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Aslan Maskhadov Aslan Maskhadov Chechnya Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia Chechen Deceased Supremo 20031117  
    President of Chechnya

Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
Court approves the sentence of Daria Polyudova
2023-10-20
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[KavkazUzel] The Supreme Court of Russia refused to change the sentence of Kuban activist Daria Polyudova, who is serving a nine-year sentence in the case of creating an extremist community and publicly justifying terrorism.

As the "Caucasian Knot" wrote, Kuban activist Daria Polyudova remains in strict conditions of detention in a colony in Kabardino-Balkaria, where she is serving a sentence in the case of creating an extremist community and publicly justifying terrorism, said the mother of the activist, who was able to get a meeting with her daughter.

In May 2021, a court in Moscow sentenced Polyudova to six years in prison. The reason for the criminal prosecution was publications on the social network in which Polyudova, according to the court, justified the activities of the Chechen field commanders Shamil Basayev  and  Aslan Maskhadov , as well as Yevgeny Manyurov, who in December 2019 opened fire near the FSB building in Moscow.

The defense insisted that Polyudova made no direct calls for terrorism. In December 2021, it became known that a new case had been filed against the activist. According to the FSB, she created a movement with the aim of publicly justifying terrorism and extremism. The court sentenced her to nine years in prison in December 2022.

In 2015-2017, Polyudova was in a penal settlement on a case of public calls for separatism and extremism, initiated after an attempt to hold an action “For the federalization of Kuban,” according to her  biography published on the “Caucasian Knot.” In 2018, Daria Polyudova  became the laureate of the Sakharov Prize  “For Journalism as an Act.” The Memorial Human Rights Center* recognized Daria Polyudova as a political prisoner.

The Supreme Court approved the sentence for Daria Polyudova - nine years in prison, the human rights project OVD-Info** reported today. “I have the right to my opinion. In other countries there are also socialists, but they sit in parliaments, and not like me in prison,” the publication quotes her words in court.

The activist's defense insisted that unacceptable evidence was used in the case, and in her publications she expressed her personal opinion, the human rights project "Support for Political Prisoners. Memorial" reported today.

Witness Kirill Kotov, sentenced to three years of probation under the article on participation in an extremist community, stated that he testified against Polyudova under pressure from the investigation: he was threatened with a real prison term. According to Kotov, Polyudova is not the organizer of any community, the report says. 

The "Caucasian Knot" also wrote that in October the ECHR upheld Polyudova's complaint  about long-term detention.

Memorial Human Rights Centre calls for the immediate release of Daria Polyudova.

WHO IS DARYA POLYUDOVA AND WHAT ARE THE CHARGES AGAINST HER?
The 31-year-old Communist Darya Polyudova first came to public attention in 2014 when she became the first victim of the newly introduced Article 280.1 of the Russian Criminal Code (incitement of separatism) after an attempt to organise a ‘March for the Federalisation of Kuban’ in Krasnodar. In 2015 the activist was found guilty and sentenced to two years in a low security penal colony. Memorial at that time declared Polyudova a political prisoner.

In the autumn of 2017 Darya was released and continued her political activism.

In January 2019 she held a single-person picket in Moscow displaying a poster that read: ‘Hey, Kuril Islanders! Stop feeding Moscow! Long live the Far Eastern Republic!’

The activist suggested that the residents of these islands hold a referendum on withdrawing from the Russian Federation. On her page on the Vkontakte social network site she wrote that it would benefit Russia if it divided into several countries.

In February of the same year on VKontakte Polyudova reposted someone else's publication which consisted of a photo of the militant Shamil Basayev with the inscription ‘when we demanded a referendum, the Russians came and killed everyone who did not have time to hide.’ This was accompanied by a text that stated: ‘the Urals and other republics that will separate from Russia in the future need individuals such as Dzhokhar Dudayev, Shamil Basayev, Aslan Maskhadov’ and that the residents of the Urals must learn to ‘fight against the Muscovites to defend their independence.’



