Jeannie Kellesh/ Chechnya
Jeannie Kellesh opened her eyes and the world was white. The ceiling was white as were the lights that illuminated it. The walls were tiled in shiny white squares, and the floor was finished to match. It smelled of antiseptic like a hospital. Jeannie felt like she was in a long dark dream. She could remember being in the queue for the boat trip but after that it was a haze. She had dreamed of being carried and moved several times, and remembered hearing strange foreign voices around her, some English and some she didn’t recognise. Jeannie could recall sharp scratching pains in her upper arm, and then comforting warmth that spread through her body afterward. She winced in pain when she tried to move her right hand. A throbbing pain radiated from her thumb but she didn’t recall hurting it. Jeannie tried to sit up but she was restrained by something, so she could not. She noticed a drip feed attached to her left hand and followed the line up to a medical bag containing clear liquid. The bag had the word methadone, printed on it. A small mechanical intravenous driver whirred and Jeannie watched helplessly as the methadone flowed along the drip toward her veins. She didn’t feel fear, because she didn’t feel anything at all, just the comforting warmth of the drug spreading through her body.
Jeannie was in a secure ward in a hospital in Dagestan, Russia. The town was called Kizlyar. In 1996 the hospital was the target of Chechen rebels, who, in order to draw attention to their claims for a separate state, independent from Russian rule, attacked the building. In one of the most daring and brutal attacks of its kind, Chechen rebel warlord Salman Raduyev held three thousand people hostage. Russian forces surrounded the hospital to contain the rebels but did not attack in case the rebels killed the large number of hostages. Spetsnaz (Russian Special Forces) troops were brought in but even they could make no headway against the rebel barricades. There was a military standoff for nine days, which was highly embarrassing for the Russian government. The Russian government suddenly announced on national TV that the hostages in the hospital was killed by the Chechens; it was a complete lie constructed so that they could launch an eight-day rocket barrage on the town, without condemnation from a watching world. The hospital was attacked and taken by Russian Special Forces resulting in the death of many hostages. The Russians refused to confirm the number of fatalities but estimates run into the hundreds.
The conflict between Russia and Chechnya had raged since the 15th Century when the area was dominated by the Muslim Turkish Ottoman Empire. Following its collapse in the 18th Century the Russians took over trying to secure buffer states around Mother Russia that could repel any future invasions. With the advent of World War 2, the Chechen people threatened to take arms against Russia in league with Nazi Germany. Concerned by the threat of a rogue state in his empire Stalin ordered the deportation of Russian based Chechens to Kazakhstan and Siberia, causing thousands of deaths in the process. The forced exile was swift and brutal. It is now believed a quarter of the indigenous Chechen population was decimated. There was no surprise when the Soviet Union began to collapse in 1990 that the Chechens rebelled again. The country was economically deprived, and was ruled by renegade warlords with different political agendas. Some genuinely fought for independence from Russia and a free Islamic state, while others fought to line their own pockets. The situation remains the same today.
Following her kidnap Roman Kordinski had arranged for the Saudi Princess to be smuggled out of the UK, across Europe to Dagestan. She was far enough from Moscow for the authorities not to become aware of her presence, and close enough to the Chechen border to be extracted quickly in an emergency. The hospital was used by several different Organizatsiya for the same reason. Plastic surgery was a speciality and often used by Mafia members who needed to disappear. Mafia soldiers on both sides were treated here for gunshot wounds, away from the prying eyes of the Soviet government. The hospital had become a medical fortress since the hostage crisis. The Russian Spetsnaz had attacked the hospital with anti-personnel, mine dispersing, cluster bombs, which would remain in place and functional for decades. Access through the surrounding grounds was now impossible because of the remaining ordinance. A pathway was cleared to certain entrances but they were top-secret. Entry could only be gained at night time, under escort by troops that knew the secret paths through the minefields.
Chechen rebels controlled the hospital and its access. They charged the warring Mafias huge fees to use the heavily defended medical facility. Even an archenemy like Roman Kordinski was welcome to use its facilities for the right price. Roman Kordinski planned to force the Saudis to increase the price of a barrel of crude oil, by threatening the life of his hostage. He would increase the price of his own crude produce simultaneously forcing the price worldwide through the roof. He could skim millions in profit before he had to return his interests to the Russian government. The Chechens were aware that he was a fading star in the Soviet Union, but they were willing to assist him with his plan by holding Jeannie Kellesh at their facility in Dagestan. Roman Kordinski was planning to return the Saudi Princess to her family if they cooperated with his demands. He had no reason to keep her in captivity. The new celebrity image that he had built carefully in the West was still fragile. His football team was prospering and it lifted his profile into the public eye on a daily basis. The longer Jeannie Kellesh was held the more chances of a mistake being made increased, jeopardising his public image.
The Chechens however had a different plan. Once Roman Kordinski had returned his Russian business interests to the Soviet government he would have no further use for the Saudi Princess. The Chechens were planning to renege on the deal, and extract a huge ransom from the Saudi Royal Family for her safe return.