vlad.tribnet.com / Issue #164 / Crime watch / Reading article...

A Far Eastern Army Fifth Division sergeant who had been tortured by his own men took his platoon hostage and killed one man before surrendering to the Federal Security Bureau in Ussurisk April 14.

Sgt. Albert Aslanbekov, who came from the Russian republic of Dagestan, was unpopular with his countrymen because of his pro-Slavic stance, said Col. Oleg Berdnikov, head of the Ussurisk Office for Civil Defense and Emergencies.

Berdnikov, who was on the scene during the standoff, said that 26 out of 40 soldiers in Aslanbekov's platoon were also from Dagestan. «The night before the incident, two of them locked Aslanbekov in a room and insulted and tortured him," Berdnikov said.

At 4:30 a.m. Aslanbekov took a Kalashnikov assault rifle with three cartridges and went to the second floor of the barrack, where his enlisted men were asleep. He demanded that his two assailants be given to him for revenge.

For most of the day while the hostage crisis continued, one of Aslanbekov's torturers was hiding under a pile of blankets and mattresses in the barracks.

Early in the day, Aslanbekov released the ethnic Russians but kept 16 Dagestanians inside (the remaining Dagestan troops were elsewhere). When soldier Magomet Gagigadayev tried to escape, Aslanbekov shot him dead from Kalashnikov.

Aslanbekov only gave up when one of his commanding officers -- Col. Igor Korolyov, deputy commander for training -- talked him into surrendering, Berdnikov said. In the Russian military system, this officer serves as a father figure for men and teaches politics and other subjects. The position is descended from political commisars in Soviet times.

Korolyov went to the barracks and offered himself in exchange for the other hostages. Aslanbekov accepted the offer, and he kept Korolyov at the gunpoint for several hours.

"Igor Korolyov revealed his best human qualities," Berdnikov said.

Korolyov kept talking to the sergeant, and finally Aslanbekov gave up his gun and let the special forces arrest him.

Yevgeny Kalinovich, the head of the FSB press center, said that a special group of 10 specially trained agents went to the scene, including a qualified negotiator. He helped Korolyov to convince the man "not to do something stupid,» Kalinovich said. Military and emergency forces were on hand "to render the terrorist harmless," he said.

The same day Maj. Gen. Vladimir Litvintsev, deputy commander of the military district, said in Khabarovsk press conference that ethnic conflicts and the low quality of drafted soldiers create problems for the military. Two thirds of the troubles are caused by the soldiers drafted from the Western parts of Russia, Litvintsev said.

Nevertheless, commanders spoke highly of Aslanbekov.

"Aslanbekov is a quite an educated guy,» Litvintsev said. «Before joining army he graduated from two universities."

The military prosecutor's office in Ussurisk has launched a criminal investigation.