MOSCOW (AP) - The former head of one of Chechnya's shadowy security forces was fatally shot in Moscow on Saturday by law enforcement officers who were trying to detain him on suspicion of abductions and killings in the violence-plagued southern region, officials said.Movladi Baisarov was shot when he resisted officers seeking to detain him on a main avenue in the capital, said Svetlana Petrenko, spokeswoman for the Moscow prosecutor's office. A prosecutor at the scene, Irina Bobinova, said he pulled a grenade when police tried to arrest him after he got out of a car.
| Never bring a grenade to a gunfight. |
Baisarov's history reflects the volatile web of shifting allegiances and rivalries that contribute to persistent violence and tension in Chechnya, the site of two wars in the past 12 years pitting separatist rebels against Russian forces and their Chechen allies.
According to the weekly newspaper Moskovskiye Novosti, Baisarov's force in recent years was under the control of the Federal Security Service, which is the main successor of the KGB and was formerly headed by President Vladimir Putin. However, the newspaper said, the unit the force was attached to was dissolved early this year, and in October police and prosecutors said they were seeking to detain Baisarov on suspicion of involvement in the killing of 10 people.
Baisarov had denied responsibility for the killings, blaming Kadyrov for his troubles with authorities and contradicting Kadyrov's claims to be bringing order to Chechnya, Ekho Moskvy reported.
