Sulim Yamadayev

In this name that followsEastern Slavic naming customs,thepatronymicisBekmirzayevichand thefamily nameisYamadayev.

Sulim Yamadayev
Native name	Сулейман Бекмирзаевич Ямадаев
Birth name	Suleiman Bekmirzayevich Yamadayev
Born	(1973-06-21)21 June 1973 Benoy,Russian SFSR,Soviet Union
Died	30 March 2009(2009-03-30)(aged 35) Dubai,United Arab Emirates
Cause of death	Assassination
Allegiance	Chechen Republic of Ichkeria(until 1999) Russian Federation(after 1999)
Service/ branch	Spetsnaz GRU(direct subordination)
Years of service	1994–2008
Rank	Podpolkovnik
Commands	Special Battalion Vostok
Known for	Yamadayev–Kadyrov power struggle
Battles / wars	Chechen–Russian conflict First Chechen War Second Chechen War Post-Soviet conflicts Russian invasion of Georgia
Awards	Hero of the Russian Federation(2004)
Relations	Ruslan Yamadayev(brother) Dzhabrail Yamadayev(brother)

Suleiman Bekmirzayevich Yamadayev(Russian:Сулейман Бекмирзаевич Ямадаев;21 June 1973 – 30 March 2009), or simplySulim Yamadayev(Сулим Ямадаев), was a Chechen military commander. The fourth of sixYamadayev brothers,he fought for theChechen Republic of Ichkeriaduring theFirst Chechen Warbefore defecting toRussiaduring theSecond Chechen War,in which he commandedSpecial Battalion VostokunderSpetsnaz GRU.As such, until 2008, he was officially in command of the biggest pro-Kremlinmilitia beyond those controlled by Chechen presidentRamzan Kadyrov,who has ledChechnyasince 2007.From 1 to 22 August 2008, Yamadayev was wanted on an active federal arrest warrant in Russia, but continued to command Special Battalion Vostok uninterrupted during theRussian invasion of Georgia.

On 5 March 2003, Yamadayev's older brotherDzhabrailwas assassinated in a bombing attack. On 24 September 2008, his oldest brotherRuslanwas shot dead on Smolenskaya Embankment inMoscow,and though initial press reports identified him as Sulim, the name was later corrected.On 28 March 2009, Yamadayev himself was shot multiple times at an underground parking garage inDubai;it was believed that he had been killed at the scene, but his younger brotherIsaclaimed that he had actually been taken to a hospital and died two days later.At the time, Yamadayev had been locked ina year-long power struggle with Kadyrov.

Biography

Yamadayev studied business in Moscow before returning to Chechnya. He once said that his dream was to become a fighter and that during a time he decided to go toAfghanistanto train. Under the Chechen presidentAslan Maskhadov,he served as a field commander and commanded a special forces detachment which routed a radicalWahhabimilitia at Gudermes in 1998.

During the Second Chechen War, the Yamadayevs andAkhmad Kadyrovarranged for their stronghold of Gudermes to be taken over by federal forces without a fight. Later, Sulim became leader of theGRUSpetsnazunit called theSpecial Battalion Vostok( "East" ) of nearly 600 men, succeeding his brotherDzhabrail Yamadayevfollowing his assassination in 2003. While working closely with theGeneral of the ArmyAlexey Maslov,Sulim Yamadayev received the medal and title ofHero of the Russian Federationafter his Vostok battalion killed the commander of theArab Mujahideen in Chechnya,Abu al-Walid,in April 2004.Together with his paramilitary soldiers known within Chechnya asYamadayevtsy,which are alleged to be unruly and prone to mix warfare with crime, Yamadayev often conflicted with Ramzan Kadyrov (the son of Akhmad) andSaid-Magomed Kakiyevover who controls overall military authority in Chechnya. Isa and Badrudi, the younger brothers of Sulim, became the company commanding officers in the battalion.

On 14 April 2008, the forces loyal to Yamadayev and Ramzan Kadyrov engaged in one of the biggest battles between rival Chechen factions. The clash occurred when convoys from each group ran into each other in Gudermes and reportedly resulted in around 18 dead.Abitter conflictbetween the men loyal to Yamadayev and forces of Kadyrov followed. In this conflict, Kadyrov prevailed and eventually Yamadayev was sacked from his post and declared a wanted "criminal" in Chechnya. On 6 August, the previous 'Hero of Russia' Yamadayev and some of his commandos were put on a federal wanted list.According to his brother andDumadeputyRuslan Yamadayev,Sulim still allegedly lived in Moscow and did not hide at the time of the warrant being issued.The other Yamadayev brother, Badrudi was placed on the federal wanted list earlier in 2008. According to Moscow-based defence analystPavel Felgenhauer,"It's important because this had been a rare challenge to Kadyrov in Chechnya. Now, it's clear that Yamadayev has been quashed and Kadyrov controls Chechnya."

