EDITORIAL
Just When you Think You’ve Seen Russia’s Worst
Vostok Battalion Commander Sulim Yamadayev
Just when you think you’ve seen the very worst that Russia can possibly to offer, you see something so outrageous and repugnant that you can’t remember why you thought things were bad before.
On Tuesday, it was reported that police in Dubai, UAE, had arrested a Russian national in connection with the murder of Chechen Sulim Yamadayev, a harshly critical opponent of the Kremlin’s puppet ruler in Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov. Yamadayev was shot dead as he walked to his car parked at the luxury Jumeirah Beach Residence in Dubai Marina over the weekend. He becomes only the latest in a long string of obviously political murders which directly benefit the Kremlin. Within days, the Dubai police were pointing their finger of accusation directly at the Kremlin’s puppet regime in Chechnya, including one of its representatives in the Russian national parliament.
It’s difficult to say which prospect is more horrifying: That Kadyrov ordered this killing with approval from Moscow, or on his own initiative flouting the Kremlin’s authority.
If the Kremlin ordered this murder, on foreign soil, it would be yet one more confirmation of the Russian government’s willingness to use killing, in the manner of the mafia, as a political tool. No civilized government could consider doing business with such a regime.
If, on the other hand, the Kremlin has so little control over Chechnya that Kadyrov would order this assassination to take place as it did, while the ruler of UAE was visiting with Dmitri Medvedev in Moscow on a diplomatic mission, then how can the Kremlin possibly justify any removal of troops from the region, as it has recently announced it might do? How can it claim to have made any progress in Chechnya, when the facts on the ground would indicate that the region has de facto independence? How can the Kremlin possibly dream of promising to assure the security of Olympic athletes in Sochi in 2014 if Kadyrov and his minions are free to murder as they please?
Either way, this killing signals the end of all discussion about Russia being a “normal” nation. It has already been shown to have a pathetically unstable economy, devastated to a far greater extent than any other major nation by the global economic downturn, and now Russia is exposed as nothing more than a banana republic, something like Robert Mugabe’s Zimbabwe, a nation that cannot possibly be taken seriously as a member of the G-8 or any other council of civilized countries.
Excuse me, but isn’t this Sulim Yamadayev a former Chechen field commander, who defected to Russian side? I’m not sure what would Kremlin possibly get by murdering it’s own soldier, especially one decorated as Hero of the Russian Federation.
LA RUSSOPHOBE RESPONDS:
Read a little closer and you’ll see he was using his status to leverage an attack on the Kremlin’s puppet ruler in Chechnya, undermining its authority there.
Sulim fled to Dubai for his life. He even lived there under a false name.
His 1st Hero Brother (it’s like “Hero City”) was killed in Chechnya (by his own officer, allegedly hired by Ramzan).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dzhabrail_Yamadayev
His 2nd Hero Brother got wasted in Moscow last year (probably by Kadyrov’s hitmen).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruslan_Yamadayev
No safe place on Earth for them Heroes.
I see Sulim stole all the medals he found when he raided the Brezhnev Museum.
But of course you forgot to mention Sulim was a very brutal thug who became the Hero of the Russian Mafia Federation (Russia’s highest “honor”) before he was killed.
Just like his two of his brothers, also Heroes of Russia who were both murdered – and one of them in the street near the British Embassy in Moscow last year.
And no mention of Sulim commanding Vostok in Georgia while officially “wanted” in Russia for murder? Just check out this:
“Eighteen men were reportedly killed in a gun battle between the two men’s forces last April, and three months later Kadyrov persuaded Russia’s prosecutor general to issue a warrant for his rival’s arrest on charges of kidnapping and murder. It did not stop Yamadayev from leading Vostok alongside regular Russian army units during the war against Georgia in South Ossetia last August.”
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/mar/30/former-russian-commander-assassinated
And as I already said before, it was the Vostok who rescued the Russian regulars (and Ossetian irregulars) from a quagmire or even defeat in Georgia (the initial attack was pretty disastrous – even the 58th Army commander was shot and wounded).
But maybe not important to mention, instead your weird obsession with “the security of Olympic athletes in Sochi” (anytime Chechnya or the North Caucasus rebels are mentioned).
So disappointing. You know, the worst/best thing here is not that Sulim fled Russia and got wasted anyway – it’s rather the hypocrisy of the whole story of his life and death (and his brothers’ too). And as of hypocrisy, just compare these 2 reports:
Chechen Hero of Russia shot dead in Dubai
http://www.russiatoday.ru/Top_News/2009-03-30/Chechen_Hero_of_Russia_shot_dead_in_Dubai.html
Chechen dissident Yamadayev killed in Dubai
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-chechen31-2009mar31,0,1660367.story
Meanwhile, in Chechnya:
http://englishrussia.com/?p=2220
Only Uday Hussein was a gangsta king like that.