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Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
Dzhambetov's father agreed to his son's murder
2023-05-24
Direct Translation via Gogle Translate. Edited.
[KavkazUzel] Hussein Dzhambetov's father stated on the audio recording that he forgives the blood lover who will kill his son. Hussein Dzhambetov, having arrived in Chechnya, began to hand over to the authorities those Chechens who had been in their house and expressed disagreement with the actions of the Chechen authorities, including Imam Valid Kuruev, a clergyman said.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that in October 2022, a criminal case was initiated against a 40-year-old resident of Chechnya, Hussein Dzhambetov, under the article on participation in the creation of a terrorist community. According to security officials, he took part in the creation of the "Separate Special Purpose Battalion of the Armed Forces of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria", which is part of the foreign legion of the armed forces of Ukraine. On May 14, it became known that Dzhambetov returned to Chechnya.

Dzhambetov's defection to the side of Ramzan Kadyrov caused wide discussion, but this did not affect the activities of the Ichkerians, supporters of the self-proclaimed Ichkeria said. Dzhambetov, after returning to Chechnya, published a video in which he boasted of participating in the murder of the Ukrainian military.

Video clip "Dzhambetov's father allowed his son's blood for Muslims" with an audio recording in Chechen, which sounds against the background of a photograph of a gray-bearded man, was published on May 22 by the Crime State YouTube channel.

"These videos were sent to me a lot. Maybe because of sympathy, or maybe for support. I can only pray to Allah with one dua ( prayer in Islam, - note of the "Caucasian Knot" ): I forgive the blood of my son to the one who, upon meeting, will deprive him of his life, and I ask Allah to first accept his death," the "Caucasian Knot" translated the man's words.

The man whose voice is heard in the video is really Khusein Dzhambetov's father, who received the nickname "Khusein the Butcher" in Europe, a representative of the clergy of the republic, who is familiar with Dzhambetov's family, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent on condition of anonymity.

According to him, representatives of the Chechen clergy often came to Europe. "Not Kadyrov's people, just honest imams, truly believers. They were worried that young people were moving away from faith, that customs and habits were being forgotten.

Naturally, these visits were not coordinated with the Chechen authorities. Among them was a particularly respected imam, Valid Kuruev. He, among other things, he was a longtime friend of Dzhambetov's father and was a guest in their house for several days. A guest for Caucasians is a person who is under the protection of the one under whose roof he found shelter and food, "the source said. However, according to him, Hussein Dzhambetov began to "surrender to the authorities of Chechnya" those who "weave plots" in Europe.

The interlocutor noted that for several days no one knows where Valid Kuruev disappeared.

"He disappeared a few days after he returned from Europe. It is a great shame for the old man that his son betrayed everyone who said something bad about . But the worst thing is the thought that his guest, his old friend, turned out to in all likelihood, in the dungeons. Perhaps nothing bad is done to the old man, but the very fact that he got there on a tip from his own son - Dzhambetov Sr. is difficult to survive. That's why he made such a decision," he commented on the statement of Dzhambetov's father.

Valid Kuruev in the past served as deputy mufti of Chechnya, in 2011-2017 he was repeatedly quoted in this capacity by the official republican media. The "Caucasian Knot" has no information on how long Kuruev has not contacted his relatives and confirmed the assumptions about his disappearance.

A reader of the "Caucasian Knot" drew attention to the video in which Dzhambetov's father condemns his actions .

"It is difficult to say whether this statement comes from Father Hussein  Dzhambetov or not. Although, given the circumstances of the latter’s return to Chechnya (leaving the battlefield in Ukraine, betrayal of his yesterday’s comrades), this is quite possible.<...> Refusal father from son, especially allowing him to be killed, is an extreme measure for Chechens, which is allowed only in exceptional cases, and this will certainly become public. cursed by his father," he wrote.

Akhmed Zakayev said on May 18 that Dzhambetov Sr. was shocked by his son's act. "He was the son of my comrade-in-arms, who went through the war, the first war. His father is an exceptionally decent man. I talked to him on the phone yesterday. I expressed my condolences to him in connection with the betrayal. He is very seriously worried about this," Zakayev said in interview on YouTube channel Radio NV.

