Zelimkhan Yandarbiyev

Zelimkhan Yanderbiyev or Yandarbiyev (Russian: ???????? ?????????????? ?????????) (September 12, 1952 – February 13, 2004) was an acting president of the breakaway Chechen Republic of Ichkeria (1996 – 1997).

Related Topics:
Russian - September 12 - 1952 - February 13 - 2004 - Chechen Republic of Ichkeria - 1996 - 1997

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Originally a literary scholar, he served as vice-president of the self-proclaimed republic from 1991 and became president in April 1996, following the assassination of his predecessor Dzhokhar Dudayev (an act generally blamed on Russia or infighting among Chechen separatists). In late May 1996, Yanderbiyev headed a Chechen delegation that met Russian President Boris Yeltsin and Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin for peace talks that resulted in the signature of a ceasefire agreement on May 27. He stood in elections held in Chechnya in February 1997 but was defeated by Aslan Maskhadov, a senior military leader. The two men fell out badly the following year when Yanderbiyev was accused of being behind an assassination attempt against Maskhadov. In September 1998, Maskhadov publicly denounced Yanderbiyev, accusing him of importing the hardline Islamic philosophy of Wahhabism and of being responsible for "anti-state activities" including anti-government speeches and public meetings, as well as the organisation of illegal armed groups. Yanderbiyev subsequently joined forces with the hardline Islamist opposition to Maskhadov's rule.

Related Topics:
1991 - 1996 - Dzhokhar Dudayev - Russian - Boris Yeltsin - Viktor Chernomyrdin - May 27 - 1997 - Aslan Maskhadov - Islamic - Wahhabism

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Yanderbiyev was seen as a key figure behind the 1999 attack by Shamil Basayev's Islamist Chechen guerrillas on the neighboring Russian republic of Dagestan. That led to the resumption of the Chechen war in late 1999, following which Yanderbiyev travelled abroad to Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates and eventually settled in Qatar in 2001, where he sought to obtain Muslim support for the Chechen cause. This became a cause of considerable friction between Russia and Qatar, which refused to extradite Yanderbiyev despite an Interpol arrest warrant issued in 2001. He was mentioned on a United Nations list of groups and people with suspected links to the al-Qaeda organisation and is said to have had contacts with the Taleban movement in Afghanistan (there was a separatist Chechen Embassy in Kabul until the overthrow of the Taleban in 2001). He was believed to have been a key figure in the international network of Chechen separatist fundraisers in the Islamic world. He was also accused of involvement in the October 2002 Moscow Theatre Siege, in which around 120 hostages and guerrillas were killed.

Related Topics:
1999 - Shamil Basayev - Dagestan - Pakistan - United Arab Emirates - Qatar - 2001 - Interpol - United Nations - Al-Qaeda - Taleban - Moscow Theatre Siege

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