Oh and this is awesome:
“On his MySpace page, Yamadayev had posted pictures of himself toting guns and wearing camouflage. He also bragged he belonged to the most powerful family in Chechnya, and that he “already killed more than hundred men during the two wars in Chechnya.”
“My dream was to kill [Chechen Islamist commander Shamil] Basayev but he died before I got him, but I have one antoher [sic] dream, to kill . . . Ramzan Kadyrov.”
But I think the best there was this as of his favourite movie:
“My life is a film”
And that’s why I call it the Russian Crime Federation. It’s not a real government, it’s just a mafia enterprise. It gets by selling drugs and weapons on the black market, shaking down people and countries, and putting out hits on disfavored people (dissidents like Politikovskaya, Markelov, this guy, etc…) Well, that’s Russia under Capo Vladimir Putin, or should I say Khan Vladimir Putin.
“Russian Crime Federation”
More like Russian Mafia Corporation, really.
And another thing you forgot while not forgetting the usual stuff about Sochi in 2014:
Yamadayev is one in a string of prominent Chechens who were killed before they could answer charges of kidnapping, torture or murder, noted Natalia Estemirova, a human rights worker with the Memorial organization.
“I think this is a meticulously planned policy to prevent the investigation of serious crimes committed in recent years in Chechnya,” Estemirova said by telephone from Grozny, the Chechen capital, where she is based. “Those who they could have named as accomplices get off scot-free. . . . Criminals are taking their secrets to the grave.”
See also “Sulim Yamadaev Says a Chechen Unit Has Been Sent to Moscow to Kill Him” on Jamestown Foundation from November (no link, because their links are unlinkable).
Some more about Sulim’s crimes (some of them – torture and murder of enemy POWs for example is no crime in Russia whatsoever), and why he had fled Moscow and holed-up in Dubai.
Meanwhile in Dubai:
New Arrest In Killing of Yamadayev
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/article/1010/42/375910.htm
Kommersant reported Thursday, citing Dubai law enforcement sources, that police detained at least 20 Russian nationals, mostly those who happened to be in the vicinity of the Jumeira Beach Residence when Yamadayev was killed. (…) The National reported that Yamadayev had survived 19 attempts on his life before he moved to Dubai. Police say he moved to Dubai four months ago.
Who Wanted To Kill Sulim Yamadayev and Why?
http://www.globalsecurity.org/intell/library/news/2009/intell-090401-rferl01.htm
In an interview published in “Novaya gazeta” in late November, Sulim Yamadayev said that some of his former superiors within the GRU had tried to intercede on behalf of Vostok, but had been told “not to interfere.” It was shortly after that interview that Sulim Yamadayev and his family left Russia.
Brothers Yamadaev are crucial what’s going on in Russia today. The easiest is to think in the terms of mafia clans. There is some subordination, but everybody minds first of all their own interests. Putin runs the largest mafia clan. He cooperates and competes with little godfathers – Kadyrav, Aliev (in Dagestan), Kokoity (in south Ossetia). and others
But there are local clans as well. Yamadaevs were a very strong clan that was a sore in the eyes of both federals and Kadyrov. About a year ago Yamadaev’s security detail (10 cars or so) and Kadyrov’s security (also a dozen cars) couldn’t let each other out on a narrow road – and a small shooting spree erupted. It is quite common, actually – there is even a Russian word for such shootouts – стрелка. So, to answer the question – did Kremlin order the murder, or Kremlin has no control over Kadyrov – it is definitely the latter!
I am not mourning Yamadaevs’ murders – mafia murders happen all over the world. Juarez and Moscow, Philippines and Checnya. The real question is what the governments do about it. In Juarez and Moscow the collaboration between the power and the thugs is quite elaborate.
“Yamadaevs were a very strong clan that was a sore in the eyes of both federals and Kadyrov.”
Actually he had the support of the Russian military (and thus the “GRU” gang).
Or at least he thought so – it turned out the other way (same with Baisarov, holding a rank in the FSB, first exiled to Moscow and then “retired” there not far from the Kremlin in a hail of bullets from several automatic weapons).
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The great part of this article:”Either way, this killing signals the end of all discussion about Russia being a “normal” nation. It has already been shown to have a pathetically unstable economy, devastated to a far greater extent than any other major nation by the global economic downturn, and now Russia is exposed as nothing more than a banana republic, something like Robert Mugabe’s Zimbabwe, a nation that cannot possibly be taken seriously as a member of the G-8 or any other council of civilized countries.” – WOW, thanks, have real fun from your site foreve!!!
But in article unfortunately no words: Putin by his own bloody hands kill Chechen Sulim Yamadayev – hero of Russia (look please on his russian medals on photo), and hero of russian war with Gorgia – so enemy of Gorgian democracy! (Remark: Yamadayevs battalion “Vostok” puts the horror on the Georgian troops, which, in the name Yamadaev shamefully fled from the battlefield brace arms)
With LOVE from Siberia!
