Hamzat Gelaev Biography

Photo: Wikipedia, he threw aside his left hand and, like a seasoned wolf, crawled towards the Georgian border, biting the tile of Alenka's chocolate on the move. Even in the last moments of his life, Ruslan Gelaev, better known as the “Black Angel”, continued to fight for life, and died like a real man. Many readers will try to reproach me for the excessive pathetic in the description of the last moments of his life, but the Russian military always respected worthy enemies who did not engage in rats and looting, did not sell the lives of civilians and did not destroy fellow tribesmen.

Not in vain, Akhmat Kadyrov tried his best to persuade Ruslan Gelaev to the world, the population of Chechnya called him the “old man”, and the local bards composed songs about him. He learned to fight from Russian paratroopers, like most field commanders of the “Independent Republic of Ichkeria”, Ruslan Gelaev began his battle path in the year in Abkhazia, where, together with Shamil Basayev, he fought against Georgia on the side of the Confederation of the Mountains of the Caucasus.

He was able to rush to the post of deputy commander of the battalion, perfectly showing himself in a number of clashes. Returning to Grozny, Ruslan Gelaev met with the leader of the republic Johar Dudaev and created from veterans the Abkhaz Battalion, which was distinguished by the excellent training of the fighters and their personal devotion to the commander. However, Gelaev did not command this battalion for long, as he received the task to form a full -fledged special forces battalion, which later became a regiment.

The regiment was called "Borz"-"wolf" in Chechen. Chevrons with a bared wolf for many years had terrified the inhabitants of the republic and aroused hatred of Russian draftees who were the first to enter into a fight with the seasoned fighters who were held regular training in the camps of the Afghan Mujahideen. Participation in the 1st and 2nd Chechen wars in May, Ruslan Gelaev, with his “wolves” defended the Shata district of the republic and did it so skillfully that the security forces had practically nothing to contrast with the exception of aviation blows.

The victims of air raids were very often civilians, and Ruslan Gelaev invited the federal command to stop the bombing, otherwise all the captured pilots would be destroyed. He restrained his word, personally pushing several pilots of downed aircraft and helicopters into the abyss, and sent a terrible execution to the leadership of the Russian Federation. It was Gelaev who led two Grozny assaults in the year.

He was able to capture the capital of the republic and lasted three days in it. Understanding that it is impossible to resist the relics of the Russian army, he retreated in an organizedly to the mountains, taking with him ammunition, medicines and the required amount of food. During the Second Chechen War, Ruslan Gelaev defended the Grozny, but under the onslaught of the federal forces, his group went to the Shato region, where it ended up in a carefully prepared boiler.

Through almost the entire February of the year, there were a systematic extermination of militants, for which even voluminous-depths were used, each of which weighed about one and a half tons.

Here Gelaev needed the knowledge gained from Russian paratroopers, as well as his strategist's talent. With the help of distracting blows, the Black Angel managed to break through the encirclement and bring the majority of their people to the village of Komsomolskoye Urus-Martan district, federal command, firmly configured once and forever ending with Ruslan Gelaev, organized an even denser environment of this village.

From March 5 to 21, fierce battles went for control of Komsomolsky, during which more militants died. But here, the wolf managed to escape, taking part of his people to Abkhazia. Preparations for the new war for the summer of the year Islamic extremists planned to conduct uprisings in Kabardino-Balkaria and Karachay-Cherkessia, and Gelaev was to support the militants with an unexpected blow from Abkhazia.

But then the FSB officers finally showed their abilities, who, having conducted a series of point arrests, tore off the plans of the terrorists. In the fall of the year, Georgia began an anti -terrorist operation in the Pankisi Gorge, which became the base of several detachments of up to one thousand Chechen militants. Gelaev, who smelled the danger with a snuff, managed to switch to the territory of North Ossetia with his people, defeating one of the border outposts.

Russian security forces almost instantly blocked this area, preparing a large military operation. But the burned wolf Gelaev broke through the cordons and went to his native mountains of Chechnya. Along the way, the militants managed to bring down the almost invulnerable combat helicopter Mi, which was their last victory. All year, fighters of the FSB special forces and army intelligence pursued a small detachment of Gelaevites near the man, but he managed to constantly elude the chase.

According to unofficial information, Akhmat Kadyrov, who headed Chechnya at that time, repeatedly suggested that Gelaev lay down the weapon, guaranteeing immunity and the word of a man in this republic is appreciated above all things.But Ruslan, who had accepted the religious name Hamzat by that time, did not want to go to negotiations with the man he considered an enemy.

The sunset and life of the last page of the history of this field commander began at the end of November, when the detachment he led to return to Georgia, but did not manage to pass the batc boutsee, covered by snow. It turned out that Ruslan Gelaev, who avoided the ambush of opponents many times, brought his people into a natural trap - as if the ancient Caucasus itself was tired of his raids.

On the night of December 15, a detachment of Gelaev, consisting of 36 fighters, took the last battle, and was completely defeated, and some of the terrorists were forced to surrender. When the security forces examined the place of battle in the morning, they could not find the body of Ruslan-Hamzat, who again deceived the military who had hunted for him.

He literally disappeared - as it turned out, hiding at the local shepherd. The next news about Gelaeva appeared only on February 28, when, while trying to cross the Russian-Georgian border, he accidentally ran into two Dagestan border guards. By and large, the guys had no chance in the fight against such a serious opponent. But in a short battle, before perishing, one of them managed to release an exact line, crushing the elbow of the left hand of the “black angel”.

To defeat yourself a seasoned wolf, who finds himself in the trap of the hunter, bites his paw in order to maintain life and freedom. Ruslan Gelaev also did the same, without anesthesia cut off his left hand, which prevented him from moving and threatened with infection of blood with the subsequent gangrene. He independently imposed a tourniquet, trying to stop bleeding. Then, in order to support the melting forces, he chewed the slightly soluble coffee “Neskafa”, bit off a piece of Alenka chocolate tiles all this is not an advertisement, but fragments of the official report of the federal border service and went on.

Even when he could not go from blood loss, he continued to move on his knees. From the place of fall, he managed to crawl about 50 meters before he lost consciousness from blood loss and died. The border guards who arrived at the battlefield discovered the body of the “black angel”, and frozen in motion, leaning on the only remaining hand in which there was a piece of milk chocolate. He crawled forward until the last gasp, towards freedom, as a seasoned wolf would certainly have entered-or, in Chechen, Borz.

Despite the fact that Ruslan Gelaev until the last moments of life remained an enemy of the Russians, he was not seen in looting, abductions of people and trade, and among the local population enjoyed indisputable authority. He was a very serious opponent worthy of real respect, and the higher the merits of ordinary conscripts, border guards and fighters of Russian special forces, who were able to defeat him, restoring the world in Chechnya.