Former Shamil Basaev hostage arrested in Moscow after metro row with woman in niqab

Editor's note: a previous version of this article did not include Chechnya among the regions where the niqab is banned in Russia.

A former hostage held by Chechen separatists during the 1995 Budyonnovsk hospital hostage crisis has been arrested after reportedly attempting to rip the niqab off of a passenger on the Moscow Metro.

Natalya Medvedeva was involved in an incident on 31 March at Filatov Lug station in Moscow, which was only made public in mid-April.

According to Medvedeva, she noticed a ‘suspicious couple’ — a woman wearing a niqab and her male companion — and began filming them on her tablet ‘for personal safety reasons’.

The niqab is a head covering worn by some Muslim women that leaves only the eyes visible. Several Central Asian countries, including Tajikistan, have banned the niqab. In Russia, restrictions are only in place in three regions — Daghestan, Chechnya and Karachay–Cherkessia.

In court, Medvedeva denied any wrongdoing. She stated she began filming the couple because the woman’s niqab ‘made her anxious’. Medvedeva explained that the face-covering reminded her of the events in Budyonnovsk, where she had voluntarily exchanged herself for the freedom of other hostages.

However, several media outlets reported that Medvedeva not only filmed the couple but also attempted to pull the niqab off the woman, provoking a violent reaction from the man.

Footage of the altercation circulated widely on social media. In an interview with the pro-Kremlin outlet Tsargrad, Medvedeva said: ‘I was convinced those people were dangerous. She wouldn’t be hiding like that for no reason! He rushed at me, grabbed my tablet and started breaking it right in front of me. My heart bled — the tablet was expensive, ₽26,000 ($300), and I bought it on credit.’

She added that when she reached for the woman’s headscarf, the man ‘grabbed her by the ears’.

Medvedeva received a seven-day administrative sentence, while the man who assaulted her — identified as M Ibodullozoda, a citizen of Tajikistan — was sentenced to 13 days.

In the summer of 1995, Medvedeva, then a photojournalist for the magazine Ogonyok, volunteered to be among a group of journalists who offered themselves as hostages in exchange for the release of civilians held during Basaev’s attack on Budyonnovsk, in Stavropol Krai. Around 1,200 people were held hostage in Hospital No. 2, and 129 were killed during the siege.

Medvedeva survived the crisis, but later refused to accept a state award from President Boris Yeltsin, citing moral reasons.

At the time of the hostage crisis, rumours swirled that Medvedeva had a romantic relationship with one of the Chechen field commanders — speculation some used to explain her access. She reportedly still possesses a photograph taken with Basayev during the siege.

After Budyonnovsk, Medvedeva continued to work as a photojournalist before eventually emigrating to the US, claiming she was being persecuted in Russia. She sold her archives and purchased a flat in Miami, but was unable to find work abroad.

Her time in the US ended after an incident in which she reportedly struck her son in front of neighbours. Police were called, and Medvedeva was jailed. She later returned to Russia, where she became estranged from her family and is now in a legal dispute with her 80-year-old father, whom she accuses of childhood abuse.

In recent years, Medvedeva has posted anti-Islamic content on social media, and acquaintances have reportedly observed erratic behaviour — though these claims, mostly reported on by state media, have not been independently verified.

State news agency TASS describes Medvedeva as the ‘author of conspiracy books’, including The Call of the Salamander and How to Get Rid of Your Boss?. In one of her works, she claimed to have experienced teleportation. Medvedeva has described her writing as a mix of ‘paranormal military history’ and mysticism.

Niqab and MMA under fire in North Caucasus following Daghestan terror attack

The niqab and mixed martial arts have come under fire from within the North Caucasus and Russia as a whole following last month’s deadly terror attack in Daghestan. On Wednesday, the Coordination Centre for Muslims of the North Caucasus decreed that niqabs cause harm to Muslims and threaten discord in interreligious and interethnic relations. The decree came days after Daghestan’s Muftiate issued and then retracted a decree banning the niqab throughout Russia. The Coordination Centre un

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