Akhmed Zakaev - Special Representative of Aslan Maskhadov in the West (2001), Prime Minister of the self-proclaimed Chechen Republic of Ichkeria (2007-2009). He was put on the international wanted list on charges of terrorism and received political asylum in Great Britain, according to the  biographical information prepared by the "Caucasian Knot"  about Akhmed Zakayev.
Akhmed Zakaev: not related to Imran Zakaev (Call of Duty inside joke)
The "Caucasian Knot" also wrote that on May 14, a video message was published in which Khusein Dzhambetov stated that  he came to Chechnya  thanks to the "fathers of the country" and voiced threats against those who imagine the situation in Chechnya is not the same as it really is.

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Europe
Human rights activists lost contact with close relatives of Tumso and Mohamad Abdurakhmanov
2022-12-07
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[KavkazUzel] The power structures of Germany do not comment on the whereabouts of Tumso's brother Abdurakhmanov Mohamad, Deutsche Welle informed. There is also no contact with the closest relatives of the Abdurakhmanov brothers, according to the Vayfond human rights association.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on December 1, information  about the murder of Chechen blogger Tumso Abdurakhmanov in Sweden was circulated on the Internet, while on December 2, representatives of the Vayfond association and the Assembly of Chechens of Europe noted that publications about the blogger's murder did not look reliable.

However, on December 5, the murder of Tumso Abdurakhmanov in Sweden was reported by his associates. The son of the President of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria, Aslan Maskhadov, Anzor, who had previously confirmed the information about the death of the blogger, said on the night of December 6 that he was not completely sure of the reliability of his sources. Shamil Albakov, a member of the Assembly of Chechens in Europe , hopes that an operation by the Swedish special services is behind Tumso's disappearance.

On December 1, unconfirmed reports about the murder of Abduramkhanov in Sweden circulated on the Internet, but representatives of the Vayfond association and the Assembly of Chechens of Europe noted that these publications did not look reliable. The Swedish police and Abdurakhmanov's lawyer declined to comment on his death.

According to human rights activist Alexander Cherkasov, it is impossible to comment on the rumors about the murder of Abdurakhmanov without confirmed information, but Chechen political emigrants in Europe have been killed for more than a decade and the European authorities  do not perceive the threat to their lives as a systemic one .

Employees of the Swedish-based Chechen human rights association Vayfond noted that not only Tumso and Mohamad (also referred to in the media as Mokhmad) Abdurakhmanov, but also their immediate family members, have disappeared, or rather, do not answer phone calls, Deutsche Welle reported. 

At the same time, the human rights organization added that none of its members were at the home of the Tumso brothers or Mohamad Abdurakhmanov, since "no one knows where they live to go and check," the material says.

In Germany, the police authorities have not yet responded to the publication's request for the location or condition of Mohamad Abdurakhmanov, who is under the protection of the German security authorities. His lawyer Johanna Kühne did not respond to the publication's request, according to a publication  dated December 5.

COMPANION OF ABDURAKHMANOV QUESTIONED THE VERACITY OF INFORMATION ABOUT HIS DEATH
Information about the assassination attempt on Tumso Abdurakhmanov looks true, but the murder could not have taken place, said the chairman of the political movement of the Chechen diaspora "Unified Force" Dzhambulat Suleymanov.

He stressed that the Telegram channel opposed to the authorities of Chechnya, which reported that the death of Tumso Abdurakhmanov was confirmed, did not indicate the sources of information, follows from the video. published today in the Telegram channel "Nokhchiin Ghulam".

Emigrants opposed to the Chechen authorities are in danger, Suleimanov said. “Just the day before, I was informed that a group of killers was operating in Europe, the purpose of which were Chechen activists and politicians. The list of alleged victims includes the Yangulbaev brothers, Anzor Maskhadov, myself and several other people,” Kavkaz.Realii quoted him as saying on December 5."

Ibragim Yangulbaev, put on the federal wanted list in the case of justifying terrorism, Rosfinmonitoring included him in the register of extremists and terrorists, on November 22, Baysangur Yaglubaev was included in the same list . On March 30, it became known that investigators in Chechnya refused to investigate threats to the Yangulbaev family.

