8. On December 11, 1994, in the city of Khasavyurt, a crowd of unarmed Chechen-Akkiny (one of the ethnic subgroups of Chechens living in Dagestan) surrounded APCs of the 57th special assignment regiment. Behind the crowd were armed men. Colonel-lieutenant V. I. Seregin did not give the order to fire into the crowd and 59 soldiers from the IA MIA RF were taken prisoner by the crowd. This episode (which appears to be the only one of its kind) has served as the basis for the statement that «Chechens fight behind the backs of their women and children», i.e. use them as «human shields». It cannot, however, be looked at as the use of a «human shield» since the unarmed people acted voluntarily and those with arms didn’t participate in this particular attack.