Ruslan Yamadayev | |
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Ruslan Yamadayev after receiving the Hero of the Russian Federation award in 2004.
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Native name | Руслан Ямадаев |
Born |
Gudermes, Chechen-Ingush ASSR, USSR |
10 December 1961
Died | 24 September 2008 Moscow, Russia |
(aged 46)
Allegiance | |
Rank | Colonel |
Battles/wars | |
Awards |
Hero of the Nation Hero of the Russian Federation |
Ruslan (Khalid or Halid) Bekmirzayevich Yamadayev (Russian: Руслан (Халид) Бекмирзаевич Ямадаев) (10 December 1961 – 24 September 2008) was a Chechen military leader and politician. A member of the high-profile Yamadayev clan, he was assassinated in Moscow in 2008. Yamadayev was one of the Kremlin's most loyal allies.
Ruslan Yamadayev belonged to the Gudermes-based Chechen Benoi teip. Along with his brothers Sulim Yamadayev and Dzhabrail Yamadayev, he fought against the Russian forces during the First Chechen War before turning to Russia's side in 1999.
For his struggle against the separatists in the Second Chechen War, Yamadayev was promoted to the rank of colonel and granted the title of Hero of the Russian Federation. From 2003 to 2007, he was a deputy to the State Duma from Chechnya. In 2004, he was nominated for the Chechen presidency. He and his brothers ran several businesses, including a car market, a construction company, and a concrete factory, in Chechnya.
On 24 September 2008, Ruslan Yamadayev was assassinated on Smolenskaya Embankment in central Moscow near the Russian White House when returning from a meeting in the Kremlin. He was shot ten times while sitting in a car owned by his brother Sulim Yamadayev. Initially, it was reported the name of the victim as Sulim, which was corrected later. The other victim of the shooting, the former military commandant of Chechnya and retired Colonel General Sergei Kizyun, was hospitalized in grave condition. The Russian police has launched a criminal case on charges of murder and attempted murder.