Khazalbek Atabekov appointed commander of special task troops

Atabekov will be a commander of the third special red flag brigade of the special task troops of military unit 3214 instead of Ossetian Karaev.

The substitution was called with appointing Ossetian Yury Karaev, former commander of the special task forces, to a higher post. Now, he is the first deputy head of operative and combat training of the internal troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, “Nasha Niva” learnt from press secretary of the internal troops Syarhei Kabakovich.

Karaev was a commander of the special task forces for less than a year. He replaced Yury Padabed on post of a commander of the Minsk special purpose militia unit in July last year. Padabed dismissed allegedly due to problems with health. By the way, at present, he heads the security guard of well-known businessman Yury Chyzh.

Karaev got a new appointment some two months later. He left Alyaksandr Lukomski as a commander of the special purpose militia unit.

Khazalbek Atabekov graduated from Minsk military political general service school in 1990. Atabekov was awarded with a medal “For Perfect Service” in 2005, when he was a commander of the combat training department in military unit 3214.

The new head of the special task unit was awarded a rank of colonel in August 2007.

The previous comamnder of the special tack brigade was Dzmitry Paulichenka, suspected of kidnapping and killing leaders of the Belarusian opposition. He, former interior ministers Uladzimir Navumau and Yury Sivakou, former secretary of the Security Council Viktar Sheiman are suspected by the international community of involvement in forceful disappearances of former interior minister Yury Zakharanka, politician Viktar Hanchar, businessman Anatol Krasouski, and journalist Zmitser Zavadski. Paulichenka is banned to enter the United States and the EU countries.

Former commander of military unit 3214 Dzmitry Paulichenka was appointed deputy commander responsible for combat training in the corps of pubic order protection of the internal troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in late October last year. However, he remained in this position for a short time. There’s information that notorious colonel Paulichenka retired from the internal troops of Belarus on his will.