In February 2020, Ibragim and Baysangur Yangulbaev left for Europe. Details about the conflict between Kadyrov and the Yangulbaevs are given in the references of the "Caucasian Knot" " How the Yangulbaevs became enemies of Kadyrov " and " The main thing about the struggle between the Kadyrovites and the Yangulbaevs."
Related:
Tumso Abdurakhmanov: 2022-03-04 Germany charges Russian citizen over plot to assassinate Chechen dissident
Tumso Abdurakhmanov: 2021-12-02 EU intelligence links assassination attempts on Chechen bloggers to Putin
Tumso Abdurakhmanov: 2021-11-13 The court shortened the term for Islam Nuhanov
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Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
Former militant elected Chechen parliament speaker
2015-07-07
[RFE/RL] Chechnya's parliament has unanimously elected presidential and government administration head Magomed Daudov as its new speaker. Daudov, aka Lord, succeeds Dukvakha Abdurakhmanov, who died last month.

Daudov, one of Chechen strongman Ramzan Kadyrov's most trusted associates, is a controversial figure. He reportedly fought against Russian forces in the early 2000s under the direct command of radical field commander Shamil Basayev before surrendering in 2004 and pledging his loyalty to Kadyrov. Indeed, Kadyrov himself is said to have told a visiting Russian State Duma delegation in 2009 that Daudov was a former insurgent.

Unconfirmed reports say it was Daudov, then a district police chief, who commanded the operation in June 2006 in which Abdul-Khalim Saydullayev, Aslan Maskhadov’s successor as Chechen Republic Ichkeria president, was killed. He has also been implicated in the detention in February 2010 of human rights activists who sought to help the families of Chechens who had been seized by security forces.

It was Daudov who escorted 17-year-old Kheda Goylabiyeva to her controversial wedding last May to a district police chief old enough to be her father. He was subsequently quoted as advocating the legalization of bigamy within the framework of Islamic law.
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Europe
Chechen separatist leader Zakayev 'arrested' in Poland
2010-09-17
Chechen separatist leader Akhmed Zakayev has been arrested in Poland where he was due to attend a two-day Chechen congress, media reports say.

He had earlier been warned by Polish authorities he faced arrest because of a Russian warrant issued through Interpol.

Polish television said Mr Zakayev was detained on his way to the prosecutor's office in Warsaw.

A close aide had said he would ask prosecutors why he was being sought.

Mr Zakayev, who is considered a terrorist by Russia, was spokesman for Chechen separatist president Aslan Maskhadov, who was killed fighting Russian forces in 2005. He has been living in the UK where he was given political asylum in 2003.

Before travelling to Warsaw, he said that he had received his Polish visa and meant to attend the event which is expected to attract hundreds of people at Pultusk, around 40 miles (60km) north the capital.

Speaking yesterday, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said that if the Chechen separatist leader were to be arrested, the courts might not agree to extradite him to Russia. "The extradition procedure isn't the same as extradition," he told Polish media.
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Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
Count Dooku declares himself North Caucasus emir; Zakayev fires him as Chechen president
2007-11-04
(RFE/RL) -- In the two years since the raids on police and security facilities in Nalchik, the capital of the Kabardino-Balkaria Republic, the North Caucasus resistance has not launched a single major attack that has made world headlines. At least seven prominent resistance commanders have been killed since June 2006, including Abdul-Khalim Sadullayev, Aslan Maskhadov's successor as president of the Chechen Republic Ichkeria (ChRI), and radical field commander Shamil Basayev.

Russian and pro-Moscow Chechen politicians claim that those losses have broken the back of the resistance and reduced its total strength to a few hundred men who will be killed or apprehended within months. Resistance websites, however, paint a very different picture, chronicling almost daily strikes against Russian military and security personnel and alleging a continued steady influx of recruits to swell the resistance ranks.

In late September 2006, Doku Umarov, who succeeded Sadullayev as president and resistance commander in June 2006, divided the North Caucasus into six areas of responsibility, or "fronts," some further subdivided into sectors, and each headed by its own amir who reports to Umarov personally. The intensity and nature of resistance activity since then has differed from republic to republic.
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Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
More gunmen killed in Chechnya, including Basayev associate
2007-04-05
(Itar-Tass) - Several gunmen have been liquidated in the Vedeno district of Chechnya together with a closest associate of Shamil Basayev and the ringleader of a major bandit group – Suleiman Elmurzayev with the nickname Khairulla. Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov said, “The operation preparation took two weeks and few people knew about it.”

