Earlier this month, INTERPOL issued red notices for two Russian citizens – Chechens Bislan Rasayev and Shamil Temirkhanov – wanted by Uzbekistan. Media quickly linked the two to the October assassination attempt against Komil Allamjonov and an alleged, and previously unreported, plot also to kill Dmitry Li (Lee), the head of Uzbekistan’s National Agency for Prospective Projects (NAPP).
On December 27, in a statement published via Telegram, Uzbekistan’s Prosecutor General’s Office confirmed that the two Russians were wanted “within the framework of the criminal case on the attempted murder of Komil Allamjonov.”
The Prosecutor General’s Office noted that Rasayev and Temirkhanov were wanted for “illegal entry into the Republic of Uzbekistan and exit abroad, failure to report a crime, as well as illegal trafficking of firearms.”
Each new development in the Allamjonov case obscures as much as it reveals.
The day after the attack on Allamjonov, a pair of men appeared in a video that circulated through Uzbek social media claiming to be the triggermen. RFE/RL’s Uzbek Service, Ozodlik, reported the identities of the men in the video as Shokhrukh Ahmedov and Ismoil Jahongirov.
Both names had been provided to The Diplomat in late October by a source that linked them, as Ozodlik did, to an assassination attempt targeting critics of Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov in Turkiye in 2021.
In November, amid a flurry of resignations among the security services, the Uzbek Prosecutor General’s Office stated that seven people had been identified as involved in the Allamjonov case, five of whom were detained soon after the attack.
Two others – “K.S.” and Javlon Yunusov – were placed on wanted lists. K.S. was reportedly located in Kazakhstan and “investigative actions were carried out with his participation” while Yunusov, the only suspect whose full name had been published by the authorities at that point, was detained in South Korea earlier in November. He was extradited back to Uzbekistan.
Yunusov, according to Ozodlik’s sources, was “the Fergana Valley ‘right-hand man’ of Otabek Umarov.”
As I wrote at the time:
Otabek Umarov is, among other things, the deputy head of the Uzbek presidential security service and President Shavkat Mirziyoyev’s son-in-law (he’s married to Mirziyoyev’s youngest daughter Shakhnoza). Ozodlik’s sources say that Umarov is connected to “the office.”
The Diplomat’s sources allege he is at its center.
This brings us to December and the two additional Chenchens wanted in connection to the Allamjonov case.
Ramzan Kadyrov, the head of Russia’s Chechen Republic, took to Telegram with an extraordinary screed on December 26. First, he complained about “rumors” in the “pro-Western media” regarding “discord in the family of the President of Uzbekistan…” He then went on to accuse the media of making up sources to tie him to the attempt on Allamjonov’s life.
“I said then, and I say now: if I had prepared it, I would have completed the matter that very day. You shouldn’t have such a bad opinion of me.”
Kadyrov also took note of the “sudden” appearance of Li in the narrative.
Not that Kadyrov will believe me, but a source told The Diplomat back in late October – and provided documentary evidence – that, prior to the attempt on Allamjonov’s life that month, “the office” had been working to punish and discredit both Allamjonov and Li.
When those efforts failed to yield results, an attempt was made to assassinate Allamjonov.
Kadyrov, perhaps unironically, wrote, “I am sure that all this commotion is being used by a certain side from within for some of their own far-reaching behind-the-scenes games,” before going on to explain how “incredibly loyal” a person Umarov is.
“He is an incredibly loyal person to the president, who would never even think of harming Shavkat Miromonovich [Mirziyoyev]. I would believe in aliens from another galaxy arriving in Grozny than in such nonsense spread by pseudo-independent media.”
Kadyrov ends his post with a recommendation to Allamjonov and Li, which carries the tone of a threat: “do not play the role of victims.”
“Whatever you are planning, it is better to stop in time, otherwise you will have to answer for all the intrigues, slander and speculation. And now I am talking about the answer according to our traditions.”
In trying to dissuade anyone from noting a “Chechen trace” in the events in Uzbekistan, Kadyrov made the connection even more difficult to set aside.
Rasul Kusherbaev, a former member of Uzbekistan’s Legislative Chamber and an adviser to the minister of ecology, responded to Kadyrov with a Telegram statement taking issue with the Chechen leader’s threats. “Openly threatening officials in Uzbekistan is terrorism,” Kusherbaev wrote.
“Why should the Uzbek government be silent when there are such threats? How long will we silently watch those who openly threaten us with their chauvinistic views? Isn’t it time to give an appropriate response to an open threat by an official?” he added, concluding that flights to the Chechen capital, Grozny, should be canceled.
Other Uzbek officials have weighed in too. Odiljon Tozhiev, a sitting MP with the Milliy Tiklanish party, urged Kadyrov – “if he is a friend” to Uzbekistan – to apologize and assist in the apprehension of Rasayev and Temirkhanov.
The day after Kadyrov’s wild statement, the Uzbek Prosecutor General’s Office issued its statement tying the two Chechens to the Allamajonov case. If anything is clear at this point, it’s that this story has not yet been told in full.
