Journalists doubt terrorist version in Nevinnomyssk

The alleged militants killed during the counterterrorist operation (CTO) in Nevinnomyssk have been identified as local residents Sultan Khitsunov and Mekhti Imammov. There is no activation of the armed underground in the Stavropol Territory, but law enforcers are trying to imitate a fight against terrorism, the journalists interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot" believe.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on May 4, the FSB announced that two men were killed in a shootout in Nevinnomyssk, treating the casualties as leaders of a religious extremist unit. According to law enforcers, they had plotted terror acts.

Later, the FSB posted a video from the venue of the CTO and announced the names and data of the alleged militants: the 31-year-old Sultan Khitsunov and the 28-year-old Mekhti Imammov, residents of Nevinnomyssk.

Ruslan Kambiev, a rights defender, who personally knew Khitsunov, is sure that the man had nothing to do with extremists; he "was only an entrepreneur," the edition named "Voice of Islam" reported on May 7. According to the edition, Khitsunov disappeared more than 24 hours before the CTO, at night on May 3, and Imammov – early in the morning on May 3, while the murdered Khitsunov "was dressed in someone else's clothes."

Anton Chablin, a political analyst and a journalist, believes that there is no activation of the armed underground in the Stavropol Territory. In his opinion, power structures create a visibility of fighting terrorism in the run-up to the FIFA World Cup and report liquidation of militants.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.