President Putin Awards Chechen Family For Heroism Displayed In Clash With Criminals

At a ceremony held in the Kremlin on Monday, Vladimir Putin awarded the Tashukhadzhiyev family from Chechnya for heroism displayed in a clash with armed criminals. Raisa Tashukhadzhiyeva, the head of the family, was given a Gold Star medal, which was posthumously conferred on her elder son Magomed for courage and heroism. Magomed's 14-year-old brother Islam received an Order of Valor "for courage displayed in a clash with armed militants." Also present at the ceremony were Raisa's two daughters, Zalina and Milana. Having received flowers from the president, the family talked to him in the presence of Interior Minister Boris Gryzlov. On July 22, 2001, Chechen teenager Magomed Tashukhadzhiyev shot down a notoriously odious militant leader, Magomed Tsagaroyev, and one of his accomplices. The militants had burst into the house belonging to the family of Senior Lieutenant Saidi Tashukhadzhiyev, the deputy chief of the Grozny department of district police envoys, and murdered the head of the family and Police Captain Rasul Khabuseyev, the chief of criminal police who was visiting his colleague. Magomed snatched his father's service weapon and opened response fire on the assailants, killing one and mortally wounding the other. The former was later identified as Magomed Tsagaroyev, an organiser of several terrorist acts and murders of local administrative officials and religious leaders. The latter, Akhmed Tashayev, was known as an active member of illegal armed units. During the clash, Magomed Tashukhadzhiyev suffered a wound to the head and died shortly afterwards.