By the way, the duty of America to Russia only to public liability – $ 65.3 billion
What was the “hero of Russia (look please on his russian medals on photo), and hero of russian war with Gorgia – so enemy of Gorgian democracy” doing living in faraway Dubai under a false name?
The last month of the “hero of Russia (look please on his russian medals on photo)” were not easy, dodging killers around the world:
“Yamadaev said [on November 21] that a 12-man “spetsnaz group” has been dispatched from Chechnya to Moscow, ostensibly to arrest him, but that the unit’s real mission “is not to take me alive.” He said that the Chechen authorities want to eliminate him the way they eliminated Movladi Baisarov, head of the FSB’s Gorets spetsnaz group who was shot to death in Moscow in November 2006 (Chechnya Weekly, November 22, 2006). Yamadaev also stated that Baisarov was shot and killed by Adam Delikhmanov, a close Kadyrov associate who is now a United Russia deputy from Chechnya.”
The last months, not “last month” of course.
The Police in Dubai have put the blame squarely on the Chechen administration, and therefore effectively on the Russian Federation
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7984545.stm
The same Adam Delimkhanov Sulim said personally killed Baisarov in Moscow.
Btw, Delimkhanov was once the personal driver of Salman Raduyev (the Chechen separatist commander who was behind the largest hostage taking raid in the war, with several thousand hostages taken in Dagestan in 1996).
He was also an official suspect in Baisarov murder:
“Delimkhanov should hand in his honorary weapon for expertise” // Chechen deputy premier suspected of eliminating Gorets
http://www.kommersant.com/p724138/r_1/Movladi_Baisarov/
Btw, from the article:
“However, former Deputy Prime Minister of Chechnya Beslan Gantamirov states that the expertise of weapons collected from the policemen will hardly help discover all people who might have shot at Baisarov. Gantamirov said that current Chechen deputy premier, Adam Delimkhanov, took part in the special operation.”
Beslan also said Delimkhanov was to murder 3 people in Moscow: Baisarov, Politkovskaya and him.
Don’t hold breath for him to be wasted any day now – just last month his former deputy was killed in Moscow (deputy Grozny mayor, because BG was a Grozny mayor several times – between two he was also in Russian jail convicted for corruption, then re-installed again).
Maybe he should just flee to the West, reveal all he knows about all the crimes against Chechen and Russian nations he witnessed (and participitated in), and ask for protection.
As long as he does not ask the Austrians for protection.
Or the German & French collaborators for that matter.
In fact probably best to cross the atlantic.
Actually the French and Germans refused to extradite the so-called “terror suspects” (unlike for example Georgia in past, or Spain recently).
Considering all the arse kissing from Merkel & Sarkozy, I don’t think that will last much longer.
Oh, and by the way – when Sulim was declared wanted, he was already in Georgia (“peacekeeping”). I thought he would now change sides again and defect to the Georgians.
But he was too stupid for that – and stupid enough to think his title of Hero of the Russian Mafia (“look please on his russian medals on photo”) and all that sillyness actually means anything.
Well said Robert.
The Russian mafia FSB communazi’s have a nasty habit of liquidating their “heroes” just in case they become a threat to the governing elite.
They also eliminate wintesses: Baisarov wanted to talk (after his FSB “friends” told him to piss off), Israilov already talked.
Litvinenko of course talked too.
Oh, and one more thing about Delimkhanov: he’s a cousin of “the president”.
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To: Robert
Thank you for your reply. Unfortunately the world today in Chechnya is saved by the government clans. Prior to the construction of democracy is still far away. But its the price for peace. Better a bad peace than a good “massacre.” Spilled a lot of blood (well, not byvet us otherwise). A blood feud Caucasus laws, no one canceled. And this law in Caucasus unfortunately more important all the other laws. Do not correct of the Kremlin – and a new “carnage”. Help avenger – the slaughter, will defend – the massacre. Apparently decided not to intervene. A trip to Dubai is likely to pay.
Unfortunately, Russia destroyed democracy in Chechnya.
The only democratic elections in Chechnya (observed by OSCE and actually recognised by Russia – Yeltsin even congratullated the winner):
http://www.watchdog.cz/?show=000000-000004-000001-000195&lang=1
Realy fortunately, Russia destroyed this “democracy” in Chechnya (but only after his attack on Russia in Dagestan – first defenders was Dagestan sitizens with huter short guns). If you remeber “Hamas” came to power through democratic way too.
Dagestani militia was actually the local mafia which was armed by the so-called federal government – many of these weapons were later used to commit many ordinary crimes in Dagestan, and eventually the guns that were originally handed-over to gangs for free had to be bought-off from them for high prices few years later.
Russia supports Hamas (and Hamas supports Russia). Their “democratic way” was a violent coup in which more than 100 Fatah supporters were killed (some of them taken prisoner and then murdered, many others were maimed).
Sorry – not huter guns- but hunter
Sheikh Mohammed, Ruler of Dubai, was actually in Dubai on the day of the assasination. He flew to Moscow a day later.