According to him, “Ten more gunmen were together with Elmurzayev and there were wounded and killed among them.” The Chechen republic head stressed that Elmurzayev had said in his time that he was “involved in the terrorist attack at the Dynamo stadium in Grozny on May 9, 2004 in which the first Chechen President Akhmat-khadzhi Kadyrov was assassinated and said that Ramzan Kadyrov was going to be the second.” Kadyrov said that the work to search for other ringleaders of bandit groups is continuing. “I think the results will appear by May 9,” said the Chechen president.

According to the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) department for the Chechen republic, Suleiman Elmurzayev, 32, born in the Chapayevo settlement of the Novolaksk district of Dagestan, had been put on the international wanted list through the Interpol back in 2004. According to law enforcement agencies, he was involved in firing at a Mi-8 helicopter in the area of the Dyshne-Vedeno settlement on August 1, 2003. The helicopter that came under fire from the ground exploded in the air. The crew commander was killed, the second pilot and flight engineer got burns and injuries.

Khairulla was a closest assistant of terrorist leader Shamil Basayev. In October 2004, Basayev appointed him the so-called emir responsible for the Nozhai-Yurt, Kurchaloi and Vedeno districts and in November 2004 became the first deputy of Basayev. On instruction of Ichkeria head Aslan Maskhadov, Elmurzayev was in command of an attack of gunmen on the Avtury settlement on July 12-13, 2004. In September 2006, he was given the “brigadier general” rank. Then there were 50-60 militants under his command.

According to the republic’s FSB department, he was involved in a number of serious and socially grave crimes – assassination of Akhmat Kadyrov on May 9, 2004, as well as attacks on and murders of servicemen of federal troops, Chechen policemen and peaceful civilians of the republic, as well as organisation of a mutiny in Dagestan in September 2004.

Chechen Vice Prime Minister in charge of security affairs Adam Delimkhanov told Itar-Tass earlier on Wednesday, “Officers of the FSB, republic’s special police force OMON and Akhmat Kadyrov regiment conducted the operation at the outskirts of the Agish-Batoi settlement at about 03:00 a.m. There were no losses among the personnel,” the vice prime minister noted. According to him, the operation was conducted under the order of the Chechen President, Ramzan Kadyrov, and very few people knew about it. The Russian Interior Ministry told Itar-Tass that the operation was conducted based on information available to the FSB about the gunmen ringleader’s whereabouts. “He offered fierce resistance when an attempt to detain him was made and was killed by retaliatory fire. A whole arsenal of automatic weapons was found at his place,” the ministry noted.

Besides, another gunman was liquidated in the Grozny district of Chechnya in the 60 Let Oktyabrya settlement. He exploded himself by a grenade when police made an attempt to detain him. His identity is currently being verified. It is not ruled out that he might be linked with Elmurzayev.
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Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
4 militants dead as terrorist blast goes wrong in south Russia
2006-07-10
(RIA Novosti) - Four militants, including a close associate of Chechen warlord Doku Umarov, were killed when their truck packed with explosives blew up in southern Russia, security services said Monday. The terrorists were on their way to carry out a major terrorist attack in Russia's North Caucasus republic of Ingushetia but they blew themselves up by accident, the Federal Security Service said. "A truck with explosives, weapons and militants exploded, and four militants were killed," the service said. "One of the militants in the truck has been identified as Tarkhan Ganizhev, a close associate of warlord Doku Umarov," the representative said, adding that the other three militants remained to be identified.

Umarov, 42, a successor to slain separatist leader Aslan Maskhadov, has claimed responsibility for a string of bloody attacks in Russia, including an armed raid on Ingushetia in June 2004 in which police said militants attacked 19 police precincts and prisons in the North Caucasus republic. The security official said Ganizhev had a nickname of Tarella and coordinated several gangs operating in Ingushetia. Like Umarov, he helped carry out the 2004 attack on Ingushetia, and was also involved in the kidnapping of Ingush President Murat Zyazikov's father-in-law. The security service said he had been wanted on several charges, including banditry and hostage taking, and added that the truck had been escorted by three cars. "The explosion was so powerful that only some fragments of the truck were left intact," he said.

