GROZNY (Chechen Republic) (Sputnik) — Chechen man Akhmed Chatayev, who has allegedly masterminded the recent suicide bombing attack on the Istanbul Ataturk International Airport in Turkey, lived in Georgia, received the country's citizenship, and left for Syria in 2015, the Russian Interior Ministry said.
Three blasts hit the Ataturk Airport on Tuesday, leaving 44 people dead and 239 injured. Turkish media reported on Friday that two of the three suicide bombers were believed to have Russian passports.
"We have information that he [Chatayev] has been detained several times in Europe, Austria, Ukraine. From Ukraine he has been transferred to Georgia, where he lived and received the Georgian citizenship. In 2015, he traveled to Syria," Abufet Mukhadinov, the deputy head of the Russian interior ministry's department in the Chechen Veden District, told reporters.
A Chechen security source told RIA Novosti on Thursday that Chatayev, born in 1980, was wanted in Russia for membership of an illegal armed group.
