Ahmed Ibragimov (Russian: Ахмед Ибрагимов) was born in 1956 in Mikenskaya, a small village about 30 miles northwest of Grozny, Chechnya. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, he acquired farm machinery during privatization and worked as a driver. Over the years, he ran a small shop and served briefly as the local postman. His family was deeply affected by regional violence, losing his brother during the First Chechen War (1994–1996). By 1999, Ibragimov was living in Chernokozovo, Chechnya, when the Second Chechen War erupted in August 1999. The Russian Federation launched a full-scale invasion on October 1, sparking heavy fighting. Ethnic tensions escalated, and in the days leading up to the killings, reports indicated that villagers had refused to dig trenches for military defenses, adding to animosity. Witnesses recalled Ibragimov saying, “Russians are killing Chechens, so now I am going to kill Russians.”

On October 8, 1999, after a fierce battle between Chechen rebels and Russian forces near Mikenskaya, Ahmed Ibragimov, reportedly intoxicated, armed himself with a Kalashnikov rifle and began a systematic mass killing targeting ethnic Russians in his home village. He first encountered a group of villagers sitting on a bench. After briefly speaking with them, he suddenly opened fire, killing four people. Over the next hour, Ibragimov moved throughout Mikenskaya, sparing Chechen villagers while deliberately hunting down Russian residents. He executed those wounded with additional shots to the head and took a bicycle from one victim to reach more homes. Going door to door, he called out Russians and shot them as they stepped outside. Victims ranged in age from ten to eighty-nine years old. Reports documented at least 34 confirmed deaths, though some accounts suggested up to 41 victims, including possibly one Meskhetian Turk.

Among those killed were several identified individuals: Peter Atarshikov, Zoya Filippovna Andriyenko, a schoolteacher, Victor Kakezov, Mariya Ivanovna Maslova, Ekaterina Ivanovna Pyltsina, the secretary for the village council, Dmitri Radchenko, Mrs. Tatarenko and her two sons, one of whom, Kolya Tatarenko, was just ten years old. Entire families were decimated, including multiple members of the Drobilov, Radchenko, Fedosov, and Pletnev households.

After running out of ammunition, Ibragimov fled the village. Two days later, on October 10, 1999, Chechen rebels captured him and delivered him to surviving villagers in Mikenskaya. Enraged and grieving, two Russian brothers, whose parents had been killed in the massacre, tied Ibragimov to a pole in the village square and beat him to death with iron rods while others looked on. The killing occurred without trial or formal sentencing. Religious leaders refused to allow his burial, and his body was left unburied in the street.

The massacre devastated Mikenskaya’s population. Most of the ethnic Russian families fled in fear, leading to an almost complete exodus of Russians from the area. Russian investigators exhumed the victims’ bodies to examine the killings, and Chechen President Aslan Maskhadov was summoned for questioning by the Russian General Prosecutor’s Office regarding this and other atrocities committed during the conflict. Some reports claimed that Ibragimov may have previously killed members of the Allenov family in another village called Alpatovo, though this could have been a different massacre carried out by other militants.

The Mikenskaya shooting remains one of the deadliest single acts of ethnic mass murder in Chechnya during the Second Chechen War, symbolizing the brutal civilian toll of the conflict.