Ichkeria, replacing Adam Aushev in this position. Among the Chechens, this decision caused obvious discontent, and Aslan Maskhadov actually asked the Russian leadership to recall the new plenipotentiary representative.
On March 5, 1999, General Shpigun was planning to fly home in a few days to congratulate his wife on International Women's Day. Unfortunately, his dream was not destined to come true. The unexpected happened on that day. Shpigun at the airport of Grozny was abducted by militants and taken to an unknown destination.
According to witnesses, when the general was on a plane and the airliner began to disperse, 3 masked men penetrated to the teeth from the luggage compartment into the passenger compartment. They were added 2 more people from the salon. Shepigun was forced out of the plane and taken away. When the pilot was already directing the plane into the hangar, two UAZs blocked the way. People in military uniform searched the airliner and, making sure that there was no general in it, got into cars and drove away.
Negotiations and searches
Already on March 17, militants, through intermediaries, demanded $ 15 million for the captive general. During the negotiations, the amount decreased more than once, in the end the kidnappers stopped at an amount of 3 million. However, the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation did not intend to pay money to criminals. Interior Minister Stepashin said he would make every effort to free General Shpigun. Attempts were made and various options were developed: from negotiations with militant intermediaries to readiness to launch a missile attack on militant bases in Ichkeria and by connecting special forces.
The situation was complicated by the fact that the abductors hid the abducted general over and over again. In addition, there were many spies among the ichker policemen. At the end of December 1999, Elder Achkhoy-Martan reported through the press that Shpigun had recently been transported to Georgia and claimed 5 million for him. At the end of January 2000, information appeared about the whereabouts of the captive general, but it turned out to be false. The search continued.
Body detection
On the last day of March 2000 in the village of Itum-Kali, with the help of local residents, the body of a prisoner was found, who, according to them, managed to escape, and then froze in the forest. The captive militant said it was General Shpigun. A medical examination confirmed this fact. The brother also recognized General Shpigun in the deceased. However, the Ministry of the Interior was in no hurry to confirm the result of the medical examination and even tried to deny this information. At the end of April of the same year, an operation was carried out to rescue the nephew of the Makhachkala governor from captivity, who claimed that fighters held Shpigun in a nearby basement.
Alleged Abduction Customers
The abduction of General Shpigun in Ichkeria was a kind of protest by the local population. Along with the search for the kidnapped general, the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation tried to find out who is the customer of the terrible crime. Since Chechnya at that time was the hottest spot in the Russian Federation and was literally teeming with bandit groups, there were plenty of versions.
It is worth recalling that General Shpigun took the post of plenipotentiary, having ousted Adam Aushev, the brother of Ruslan Aushev, the president of Ingushetia. The replacement of a local person by a stranger among the Caucasians was not welcomed and was considered an insult. The elders of Achkhoy-Martan expressed their displeasure. However, their request was not heard.
The most compelling reasons for accusing Shpigun’s abduction were from the most radical Chechen field commander, Shamil Basayev. In the early days, his name was considered the first among prospective customers. The names of the brothers Akhmadovs, Baudi Bakuev and Arbi Baraev were also mentioned. The commander of customs and border guards of Chechnya Magomed Khatuev, as well as the assistant to the chief of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ichkeria, Nasrudi Bazhiev, were also listed in the list of sponsors of the abduction.
The most unexpected was the presence on the customer list of Boris Berezovsky. Shpigun knew about his financial ties with Chechen fighters and for this reason could be eliminated.
Reasons for refusal of repayment
Despite the fact that the abductors reduced the ransom amount several times, the leadership of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation was not going to pay money to the militants. If earlier the conditions of the criminals were fulfilled, then in the case of General Shpigun the situation has changed. There were good reasons for that. First, kidnapping has become a common occurrence in Chechnya. By 2000, there were more than 700 such cases. The payment of a ransom for each prisoner would have hit the budget of a not yet strong Russia, and in fact would have been outright financing of the militants. General Shpigun himself opposed this step at the time. He believed that bandit formations should be dealt with from a position of strength. Secondly, the fulfillment of all the conditions of the criminals from the outside looked like an open weakness of the Russian leadership and would undoubtedly undermine its international authority. This could not be allowed, so the buyback option was immediately rejected.
The funeral
The farewell ceremony with General Gennady Shpigun stretched out into several stages and began back in Makhachkala at the airport. It was attended by the head of the National Assembly of Dagestan, Mukhu Aliyev, the highest composition of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the republic, as well as representatives from his native region. The body of the deceased was brought to Moscow and in June 2000 buried at the Preobrazhensky cemetery.
Awards and memory
Gen. Gennady Nikolayevich Shpigun, Major General of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, always did his job conscientiously. According to some witnesses, having been captured, he attempted to escape. And this is with serious injuries. And death, according to medical examination, came from hypothermia. The leadership of the Russian Federation could not but take into account all the merits of this person to the country. General Gennady Shpigun was posthumously awarded the Order of Merit to the Fatherland, two degrees at once. They did not forget him in his native Babayurt, the main street of the city was named in honor of the hero.
conclusions
The abduction, and then the death of General Shpigun, was clearly demonstrated to the leadership of the Russian Federation that they should communicate with the militants only from a position of strength. The second Chechen war, which began in 1999, and at intervals almost dragged on until 2009, returned Chechnya to Russia. The independent Republic of Ichkeria has ceased to exist. Today, life in the Chechen Republic has returned to normal. Heavily damaged during the war, Grozny was gradually restored and now looks much better than in the pre-war period.