The end of the 1990s was marked for Russia by another round of military conflict in the Chechen Republic. The confrontation was fierce, and the militants who participated in it did not disdain even the most inhumane measures, including kidnapping. One of the victims of the confrontation was the footballer Sergei Medvedev, who was captured right during the wedding. The athlete barely recovered from what happened.
“Thrown Down Some Cellar”
Medvedev spent most of his career in the lower leagues, playing for Kislovodsk Olympus and Vladivostok Luch. By account of the footballer, he only seven matches in the “tower” of “Asmaral”. In 1997, Sergei put an end to his career, but a year later a truly terrible incident happened to the athlete.
Photo from Sergei Medvedev’s personal archive.
A friend of Medvedev invited him to the wedding that took place in Ingushetia. The celebrations lasted eight days and on the ninth day the athlete was kidnapped right near the entrance, in broad daylight. They beat him and took him to Chechnya.
– When we arrived at the place, they took me out of the car and threw me into a basement. There they beat me again and forced me to confess that I was an FSB agent. They then left after handcuffing me and tying me to the bed. After some time they returned and continued the interrogation, Medvedev told Sport-Express.
The soccer player was beaten for six days, until he was informed that his ransom was estimated at one million dollars. Objecting that it was unrealistic to receive such an amount, they threatened him with cruel reprisals: they promised to kill him by cutting off a part of his body a day.
– We had a hole in the roof, through which they threw us a loaf of bread and a piece of cheese every three days. They could forget about us for two weeks. Sometimes he wanted to drink so much that he had no strength. I licked the wet walls, catching every drop. But this is all nonsense compared to when I heard footsteps approaching. They did not bode well. They could easily slap them, and that’s it,” Medvedev told Soviet Sport about the conditions of detention.
When the militants called the footballer’s mother, she did not believe what had happened. Soon the bandits defeated Medvedev and demanded 20 days from the athlete to convince his relatives to transfer the necessary amount to them.
Attempts to rescue the prisoner were unsuccessful. Some time later, the militants moved to one of the bases where Medvedev was to serve the bandits. With the arrival of winter, Sergei was again sent to the basement, where he met another prisoner – the assistant to the Rostov mayor.
“I dreamed that some militants were shooting at me”
Soon the athlete, together with the official, was sent to hard labor, where they had to work to death, until one day the bandits announced that they were ready to send them back to Russia.
Dynamo Moscow footballer and old comrade Sergei Grishin came to Medvedev’s aid. Upon learning of the captivity, he turned to the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Stepashin, who sent people to negotiate the release. The mayor’s assistant, together with Sergei, was sent to Grozny, from where they expelled first the Rostovite, and then the athlete. He spent 335 days in captivity.
Photo from Sergei Medvedev’s personal archive.
For many years, the footballer could not recover from what happened. He constantly had nightmares related to Chechnya:
– I dreamed that some militants were shooting at me. I even screamed and woke up in a cold sweat. Luckily, that also happened. The only trace I have left since then is that I cannot see if there is any food left on the plate. You see, I cherished every crumb of bread, treasured every drop of water. For this reason, it is difficult to see how in restaurants or in someone’s houses they throw the remains of food into a bucket. Of course, I am not going to shout about this or force you to eat, but the sediment remains, – the footballer told Soviet Sport.
