We were then given the usual task. Find and destroy militants in one of the mountain villages. This village was considered neutral, but our reconnaissance confidently showed that this was not so, bringing on their shoulders the decapitated corpses of two of our guys. After a short debate, it was decided to take the aul by storm, because the patience of our fighters was running out. Colonel Shishkov confidently pointed at Mantsur and me, assuring the command that after us there would be no one alive there and the settlement would then become one hundred percent neutral. We didn't argue. We didn't have such a right.

According to initial data,...