03:41, 17 April 2026

A second defendant in the Gedzhukh dam breach case has been arrested.

A court in Makhachkala has placed the general director of one of the Derbent Sparkling Wine Factory's divisions, which operated the Gedzhukh Reservoir, under house arrest.

As reported by the "Caucasian Knot," an engineer for the commercial organization responsible for the safety of the Gedzhukh Reservoir dam (OOO "DZIV-2") was arrested for two months on April 12. The Gedzhukh Reservoir was poorly maintained, and the operating organization failed to take action when there was a threat of a dam break, according to investigators. Also on April 12, the Investigative Committee reported that the former general director of the company that maintained the Gedzhukh Dam has been detained.

On April 6, the Gejukh Dam collapsed in the Derbent District of Dagestan. More than 350 residents from the village of Mamedkala and surrounding villages were evacuated. The floodwaters washed several cars off the highway, killing at least four people. The total death toll from the floods in Dagestan has reached six. The Soviet District Court of Makhachkala has placed the general director of DZIV-2 LLC, which operated the Gejukh Reservoir and was responsible for the safety of its dam, under house arrest. The general director of DZIV-2 has been placed under house arrest for one month and 29 days, until June 10. The court's press service noted in a statement on April 16 that his advanced age was taken into account when choosing his pretrial detention.

The general director, like the previously arrested engineer of this organization, is accused of violating work safety regulations, resulting in the negligent death of two or more people, and of violating environmental protection regulations during work, resulting in significant harm to nature or human health (Part 3 of Article 216 and Article 246 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation).

According to the investigation, the lessee and operator of the hydraulic structure were aware of its unsatisfactory condition, but for a long time failed to correct the deficiencies and report the facility's operability to regulatory authorities.

The court's report identifies the accused as the general director of DZIV-2 LLC, although investigators previously announced the arrest of the organization's "former general director." According to open source data from counterparty verification resources, the current CEO of DZIV-2 LLC is Gaidar Shuaibov, formerly the Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Food of Dagestan.

Shuaibov (sources cited his name as "Gaidarbek") announced on April 11 that residents of Mamedkala and nearby villages affected by the dam break "would be given another 300 million rubles." A post about this and a video interview with Shuaibov were published, among others, by Shamil Khadulaev, head of the Public Monitoring Commission (PMC) of Dagestan, on his Telegram channel.

Shuaibov became CEO of the company, which is a separate enterprise of the Derbent Sparkling Wine Factory, only in January 2026. Prior to him, 71-year-old Zagid Sadykov headed DZIV-2 LLC, and he has been listed as the legal entity's founder since June 25, 2012. The company has leased the Gedzhukh Reservoir dam since 2014.

Flooding caused by heavy rains has been ongoing in the North Caucasus since late March, and it has become one of the most destructive in recent years. The disaster has caused the greatest damage in Dagestan and Chechnya, according to the "Caucasian Knot" report "Spring Flooding in the North Caucasus - 2026".

Translated automatically via Google translate from https://www.kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/422515