"During the investigation, on the basis of testimonies by Kulayev, charged with participation in the attack against school No 1 in Beslan, and by witness Ruslan Aushev, it was established that the terrorist act had been organized by Aslan Maskhadov and Shamil Basayev. They also had prepared and executed the terrorist attacks in Ingushetia on June 21 and in Grozny on August 21", - Shepel said at the press conference in Vladikavkaz.
He also said that 17 of the 30 gunmen destroyed in Beslan have been identified. According to him, the investigation found out that nine participants of the Beslan attack earlier had taken part in the attack against a number of towns in Ingushetia on June 21-22.
Shepel told that law enforcement agencies were able to establish the location of the camp in the Chechen Republic, where gunmen taking part in the terrorist attacks in Chechnya, Ingushetia and North Ossetia, had received their training.
One of the arrested gunmen, apart from showing the location of the militants' base, told that Arabs had been in charge of the whole training course, Shepel said.
According to him, a video archive on the life of the international terrorist underground, belonging to the arrested gunman, was also captured. These video materials feature episodes of the preparations for the recent terrorist attacks, as well as gatherings of warlords and terrorist gangs' leaders.
Shepel said that Mashkadov, Basayev, Khattab and a number of other well known militant leaders can be seen together on the confiscated photos. "They always acted together, and continue to do so now".
He characterized Maskhadov's statement on his non-involvement in the Beslan hostage-takingas "another blatant lie". According to Shepel, before the hostage-taking at the Moscow "Nord-Ost" theater and the blowing-up of the government complex in Grozny Maskhadov had declared his intention to carry out a number of large-scale terrorist attacks on Russian soil.
Beslan is a continuation of "Nord Ost", Shepel said. According to him, it is of no coincidence that the militants called it Operation "Nord West". "This is the nature of these ghouls: it doesn't matter for them where to kill and in what way - in Chechnya, Ingushetia, Ossetia or Moscow", - he emphasized.