A few days after he was declared wanted in Russia,Gazetareported that Yamadayev was participating in military actions in the outskirts ofTskhinvaliin theGeorgia's breakawayRepublic of South Ossetia.Novaya Gazetamilitary correspondentArkady Babchenkoaccompanied Yamadayev and his remaining loyal men in Georgia.Following the war, on 22 August,RIA Novostireported Yamadayev was officially dismissed from his post as commander of the Vostok battalion in Chechnya.On the same day, the search for Yamadayev was stopped, officially because the Chechen MVD had established his whereabouts (according to investigatory bodies, Yamadayev was in Moscow).

On 24 September 2008, Ruslan Yamadayev and a retired Russian army GeneralSergey Kizyun(protector of the Yamadayev clan) were shot in Sulim's car in the central Moscow while driving fromthe Kremlin;Ruslan Yamadayev was fatally wounded. Initial press responses reported the name of the victim as "Sulim Yamadayev"; this was corrected later.Sulim Yamadayev blamed Kadyrov and vowed to avenge the death of his brother.

Assassination

On 29 March 2009, Sulim Yamadayev was reported to be the victim of an assassination inDubai,where he lived for several months asSuleiman Yamadayevand/orSuleyman Madov;his two bodyguards said he was shot in the back of the neck in an underground garage. The police attempted to detain an agent of the central intelligence agency, but the suspect was able to flee.However, despite the early reports of death, according to his younger brother, Isa, Yamadayev survived at least three gunshot wounds and was hospitalized in critical condition.According to RIAN, Yamadayev was placed in a military hospital after surviving an assassination attempt: he reportedly returned fire on his attackers, which "saved his life."Dubai police dismissed this, reporting that Yamadayev died instantly from wounds sustained during the shooting. Chechen president Ramzan Kadyrov confirmed on 1 April that Yamadayev had been buried in the Gulf state.

On 5 April 2009, theDubai Police ForceaccusedAdam Delimkhanovof ordering the assassination. Delimkhanov is a member of the RussianState Dumafor theUnited Russiaparty and Kadyrov's cousin and a close associate. He denied the accusation, saying it was "a provocation and an attempt to destabilize conditions in the Chechen Republic."Later, theInterpolhas issued arrest warrants for seven Russian citizens in connection with the killing. Besides Delimkhanov, Zelimkhan Mazayev, Elimpasha Khatsuyev, Salman Kimayev, Tirpal Kimayev, Ramazan Musiev and Marvan Kimayev were named as being wanted for "crimes against life and health".

Accusations of crimes

• In August 2008, Sulim Yamadayev became officially wanted for the 1998 kidnapping and murder of the local businessman Usman Batsaev, a resident of the village ofDzhalkainGudermessky District.According to the prosecution, Yamadayev reportedly had demanded $100,000 ransom for the release of Batsaev and he later told the victim's relatives where the grave was located in April 2000.The involvement of Yamadayev in kidnappings for ransom was also alleged in 2006 inAnna Politkovskaya's last article published in her lifetime (Politkovskaya wrote that according to data of the prosecutor’s office, Yamadayev's "band" had engaged in kidnapping before the legalization as a GRU unit).
• In June 2005, his battalion carried out theBorozdinovskaya operation,a cleansing raid that resulted in the murder of an elderly man and the disappearance of 11 civilians who were never seen again. Later, one of the Vostok commanders was given a three-yearsuspended sentence.Yamadayev, commander of the Vostok battalion at that time, has admitted his servicemen's guilt, but claimed that the operation had been conducted without his knowledge.
• Yamadayev's men were accused of severing the heads of their dead victims, and sexually abusing, torturing and executing prisoners. In 2007, a Russian photographer by the name of Dima Beliakov followed Sulim Yamadayev and hisVostokbattalion on a mission in Chechnya'sVedensky District;his pictures revealed harsh behavior of Vostok servicemen during raids.In May 2008, a Vostok unit serviceman revealed the location of a secret burial ground at the decommissioned biochemical fertilizer plant near Gudermes, from which seven completely decomposed corpses were recovered. The next day, the man revealed the burial site of Vostok's platoon leader Vakharsolt Zakayev, shot in 2003 on suspicion of having murdered Dzhabrail Yamadayev.
• There were also reports that Yamadayev was involved in extortion of money from the meat processing factorySamsoninSaint Petersburg,raided by a Chechen militia (allegedly Vostok troops) in 2006.
• Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov accused Sulim Yamadayev of complicity in the assassination of his fatherAkhmad Kadyrovand attempts to kill Ramzan by poisoning a lake near Ramzan's residence.

According to the Russian human rights organizationMemorialin August 2008, "Now we know from evidences of eyewitnesses that during the war in Georgia the fighters of the Vostok battalion were humanely treating the prisoners of war. As far as I understand, the Chechen battalion didn't take part in pogroms [of Georgians in Gori District], and everything incriminated to Yamadayev refers to the past."

See also

• Yamadayev brothers
• List of Heroes of the Russian Federation

External links

• Land of the warlords – Who's who in the new Chechnya,The Guardian,13 June 2006
• In the front line of Putin's secret war,The Daily Telegraph,27 March 2007
• Prominent Chechen killed in Dubai,BBC News,30 March 2009