General Gennady Nikolayevich Shpigun (russian: Геннадий Николаевич Шпигун; February 5, 1947 – ca. March 2000) was the

Russian Interior Ministry The Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation (MVD; russian: Министерство внутренних дел (МВД), ''Ministerstvo vnutrennikh del'') is the interior ministry of Russia. The MVD is responsible for law enfor ...

's special representative in Chechnya. He was

kidnapped Kidnapped may refer to: * subject to the crime of kidnapping Literature * ''Kidnapped'' (novel), an 1886 novel by Robert Louis Stevenson * ''Kidnapped'' (comics), a 2007 graphic novel adaptation of R. L. Stevenson's novel by Alan Grant and Ca ...

from the

airport An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial air transport. Airports usually consists of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surfa ...

Grozny Grozny ( rus, Грозный, p=ˈgroznɨj; ce, Соьлжа-ГӀала, translit=Sölƶa-Ġala), also spelled Groznyy, is the capital city of Chechnya, Russia. The city lies on the Sunzha River. According to the 2010 census, it had a po ...

on March 5, 1999, when armed masked men boarded his plane as it was about to leave for

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 millio ...

. Shpigun's kidnappers, reported at various times to be different Chechen rebel warlords (

Shamil Basaev Shamil Salmanovich Basayev ( ce, Салман ВоӀ Шамиль ; russian: Шамиль Салманович Басаев; 14 January 1965 – 10 July 2006), also known by his kunya "Abu Idris", was a senior military commander in the Cheche ...

Arbi Barayev Arbi Alautdinovich Barayev ( ce, Арби Алаутдинович Бараев; 27 May 1974 – 22 June 2001) was a Chechen warlord and terrorist, who in 1996 became the founder and first leader of the Special Purpose Islamic Regiment (SPI ...

, Magomed Khatuev), demanded a ransom of

US$ The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...

15 million for his release. On March 31, 2000, his body was found in southern Chechnya, near the village of Itum-Kale. Neither the exact cause nor the date of his death could be determined. In June 2000, he was buried in

Preobrazhenskoe Cemetery Preobrazhenskoye Cemetery (russian: Преображенское кладбище, lit. Transfiguration Cemetery) is a cemetery in the eastern part of Moscow long associated with Old Believers. It was inaugurated by a Fedoseevtsy merchant in 177 ...

References

External links

Miscalculations Paved Path to Chechen War
(in Russian) People of the Chechen wars Russian major generals Year of death missing 1947 births Kidnapped Russian people {{Russia-mil-bio-stub