From AFP...
No details on the special operation that resulted in Basayev's death were immediately available. Russian media earlier however reported that four suspected Chechen militants were killed while they were sitting in two separate passenger cars beside a truck laden with explosives that blew up during a special operation in Ingushetia. The reports said one of the four militants was related to Doku Umarov, the new leader of the self-styled Chechen rebel "government".
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Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
High tech hit on "president"
2006-06-17
Abdul-Khalim Saidullayev, the Chechen rebel "president" killed Saturday by pro-Russian forces, was the fourth pro-independence leader of the Muslim province to be killed in more than a decade of conflict with Moscow. Saidullayev's precedessor, Aslan Maskhadov, was also killed by pro-Russian forces in Chechnya on March 8, 2005. His death came after those of Akhmad Kadyrov, Zelimkhan Yandarbiyev and Djokhar Dudayev. Maskhadov was killed after a battle with Russian forces in the Chechen village of Tolstoi-Yurt after he was, according to Russian officials, trapped in a bunker under a house there.

Dudayev's killing, in April 1996, resulted from a bizarre blend of high technology and long-distance military intelligence as the Russian air force finally got their man after several attempts. Dudayev, 52, was in the village of Gekhi-Chu, about 30 kilometers southwest of the capital Grozny, when he answered a satellite telephone call from a Russian politician in Moscow who was ostensibly acting as a go-between in impending peace negotiations. But minutes later, two missiles exploded at the exact spot where he was standing and he died of his injuries shortly afterwards. Russian authorities at the time confirmed that the missiles had been guided to their target by the signal emitted by Dudayev's satellite phone.

Previous attempts by the air force to eliminate the man whose proud boast was "I have only one bodyguard - Allah," had failed as Dudayev had hung up too quickly. Dudayev had been elected president in October 1991 and proclaimed unilateral Chechen independence the following month.
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Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
Rebel leader 'killed' in Chechnya
2006-06-17
Chechen separatist rebel leader Abdul-Khalim Saydullayev has been killed in a police operation, the pro-Moscow government says. Police had located him in the town of Argun and he was killed in a gun battle when they moved in, said Chechen cabinet minister Muslim Khuchiyev. No comment from the rebels was immediately available.

Mr Saydullayev was appointed in 2005 to replace Aslan Maskhadov after the rebel president died in a Russian attack. Details of his death are still being investigated, Mr Khuchiyev added. Chechen Prime Minister Ramzan Kadyrov welcomed the news as "a severe blow" to the separatists. "The terrorists have been virtually beheaded... and they are never going to recover from it," he told Russian news agencies.

Though appointed leader, Mr Saydullayev was a relatively obscure figure, correspondents say. He used to make religious programmes for the separatists' TV station and speeches he released as leader are couched in Islamist language.
He was much less prominent than veteran separatist commander Shamil Basayev who appeared on a rebel website last week in what was billed as a new video.

Bad Guyz confirm...
The Press Service and the Administration of the President of the CRI have officially confirmed the death of the President of CRI, the Amir SDK Majlisul Shura of CRI, the Supreme Commander-in-Chief of CRI Armed Forces, the Amir of Caucasian Mujahideen Sheikh Abdul-Halim Sadulayev.

Sheikh Abdul-Halim has been martyred (Insha Allah!) in an unequal battle with Russian invaders and national traitors in his hometown Argun.

The invaders and puppets report that Sheikh Abdul-Halim died in a battle that took place in the town of Argun on Saturday morning of June 17, 2006. Two members of the FSB were killed in this battle. Because of this, two of the people who took up the fight in a private house in Argun were able to break through the ring of encirclement and to get away.

Ringleaders of puppet formations declared that the assassination of Chechen leader and Amir of Caucasian Mujahideen was "a big success of exceptional importance" which "will deal a severe blow" to Mujahideen.
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Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
Zakayev appointed new Chechen foreign minister, sez he wants peace
2006-06-01
Chechnya's separatist leadership announced changes to its political structure this week (May 29), naming Akhmed Zakayev as the underground government's new foreign minister. Zakayev, who has been granted political asylum in Britain, previously served as culture minister before being dismissed earlier this year. In an exclusive telephone interview with RFE/RL, Zakayev discusses his new responsibilities as well as ongoing efforts to find a peaceful solution to the Chechen conflict.

