Security agencies do not exclude that killers of tourists in Kabardino-Balkaria were hunting for FSB ex-head's daughter

The aim of the unidentified criminals, who on February 18 murdered a group of tourists from Moscow in Kabardino-Balkaria, could be the daughter of former FSB head Nikolai Patrushev. The Russian Security Council has already stated that one of the casualties - Irina Patrusheva - was a namesake of the former FSB boss.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that a group of Moscow tourists was attacked by unknown persons near the village of Zayukovo in the evening on February 18. Three tourists were shot dead, and two were wounded; their condition is stable; and they are under doctors' supervision at the Republic's Clinical Hospital.

"There is a version that the militants could take Irina Patrusheva for a relative of Nikolai Patrushev, now the Secretary of the Russian Security Council. This is supported by the fact that the rebels did not immediately open fire, but wanted first to check documents and showed clear interest in the girl," the "Rossiyskaya Gazeta" quotes a source from power structures.

According to the source, most likely, the attackers had little time after they received information; they could not check that the girl was just a namesake; however, they learnt the number of the van, where she was, and advance to intercept.

In one of the militants' websites the casualties are treated as secret agents, sent to the republic under the guise of tourists.

In the context of the sharp deterioration of the situation in Kabardino-Balkaria in the aftermath of the murder of three tourists from Moscow, killing of the Khasanya village administration head, diversion on the ropeway and prevention of a car explosion at a hotel near Elbrus, the legal regime of counterterrorist operation (CTO) was introduced in the territory of the Elbrus and part of the Baksan District.