Sulim Yamadayev

Infobox Military Person
name=Сулим Ямадаев


caption=
born=
died=
placeofbirth=
placeofdeath=
placeofburial=
placeofburial_label=
nickname=
allegiance= (since 1999)
branch= (direct subordination)
serviceyears=
rank=
unit=
commands=Special Battalion Vostok
battles=First Chechen War (separatist side)
Second Chechen War
2008 South Ossetia War
awards=Hero of the Russian Federation
relations=
laterwork=

Sulim Yamadayev (also spelled Yamadaev) (Lang-ru|Сулим Бекмирзаевич Ямадаев) (born 1973) is a former Chechen rebel commander from the First Chechen War who had switched sides together with his brothers Dzhabrail, Badrudi, Isa and Ruslan in 1999 during the outbreak of the Second Chechen War. He was "de facto" commander of the Russian military Special Battalion Vostok unit belonging to the GRU. As such, until 2008, he was officially in command of the biggest pro-Moscow militia outside the control of the current Chechen president Ramzan Kadyrov. [http://www.iht.com/articles/reuters/2008/04/15/europe/OUKWD-UK-RUSSIA-CHECHNYA.php Eighteen said killed in Chechnya gun battle] , "International Herald Tribune", April 15, 2008.]

From August 1 to August 22, 2008 Yamadayev was federally wanted in Russia for "murder, kidnapping of people and other grave crimes". Nevertheless, he served as one of the Russian military commanders in Russia's war with Georgia during the same period. [http://www.axisglobe.com/article.asp?article=1622 Accused GRU battalion commander revealed in battlefields in Georgia] , Axisglobe.com, 14.08.2008]

On September 24, 2008 Sulim's brother, Ruslan Yamadayev, was shot dead on Smolenskaya Embankment in Moscow. Initial press responses reported name of the victim as "Sulim Yamadayev"; the name was corrected later. [ru icon Kommersant, 24 September 2008 [http://www.kommersant.ru/doc.aspx?DocsID=1030899] ]

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 to Afghanistan to train. Yamadayev's political interests are tightly tied with those of his teip (clan) Benoi, which has long-standing claims to the town of Gudermes. Under the Chechen president Aslan Maskhadov, he served as a field commander and commanded a special forces detachment which routed a radical Islamic militia ("Wahhabites") at Gudermes in 1998. [Valery Tishkov, Mikhail S. Gorbachev (2004), "Chechnya: Life in a War-torn Society", p. 178. University of California Press, ISBN 0520238877.]

During the Second Chechen War, he became the leader of the GRU Spetsnaz Special Battalion Vostok ("East") of nearly 600 men, succeeding his brother Dzhabrail Yamadayev who was killed in a bomb blast in 2003. While working closely with the General of the Army Alexey Maslov, Sulim Yamadayev has received the medal and title of the Hero of the Russian Federation, the highest Russia's award. [ [http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article3822616.ece Rival on run after standoff with Chechen president] , "The Sunday Times", April 27, 2008] Together with his paramilitary soldiers known within Chechnya as "Yamadayevtsy", which are alleged to be unruly and prone to mix warfare with crime, Yamadayev often conflicted with Ramzan Kadyrov and Said-Magomed Kakiyev over who controls overall military authority in Chechnya. Isa and Badrudi, the younger brothers of Sulim, became the company commanding officers in the battalion.

On April 14 2008, the forces loyal to Yamadayev and 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. A bitter conflict between 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 August 6, 2008, the Hero of Russia Yamadayev and some of his commandos have been put on a federal wanted list. [ [http://en.rian.ru/russia/20080806/115849496.html Chechen ex-field commander put on Russia's wanted list] , RIA Novosti, 06/ 08/ 2008] According to his brother and Duma deputy Ruslan Yamadayev, Sulim allegedly lives in Moscow and is not hiding. [ [http://www.moscowtimes.ru/articles/detail.php?ID=369655 Warrant Out for Yamadayev] , "The Moscow Times", 08 August 2008] The other Yamadayev brother, Badrudi was placed on the federal wanted list earlier in 2008. According to Moscow-based defence analyst Pavel 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." [ [http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L7281575.htm Russian manhunt for rival bolsters Chechen leader] , Reuters, 07 Aug 2008]

Few days later after he was declared supposedly wanted in Russia, Gazeta.ru reported that Yamadayev was participating in military actions in the outskirts of Tskhinvali in the Georgia's breakway Republic of South Ossetia. "Novaya Gazeta" military correspondent Vyacheslav Izmailov accompanied Yamadayev and his remaining loyal men in Georgia. [ru icon [http://novayagazeta.ru/data/2008/59/00.html Грузия-200: «Головы не поднять. Под таким огнем я еще не был»] , "Novaya Gazeta", 13.08.2008] Following the war, on August 22, 2008, RIA Novosti reported Yamadayev has been officially dismissed from his post as commander of the Vostok battalion in Chechnya. [ [http://en.rian.ru/russia/20080822/116220965.html Chechen Vostok battalion commander officially dismissed] , RIA Novosti, 22/ 08/ 2008] On the same day, the search for Yamadayev was stopped, officially because the Chechen MVD has established his whereabouts (according to investigatory bodies, Yamadayev was now in Moscow). [http://eng.kavkaz-uzel.ru/newstext/engnews/id/1227738.html Chechnya: search of Sulim Yamadaev, former battalion "Vostok" commander, cancelled] , Memorial, 22/8/2008]

