 After his last phone contact on January 15, he disappeared.The Russian officials at first denied that they knew anything about his whereabouts.However, it was leaked to Alexander Yevtushenko, friend of Babitsky and war reporter for Komsomolskaya Pravda, that on January 16 Babitsky had been detained while trying to leave Grozny and since then had been held in the Chernokozovo prison camp by the Russian forces.