[citation needed] A local Avar strongman named Shapi Mikatov created an armed militia that effectively protected the village from what they called the 'Chechen gangs,' including the men of Sulim Yamadayev, at the time considered most powerful separatist warlord in eastern Chechnya.
The Special Battalion Vostok was a predominantly ethnic Chechen Spetsnaz unit of the GRU, the Russian foreign military intelligence agency, and operated throughout eastern Chechnya.
[4] According to the official investigation, on June 4, 2005, around 80 Chechen soldiers of the Special Battalion Vostok, in two armored personnel carriers, several trucks, and cars, arrived in the village at 3:00 PM to perform a zachistka "large-scale clean-up."
Eyewitnesses stated the operation was led by Khamzat (Hamzat) Gairbekov,[citation needed] also known as "Beard," who was the Vostok unit's intelligence chief.
[5] The corpse of a 77-year-old man was later found, either gunned down or burnt alive, and about 200 men were also rounded up and herded into the local school's sports hall, where many were severely beaten.
[8] The refugees eventually agreed to return to Chechnya after the pro-Russian Chechen government of Ramzan Kadyrov promised to search for the abducted villagers and to pay compensation for the damage caused by the Vostok battalion.
[5] Sergey Surovikin, the commander of the 42nd Motor Rifle Division to which Yamadayev's militia belonged, said the allegations were “groundless and aimed at destabilizing the political situation and staining the honor and name of the honest career officer and Hero of Russia, Sulim Yamadayev.”[1] On October 27, 2005, Mukhadi Aziyev, the company commander of the Vostok battalion, was convicted by Grozny Garrison Military Court of "exceeding official authority" and given a three-year suspended sentence.