Former militaries become targets for Chechen killers in Istanbul, Turkish newspaper reports

Among the possible targets of a group led by Chechen native Khamzat Dokuev, who was detained in Turkey in March 2021, were former officials Russian Ministry of Defence (MoD) arrested in absentia in a case on illegal timber sales, the newspaper “Sabah” reports.

The “Caucasian Knot” has reported that in Turkey, eight persons are accused of plotting to assassinate Chechen political migrants. According to the DHA agency, defendant Bislan Rasaev was receiving instructions from Adam Delimkhanov, the adviser to the leader of Chechnya.

According to the newspaper “Sabah”, Khamzat Dokuev was expelled from Turkey in 2015 for espionage. In March 2021, he entered Turkey along with two citizens of Russia, former policemen Muslim Amiriev and Badrudin Kimaev. Their targets were three Russian citizens, two of whom allegedly stayed in Turkey – Daniil Sukhanov, the former deputy chief of the Department of Property Relations of the Russian Ministry of Defence, and Alexei Kupriyanov, the former chief of the Saint Petersburg Engineering and Technical Centre of the Russian Ministry of Defence.

The Kremlin has no data on the detention in Turkey of citizens of Russia, suspected of attempting to assassinate Chechen oppositionists, the TASS quotes Russian presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov as saying.