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Man accused of Putin murder plot gunned down in Kyiv, attacker might be linked to Kadyrov

Amina Okuyeva and Adam Osmayev of the Dzhokhar Dudayev battalion. Kyiv, 2015. Photograph: Shaun Walker for the Guardian
Amina Okuyeva and Adam Osmayev of the Dzhokhar Dudayev battalion. Kyiv, 2015. Photograph: Shaun Walker for the Guardian
The National Police of Ukraine reported that a man attacked two Ukrainian veterans, Adam Osmayev and Amina Okuyeva, in downtown Kyiv on June 1 at 16:49. Osmayev was shot and wounded in the chest, but Okuyeva managed to fire four shots at the attacker with her TT pistol which she was awarded with for the service in a police regiment.

Adam Osmayev and his wife Amina Okuyeva, Chechen volunteers who served in the Kyiv-2 police battalion fighting against Russian-hybrid forces in Donbas, agreed on an interview with a man who introduced himself as journalist Alex Werner from the French newspaper Le Monde.

According to Okuyeva, during the meeting the attacker drew a Glock pistol out of the box and shot Osmayev in the chest. Amina Okuyeva, who served as a sniper, immediately fired four rounds at the attacker.

Both seriously wounded, Osmayev and the attacker were taken to an intensive care unit.

Later, the police identified an attacker as a holder of a Ukrainian passport issued at a name of Oleksandr Dakar.

The Kyiv Police has published footage of the crime scene:

Later Amina Okuyeva wrote on her Facebook page, “The condition of Adam is serious but stable. I stopped the assassin using the award weapon.”

Foes of the Chechen leader?

In 2007, the Russian authorities accused Adam Osmayev, a native of Chechnya who still lived in Russia, of plotting to kill head of Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov. The case collapsed for lack of evidence and he moved to Ukraine.

In 2012, Osmayev was arrested in Ukraine and charged with possession of illegal explosives, damaging private property, and forgery. At the request the Russian authorities, he was later charged with plotting to kill Putin. In late 2014, the post-Maidan Ukrainian authorities dropped the attempted assassination charge.

In 2014, he entered the volunteer Dzhokar Dudayev Battalion comprised mostly of Chechens who had fled Kadyrov’s regime to the West. The battalion fought against Russia’s military aggression in the Donbas. In 2015, Adam Osmayev became a commander of the battalion after the death of brigadier general Isa Munayev amid the Debaltseve battle.

Amina Okuyeva fought alongside her husband.

In her recent interview with Apostrophe.ua, Amina Okyeva said:

All the time we receive some information about the facts of the orders by both Russian special services and Kadyrov’s formations on attempts upon our lives. Therefore, we, of course, stay alerted, focused, we try to cover each other, carry arms. 

Identifying the attacker

The attacker on Adam Osmayev received his passport of a citizen of Ukraine and a passport for foreign travel in February 2016.

Adviser to the Minister of Internal Affairs, MP Anton Geraschenko wrote on Facebook, “The killer had on him the documents of a Ukrainian citizen Dakar Oleksandr Venusovych, 1958. Now the police and security forces are verifying the data on this citizen, whether he exists, as well as checking his background.” 

Espreso.tv states that the real name of the attacker, who attempted to assassinate Osmayev and Okuyeva in Kyiv, is Artur Kurmakaev, born Demisultanov, who worked for Ramzan Kadyrov, the leader of Chechnya.

Espreso.tv did not disclose their sources of information, but the fake French reporter who shot Adam Osmayev really resembles Russian criminal Artur Kurmakaev very much:

The wounded attacker who posed as "journalist Alex Werner", had a Ukrainian passport at the name of Oleksandr Dakar. His real name is allegedly Artur Kurmakaev, born Denisultanov. Photos: rbc.ua, fontanka.ru, rospress.com, rbc.ua
The wounded attacker who posed as “journalist Alex Werner”, had a Ukrainian passport at the name of Oleksandr Dakar. His real name is allegedly Artur Kurmakaev, born Denisultanov. Photos: rbc.ua, fontanka.ru, rospress.com, rbc.ua

In her comment to Censor.net, Amina Okuyeva has also stated that the attacker was Artur Denisultanov (Kurmakaev), the Russian citizen who was born in Chechnya.

If the attacker on the ATO veterans and Artur Kurmakaev are the same person, then this assassination attempt of the veterans may be linked to Ramzan Kadyrov, the leader of Russia’s Chechnya region.

In January 2009, Umar Israilov was shot dead in Austria. He was a refugee from Chechnya who had filed a complaint to the European Court of Human Rights in 2006, alleging president of Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov had tortured him. Two years later, a court in Austria convicted three Chechens of complicity in the murder of Israilov.

In 2008, Artur Kurmakaev, who worked for Kadyrov “in a new department charged with bringing Chechen expatriates back home”, met with Umar Israilov five times trying to persuade the dissident to return to Chechnya. Kurmakaev told the Austrian police, “[Then] Ramzan Kadyrov called me and said that Israilov is no longer needed in Chechnya… and I had to decide the problems myself and come back.” He also said that in Kadyrov’s residence, he saw a list contained about 5000 names of Chechens who opposed Kadyrov, 300 of the 5000 that appear on the list “have to die”. Kurmakaev was deported to Russia in 2008 and immediately refuted all the testimonies he had given the Austrian police, he even said that he is not acquainted with Kadyrov.

SBU has no evidence of Russian special services’ involvement

The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) didn’t confirm information about the involvement of Russian special services in the assassination attempt. “At the moment, we have no such confirmed data,” deputy chief of the SBU branch in Kyiv and Kyiv Oblast Pavlo Daniukov said.

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