RFE/RL: What responsibilities will you have as the new foreign minister?

Akhmed Zakayev: "My responsibilities and the work I am doing will remain the same. They are not changing and cannot be changed. The president (Abdul-Khalim Sadulayev) and the (eds: separatist) government have developed a solid strategy, according to which all work done abroad will be coordinated by one agency. The other ministries and especially the heads of the ministries will have to stay in the country (Chechnya). They will observe the situation in the front lines and will control it on the ground."

RFE/RL: Will you continue looking for peaceful solutions to the Chechen conflict?

Zakayev: "I am deeply convinced that the Chechen conflict, and a conflict in the Northern Caucasus overall, can be solved only through peaceful negotiations. We will continue to seek peace and I am sure there is no other way out. I think that the Russian authorities also clearly understand this, and that there are more and more people in Russia who seek a peaceful solution. I know that officials of the Russian government discuss this problem, not to mention nongovernmental organizations."

RFE/RL: Is your position toward reaching a peaceful settlement changing?

Zakayev: "At the very beginning of the war, (former Chechen President) Aslan Maskhadov suggested that the problems had to be solved through negotiations. Our attitude has not changed since then. The current president of Chechnya, Abdul-Khalim Sadulayev, supports this course. He has stressed several times that we are not against peace and accord. The only thing is that we will not ask for them (negotiations) again. If the opponents decide to use political methods to solve this problem, we will of course support that decision. We will also continue working with nongovernmental organizations and will do all we can in this regard."
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Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
Kin of Rebel in Chechnya Seek Asylum in Finland
2006-05-12
MOSCOW, May 11 — More than a year after the killing of Aslan Maskhadov, the guerrilla commander and the president of the separatist government of Chechnya, his relatives are seeking political asylum in Finland, they have said.

The request, made public this week by the family, rekindles questions about the state of the war in Chechnya and about the reputations and prospects of separatists who have survived it.

Mr. Maskhadov's widow and two adult offspring live in Azerbaijan, where the government has allowed them to reside for several years just beyond the Russian border.

Their request to leave for Finland reflects worries about their safety, Mr. Maskhadov's son, Anzor, said in an e-mail message, and recognition that with Russia and its proxies now the dominant forces in Chechnya, they have little chance to return home.

Their Russian passports have expired, and they have become stateless, he said. "We cannot travel to, nor spend any time in, our republic," he wrote. "There have been threats made to our family directly."

Officials in Finland have declined to discuss the family's request, citing privacy rules associated with asylum applications. The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, which can process recommendations for resettlement, also declined to comment publicly.

The Maskhadovs have sought asylum elsewhere before, unsuccessfully, and their effort reflects the difficulties often associated with having a Chechen identity, and the influence Russia has had over countries that admit prominent people with ties to Chechen independence efforts.

Russia has complained of the presence of former separatist political figures in the United States and Britain. It has been quiet on this case.

The latest war between Russia and the separatists began in 1999 and has caused the near destruction of Grozny, the Chechen capital, and an unknown number of civilian deaths.

As Russia seized more control of the republic, some separatists resorted to terrorism, including suicide bombings and hostage takings in a Moscow theater in 2002 and a public school in 2004. The campaign killed hundreds, including 186 children in the school, and hurt the separatists' reputation. The fighting slowed in late 2004, and Aslan Maskhadov — a former Soviet Army officer who was elected president of Chechnya and who spoke against terrorism and sought a cease-fire with Russia — was killed early last year. Critics have said his killing removed a moderate from the separatist ranks and left remaining fighters under the command of extremists and terrorists, including Shamil Basayev, who planned the hostage sieges and has tried, with some apparent success, to encourage pockets of fighting in Russian regions near Chechnya.

Russia insists Mr. Maskhadov was a terrorist, complicating the family's chances for Western help.

Anzor Maskhadov said he was confident of finding support, saying his father tried "to stop the war and to stop the bloodshed from both sides."
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