[1] Chechen rebels, allegedly helped by the local militia, were initially blamed for the attack,[2] but independent journalists uncovered the facts, forcing the authorities to admit the truth.
[3] The Omonovtsy (OMON officers) from Sergiyev Posad were travelling in a marked convoy of nine trucks, a bus, and a command car, with no protection by armored vehicles and no helicopter cover, to an Interior Ministry forces outpost in the Podgornoye area of the Staropromyslovsky city district of the Chechen capital, Grozny.
The Podolsk and Sverdlovsk policemen were waiting to ambush them, and when the column approached an improvised roadblock made with a wrecked bus, it suddenly and without warning came under shoot-to-kill fire, including from heavy machine guns and grenade launchers.
His body has never been found, but he was declared legally dead by the European Court of Human Rights in 2007, presumed to have been killed by Russian forces while in custody.
Interior Minister Vladimir Rushailo attended the funeral of the dead troops and vowed that the rebels responsible for their deaths would be identified and "retribution dealt out accordingly".