A RUSSIAN man died after a clash with armed Chechens near Highgate Tube Station, a court has heard. Timur Gusev, 26, died from stab wounds to his lung and liver when rivalry between the two ethnic groups spilled over into bloody violence on May 1, 2008 in

A RUSSIAN man died after a clash with armed Chechens near Highgate Tube Station, a court has heard.

Timur Gusev, 26, died from stab wounds to his lung and liver when rivalry between the two ethnic groups spilled over into bloody violence on May 1, 2008 in Shepherd's Hill, it was claimed.

The jury at the Old Bailey heard last week (May 28) how Chechen Mubarak Suleymanov, 29, stabbed the victim in the chest in the course of a 'razborka', or face-off, that the two men had arranged that night to settle their differences.

Mr Gusev's friend Roman Korchiev also suffered serious stab wounds in the assault, while Suleymanov ended up with a broken jaw.

Bahay Manukyan, another Russian who was present at the scene, told the court it was he who had knocked out the alleged killer with two punches to the face.

Suleymanov, of Kingsthorpe Close, Nottingham, and Adam Terlo, 32, of Everest Court, Leicester, both deny murder and attempted murder. The prosecution alleges that Suleymanov was the knifeman and that Terlo had driven him to the murder scene.

Prosecutor David Waters QC told jurors: "You may conclude that a perceived debt and an intense inherent dislike between some of those involved were sufficient to cause extreme violence."

The case continues.