Analysis of information sources in references of the Wikipedia article "Confederation of Mountain Peoples of the Caucasus" in English language version.
One of the reasons that Basaev was successful in this operation was that he had reportedly received training from the Russian GRU. As the former GRU colonel Stanislav Lunev has noted: "Shamir Basaev's detachment went through not only training, but was also 'broken in' under fire in Abkhaziya under the direction of GRU specialists, whose professionalism and individual courage received the highest marks from the Chechen terrorist himself."... Shamir Basaev has confirmed the fact of his earlier cooperation with the Russian military: "While still in Abkhaziya," he recalled in mid-1995, "I had contact with Russian generals and officers." Beginning in 1994, he would put this training to use against the very Russians who had provided it to him in the first place.
Конфедерация горских народов Кавказа, сессия которой проходила в Цхинвале, напротив, поддержала южных осетин в их стремлении присоединиться к России[In contrast, the Confederation of Mountain Peoples of the Caucasus, whose session was held in Tskhinvali, supported the South Ossetians in their desire to join Russia]