In Grozny, suspected militant, put on federal wanted list five years ago, surrenders

On March 2, in Grozny, Zelimkhan Magomadov, a member of the armed underground in Chechnya, surrendered to the law enforcement authorities. According to the law enforcers, Zelimkhan Magomadov was a member of the armed underground since 2009, and in 2010, he was put on the federal wanted list.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on March 2, suspected militant Zelimkhan Magomadov was blocked in the village of Voikovo of the Lenin District of Grozny. He surrendered after phone talks with Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov, the law enforcers report.

"In the hierarchy of the local armed underground, he was an 'amir' of the flat part of the republic. He was armed with a firearm, and he stored a powerful explosive device. He intended to activate it in the case of assault," said a source in the Chechen law enforcement agencies.

When commenting on the detention of Zelimkhan Magomadov, Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov has raised the issue of amnesty for militants detained earlier.

"If I had my way, I would release most persons detained in previous years. Then, earlier, we had a difficult military situation," the Chechen leader has said.

Experts emphasize that Ramzan Kadyrov and the Chechen Parliament have no authority to declare such an amnesty.

Alexei Malashenko, a member of the Scientific Council of the Moscow Carnegie Centre, has suggested that Ramzan Kadyrov decided to soften his rhetoric, since he had listened to someone's advice. The expert believes that the Chechen leader could be told that he had "gone too far" in his statements about the principle of collective responsibility for families of members of the armed underground.

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