On September 24, 2008, Ruslan Yamadayev and a retired Russian army general Sergey Kizyun (protector of the Yamadayev clan) were shot in the Sulim's car in the central Moscow. Sulim Yamadayev blamed Kadyrov and vowed to avenge the death of his brother. [ [http://eng.kavkaz-uzel.ru/newstext/engnews/id/1229566.html In Moscow, ex-deputy of State Duma Ruslan Yamadaev was murdered, not his brother Sulim] , Memorial, 24/9/2008] [ [http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/26/world/europe/26briefs-CHECHENVOWST_BRF.html Russia: Chechen Vows to Avenge Killing] , "The New York Times", September 25, 2008] [ [http://www.kommersant.com/p1031553/Yamadaev_Sulim_bury/ Sulim Goes to Chechnya to Bury Brother Despite Potential Trap] , "Kommersant", Sep. 26, 2008]

Allegations of crimes

* In June 2005 his battalion carried out the Borozdinovskaya operation which was a cleansing raid that resulted in the murder of a 77-year old man and the disappearance of eleven civilians. Only one of the commanders was given a three year suspended sentence. [ [http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/news/2005/07/mil-050729-rferl06.htm Russia: Officials Say Pro-Moscow Chechens Involved In Deadly Raid On Avar Village] , RFE/RL, July 29 2005] [ [http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2005/07/29/011.html Vostok Takes Heat for Raid on Village] , "The Moscow Times", 29 July 2005] Yamadayev, commander of the Vostok battalion at that time, has admitted his servicemen's guilt, but said that the operation had been conducted without his knowledge. [ [http://eng.kavkaz.memo.ru/newstext/engnews/id/885460.html Sentence for Borozdinovskaia passed in Chechnya] , Memorial, 27/10/2005]
* There were reports that Yamadayev was involved in extortion of money from the meatprocessing factory "Samson" in Saint Petersburg, raided by a Chechen militia in 2006. [ [http://archive.rferl.org/reports/FullReport.aspx?report=567&id=2008/04/567-11-13 ANALYSIS: RUSSIAN DEFENSE MINISTRY POSTPONES RULING ON CONTROVERSIAL CHECHEN BATTALION] , RFE/RL, April 25, 2008] In the last article published in her lifetime, Anna Politkovskaya claimed that according to data of the prosecutor’s office, Yamadayev's "band" had also engaged in kidnapping before the legalisation. [ [http://www.interlocals.net/?q=node/450 "Punitive agreement"] , the last published article by Anna Politkovskaya]
* In 2007, a Russian photographer by the name of Dima Beliakov followed Sulim Yamadayev and his "Vostok" battalion on a mission in Chechnya's Vedensky District. His pictures revealed harsh interrogation methods of suspects and relatives of suspects using mock executions. [ [http://www.dimapics.com/gallery.php?action=images&screen=2&cat_id=140&lng= Photographer Dima Beliakov ] ]
*The "Yamadayevtsi" are also accused of severing the heads of their dead victims, and sexually abusing, torturing and executing prisoners. 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 a Vostok officer Vakharsolt Zakayev, who was shot in 2003 on suspicion of having murdered Dzhabrail Yamadayev. [ [http://www.watchdog.cz/?show=000000-000004-000001-000227&lang=1 A parade of corpses before the decisive battle] , Prague Watchdog, May 12th 2008]
*As of August 2008, Sulim Yamadayev is officially wanted for the 1998 kidnapping and murder of the local businessman Usman Batsaev, a resident of the village of Dzhalka in Gudermessky District. According to the prosecution, Yamadayev, who reportedly had demanded $100,000 ransom for the release of Batsaev, told the victims's brothers where the grave was located in April 2000. [http://www.kommersant.com/p1008622/r_530/Vostok_battalion_Sulim_Yamadaev/ Chechen Hero Now a Murderer] , "Kommersant", Aug. 07, 2008]
*According to the Russian human rights organization Memorial, "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."

ee also

*Dzhabrail Yamadayev
*Ruslan Yamadayev

References

External links

* [http://www.guardian.co.uk/elsewhere/journalist/story/0,,1796576,00.html Land of the warlords - Who's who in the new Chechnya] , "The Guardian", June 13 2006
* [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/03/27/wchech27.xml In the front line of Putin's secret war] , "The Daily Telegraph", 27 Mar 2007
* [http://www.jamestown.org/chechnya_weekly/article.php?articleid=2374359 Chechen and Federal Authorities Declare Sulim Yamadaev a Fugitive] , The Jamestown Foundation, August 7, 2008