in The Moscow Times called him "the rebel who rides to Russia's rescue". In 2001, Gelayev decided to rebuild his forces in the remote Pankisi Gorge across the Georgian border. There, Gelayev had built up a significant armed force from hundreds of Chechen refugees, local Kists (Georgian Chechens), and Ingush and Dagestani volunteers, as well as scores of international mujahideen who had travelled there (mostly Azeris, Turks and Arabs). In August 2001, Gelayev played a crucial role in releasing Russian human rights activist Svetlana Kuzmina, who had been held in Chechen captivity for more than two years. Gelayev acted upon the request of Louisa Islamova, the wife of his friend and rebel commander Lechi Islamov, who was being held in Moscow's Lefortovo prison pending trial (Islamov died there, allegedly poisoned.) Islamova had tracked down Vyacheslav Izmailov, a former federal military officer turned a journalist for Novaya Gazeta, and offered to try to persuade the rebels to free hostages if Izamailov would help her try to secure her husband's release in court. Gelayev wrote a note warning Kuzmina's captors that if they did not free the woman, they would become his deadly enemies. Meanwhile, Georgian authorities were accused of negotiating a deal to supply and arm Gelayev's force in return for Gelayev's leading a raid on behalf of Georgia into the disputed Kodori Gorge in Abkhazia (the October 2001 Kodori crisis). Gelayev earned admiration from senior Georgian politicians, despite the failure of the attempt during which at least 40 people were killed (including five UN observers in a shot down helicopter). Georgian president Eduard Shevardnadze publicly described him as a "noble man and an educated person who is well-disposed toward Georgia." From his bases in Pankisi, Gelayev organised a series of cross-border hit-and-run attacks into Russia. He would not perform any large-scale raid into Chechnya because he wanted to avoid clashes with fellow Chechens serving in pro-Moscow forces and because of his strained relations with Maskhadov and Basayev. However, more than 100 Chechen fighters left his group and returned to Chechnya under the command of Umarov in 2002. Many Dagestani and Kabarday fighters also split from Gelayev and returned to their own republics, Dagestan and Kabardino-Balkaria, launching the local insurgencies there. In September 2002, Gelayev personally led an incursion into the Russian republic of Ingushetia, capturing the villages of Tarskoye and Galashki, but his fighters became surrounded, took large losses and