 Nine OMON officers were taken hostage and executed soon after Russian command refused to swap them for the arrested military officer Yuri Budanov.On the morning of 29 March 2000, a Russian Interior Ministry force led by Major Valentin Simonov, consisting of some 48 men according to the Russian account (41 of them were members of the OMON special police from Perm Krai, mostly from the city of Berezniki, and the rest were attached Chechen policemen and Internal Troops paramilitary soldiers), was on its way to conduct a so-called "cleansing" ("zachistka") operation in the village of Tsentoroi in Chechnya's southern highlands near Vedeno, travelling in a column of 2 BTR-series wheeled armoured personnel carriers and heavy-duty military trucks.Russian airborne unit that was stationed nearby actually intercepted a rebel communication regarding the preparations for the ambush, but failed to warn the convoy (possibly on purpose, given the widespread loathing of OMON in Russia and especially in the context of Chechen conflict).