Nur-Pashi Kulayev - Interrogations

Interrogations

Clips of his interrogation have been shown by the Russian Channel One, in which he states that the hostage-taking was masterminded by Shamil Basayev and Aslan Maskhadov. He further claimed that while he was among the hostage-takers, he did not kill any of the victims himself, firing his gun only into the air during the confusion.

According to his account, 10 of the 32 hostage-takers were foreigners, including a tall black person and a Korean. He identified a short red-bearded corpse as the Chechnya-born militant nicknamed "Polkovnik" (Colonel), whom later Russian investigation claimed was 32-year-old Ruslan Khuchbarov from the Ingush village of Galashki. A tape reportedly released by Shamil Basayev contradicted this claim, stating that "Polkovnik" was a colonel of the Ichkeria forces.