The condition of Chechen volunteer fighter of Ukrainian army Adam Osmayev is improving after an attempt on his life on June 1. His wife, Amina Okueva, shared on Facebook that she had talked to him on the phone earlier on June 3 and that he sounded cheerful and was already trying to rise in his bed.
“Still, it’s too early to relax,” Okueva wrote. “The first three days after such trauma are dangerous. Nevertheless, I feel less worried now.”
Read more: Putin critic, assailant in critical condition after assassination attempt in Kyiv.
Osmayev was shot at by a man who identified himself as a journalist of French newspaper Le Monde on June 1 in Kyiv. The attacker had on himself a Ukrainian passport with a name Oleksandr Dakar, but was later identified by journalists as Artur Denisultanov-Kurmakaev, a Chechen-born Russian citizen and notorious St. Petersburg gangster who was linked to Kremlin-backed Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov.
Osmayev’s wife Okueva shot the attacker four times. He remains in critical condition and hasn’t regained consciousness yet.
The investigation is ongoing with few new details provided. The motives for assassination are yet to be clarified too.
Some blame Moscow drawing parallels with the murder of Denis Voronenkov, another Putin critic and former Russian MO who had fled to Ukraine in 2016 and was shot dead in central Kyiv in March.
Osmayev is wanted in Russia for an alleged attempt to kill Russian President Vladimir Putin. In 2014 Ukraine refused to extradite him.
Another version speculates it could be a dispute among Chechens.
Some Ukrainian media reported, citing their sources in police, that the official who had issued Ukrainian passport to Osmayev’s attacker has been arrested.
Dmytro Gnap, journalist at Slidstvo.info, tried to obtain CCTV footage from the only camera installed at the crime scene and was told that the camera wasn’t on and that police hadn’t sought the video from it.
A failed assassination of Chechen volunteer fighter of Ukrainian army Adam Osmayev and his wife Amina Osmaeva also stirred debates over legalization of guns in Ukraine. Okueva fired back at her husband’s attacker using the gun granted to her by the Interior Minister Arsen Avakov.
In the past, Avakov came under criticism for giving out guns as official presents. This practice has a long history in Ukraine’s law enforcement.
A day after the attempt on Osmayev’s life, lawmaker and head of the National Defense and Security Committee in the parliament Serhiy Pashynsky said that he expects a draft law legalizing guns to be submitted to the parliament this fall.
