From 1996, when Russian troops withdrew from Chechnya, to 1999, when the second Chechen war broke out, Chechnya was actually in a chaotic state of warlord separatism. Maskhadov is nominally the President of Chechnya, Zakayev is his right-hand man, and his official title is Deputy Prime Minister of Chechnya, who is in charge of foreign affairs. After the Russian federal government recovered Chechnya, maskhadov went into the mountains to fight against government forces, while Zakayev went abroad to cheer for the illegal regime in Chechnya.
In recent years, Zakayev, as the special envoy of Chechen "President" maskhadov, frequently appeared in Europe and America, and sometimes went to Turkey and other countries. In some European countries, Zakayev is not restricted by any action or speech wherever he goes. On the contrary, he often enjoys high diplomatic courtesy. In the eyes of many westerners, Zakayev is not a bandit, but a fighter to defend democracy and freedom. Although the Russian judicial department did not prosecute Zakayev at that time, nor did it request extradition from any country, the Russian government expressed strong dissatisfaction with the "official" meeting between officials of relevant countries and Zakayev more than once, believing that this was an interference in Russia's internal affairs.
Zakayev really became the focus of public opinion last year at 165438+ 10/8. On the same day, the media all over the world reported that kazantsev, the plenipotentiary of the Russian President in the Southern Federal Administrative Region, and Zakayev, the special envoy of Chechen illegal armed leader maskhadov, held talks at Moscow Sheremetyevo No.2 International Airport. This was the first negotiation between the Russian federal regime and Chechen rebels since the second Chechen war broke out in 1999. However, after this historic meeting, the two sides did not shake hands for the second time. When President Putin mentioned this incident not long ago, he said that it was not that the Russian government did not give Chechen rebels a chance, but that there was no news of Zakayev after he left Moscow.
Zakayev once again became the focus of international public opinion in this year's 65438+ 10 month. 101On October 23rd, a hostage-taking incident that shocked the world took place in Moscow. After the hostage incident, Russia took counter-terrorism as the top priority of national security, at the same time, it completely revised its Chechen policy, clarified the basic principle of "no negotiations with terrorists", formally prosecuted all exiled Chechen rebel leaders, and made extradition requests to relevant countries. In the extradition list issued by the Russian judicial department, Zakayev's name ranks first.
101On October 28th, the World Chechen Congress was held in Copenhagen, Denmark. Zakayev knew that he was wanted by Russia, but he swaggered to Denmark to attend the meeting. Prior to this, Russia had repeatedly made representations to Denmark, demanding that the Danish government stop convening the "World Chechen Congress", but the Danish government rejected Russia's request on the pretext that "every citizen in a democratic country has freedom of assembly".
Later, under the pressure of Russia, the Danish side tried Zakayev. However, Denmark put forward a precondition to Russia: if the evidence provided by the Russian judicial department cannot prove Zakayev guilty, Denmark will release him. Russia accused Zakayev of nearly ten crimes, including murder, organizing illegal armed forces and attacking military and police personnel, and provided all the evidence to the Danish side. However, after "carefully" reviewing these documents, Denmark claimed that it found no direct evidence of Zakayev's crime and immediately released Zakayev.
After his release, Zakayev is going to Britain, where he will apply for political asylum. After receiving this news, the Russian authorities handed over the materials for the extradition of Zakayev to Britain, and the British judicial department also indicated that it would handle the case according to law. 165438+1October 5, Zakayev, who had just been released, flew to London, England, and was arrested by British agents at the airport, but was later released on bail.