President of Georgia does not know whereabouts of persons suspected of committing Volgodonsk act of terrorism

President Eduard Shevardnadze of Georgia has no information on the whereabouts of the persons who are suspected of committing the act of terrorism in Volgodonsk (Rostov Region, Southern Russia) in September 1999. He said this at a press conference in Tbilisi on Monday, commenting on the reports of the Russian mass media according to which three of the suspects of the act of terrorism in Volgodonsk are hiding in the Pankisi Gorge in Georgia.

Shevardnadze did not rule out that the Georgian special services might have information on that score. He asserted at the same time that the spreading of such news in the Russian mass media "does not promote the practice of the joint work of special services of the two countries, which has already become established and is giving certain results." As Yevgeny Protsenko, head of the investigation department of the Federal Security Service Department for the Rostov Region reported on Sunday, the people suspected of committing the act of terrorism in Volgodonsk in September 1999 are currently in Georgia's Pankisi Gorge. He specified in a conversation with the RIA Novosti correspondent that the matter concerns Timur Vatchayev, Yusuf Krymshamkhalov and Adam Dekushev. He also said that it has even been possible to exactly establish the house in which these people are currently living.

Protsenko noted that about three months ago the Federal Security Service Department for the Rostov Region sent to the general prosecutor's office of Russia evidence proving the guilt of the mentioned persons. After that the general prosecutor's office forwarded a petition to the Georgian authorities on the extradition of the suspects. But so far no reply has come from Georgia, said Protsenko.

All the three men suspected of committing the act of terrorism are residents of Cherkessk, Northern Caucasus.