On several occasions , Umarov firmly denied any involvement in indiscriminate attacks against civilians and questioned its legitimacy and value . In a June 2005 interview with Andrei Babitsky , he criticized Basayev for ordering the Beslan raid , saying that most of the Chechen resistance does not consider the Beslan hostage taking was a legitimate response to Russian actions in Chechnya ( " if we resort to such methods , I do not think any of us will be able to retain his human face " ) . Umarov 's controversial appointment of Basayev to the post of prime minister in 2006 was preceded by a public statement rejecting attacks against civilians as a tactic . In another statement in 2004 Umarov wrote : " Our targets are the Russian occupation forces , their military bases , command headquarters and also their local collaborationists who pursue and kill peaceful Muslims . Civil objects and innocent civilians are not our targets . " In early 2009 he was , by his own admission , personally involved in the re-activation of notorious Riyadus-Salikhin suicide formation , first set-up and led by Basayev between 1999 and 2004 ; in the next months a string of suicide attacks killed dozens of people ( mostly police officers ) and critically injured the Ingush president Yunus-bek Yevkurov , raising fears of a new campaign of attacks directed against Russian civilians . In a July 2009 interview with Prague Watchdog , when asked if people should expect a repetition of events like the Moscow hostage crisis , Umarov responded : " If that is the will of Allah . Shamil Basayev did not have the opportunities I have right now . … As far as possible we will try to avoid civilian targets , but for me there are no civilians in Russia . Why ? Because a genocide of our people is being carried out with their tacit consent . " In December 2009 , the Caucasus Emirate ( via Kavkaz Center ) took responsibility for the derailment of Nevsky Express , an " act of sabotage " which claimed the lives of 28 people ( including government officials and Russian business executives ) , reportedly ordered by him personally
Moscow hostage crisis
Moscow theater hostage crisis
Dokka Umarov