Political analyst Ruslan Martagov disappears in Grozny, his relatives report

Ruslan Martagov has stopped communicating after on September 1, he twice visited Grozny at the invitation of officials from the Chechen Ministry for National Policy, External Relations and Information. This was reported by a brother and a son of the political analyst.

In the evening of September 1, political analyst Ruslan Martagov, who in 2005-2008 worked as a consultant for the "Antiterror" Foundation, disappeared on his way home from Grozny to the village of Znamenskoe.

Two days earlier, Ruslan Martagov told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent that he received a call from the Ministry for National Policy, External Relations and Information Affairs of the Chechen Republic and that he was invited to come to the Ministry at 11:00 a.m. Moscow time on September 1.

The "Caucasian Knot" correspondent was told by Arbi, a brother of the political analyst, that at about 4:00 p.m. Moscow time of September 1, Ruslan Martagov was again called from Grozny by officials of the above Ministry, who informed him that journalists arrived from Germany and wanted to talk to him.

According to Arbi Martagov, Ruslan then called him at about 7:00 p.m. and said that everything was all right and that he was going home.

"Then he stopped calling. I tried to contact him via two mobile phone numbers, but they were switched off," noted Arbi.

Ilyas, the elder son of Ruslan Martagov, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent that he talked to his father at 6:58 p.m. Moscow time of September 1, when Ruslan Martagov himself called his son and said he was going home.

"However, starting from 7:00 p.m., his mobile phones were switched off," said Ilyas.

He has stated that today, he has met Said-Selim Abdulmuslimov, Deputy Minister for Information. The official has told him that on September 1, they talked to Ruslan Martagov and even took pictures, and then they called a taxi and sent him home.

"I asked him to help me to identify the taxi state licence plates. However, till present, no one has called me on the occasion," noted Ilyas Martagov.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.