Anzor Astemirov

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Anzor Astemirov
Caucasian Front
Caucasus Emirate
Commands heldUnited Vilayat of Kabarda, Balkaria and Karachay
Supreme Qadi of the Shariah Court
Battles/wars

Anzor Astemirov (

terrorist group in the Russian republic of Kabardino-Balkaria, in the North Caucasus
.

For several years, Astemirov headed the local terrorist group

Akhmed Yevloyev. The law enforcement agencies of the Russian Federation put him on federal and international wanted lists for murder, terrorist attacks, armed trafficking and several other crimes and offered a reward of 3 million rubles ($117,354) for information that would lead to his capture. He was killed in a gunfight with Russian security forces in March 2010.[2][3]

Biography

Early life

Born in

Arabic, also worked as a correspondent for the Arabic-language TV Al Jazeera. According to some sources, he fought in both Chechen Wars on the side of Chechen separatist forces. In 2001, Astemirov and Mukozhev were both detained by Russian security forces on suspicion of terrorism, however they were released three months later.[2][4][5][6]

Militant activities

After the death of

large-scale raid, in which more than 140 people, mostly alleged insurgents, died in the series of assaults against Russian government building and security forces across Nalchik on 13–14 October 2005. He also publicly promised assassinations of high-ranking officials, businessmen and clergy, and was seen as the key figure behind the January 2008 killing of Anatoly Kyarov, a police official in charge of a special unit that specifically targeted the Yarmuk Jamaat and Astemirov himself.[2][4][7][8]

Creation of the Caucasus Emirate

In 2008, Astemirov took credit for the idea of the declaration of the Caucasus Emirate in 2007. Astemirov said that after the deaths of Sheikh Abdul-Halim and later Shamil Basayev, he sent a letter to the new Chechen rebel leader Dokka Umarov, asking him what he thought about declaring an Emirate that would replace the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria. Umarov agreed and appointed Astemirov head of the Caucasian insurgency's Sharia Courts, while his predecessor, the Chechen Sheikh Mansur (Amir Mansur/Arbi Yovmurzayev) had been relieved from this position because he was opposed to the creation of an Emirate, and urged saving Ichkeria as a symbol of the Caucasian resistance.[9]

Death

Astemirov's death was prematurely declared by the Russian authorities on several occasions. For example, in 2005, he was claimed to have been killed along with nine others, in big gun battle in the Nalchik suburb, and in 2009, security officials announced that Astemirov and three others were killed in a special police raid on an apartment building in the city (however, only two bodies were found there and it turned out that Astemirov was not in the targeted apartment).

FSB agent in some sources). The dead man was almost immediately identified as Astemirov after checking his fingerprints, and his followers also confirmed the death of their leader soon after, in a statement on the rebel website Kavkaz Center.[11][12]

Family

Anzor Astemirov had a son with his former wife, Zukhra Tsipinova. According to her 2007 public complaint to Vladimir Putin and the other top Russian federal officials, although her five-year marriage to him had been legally dissolved by a court in 2005, she has been exposed to harassment and prosecution by employees of power agencies of Kabardino-Balkaria, including the arrest of her new husband.[3][13]

References

  1. S2CID 56451099
    .
  2. ^ a b c "Kabardian Insurgent Leader Killed In Nalchik". RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty. 31 March 2010. Retrieved 20 May 2015.
  3. ^ a b "Newsline - August 14, 2007". RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty. 20 June 2008. Retrieved 20 May 2015.
  4. ^ a b "Renewed Fears of Militancy in Kabardino-Balkaria". Institute for War and Peace Reporting. Archived from the original on 1 February 2014. Retrieved 20 May 2015.
  5. ^ Gordon M. Hahn, Russia's Islamic Threat
  6. ^ Mark Galeotti, The Politics of Security in Modern Russia
  7. ^ "Astemirov Strikes Back: Background and Implications of the Kyarov Assassination in Kabardino-Balkaria". The Jamestown Foundation. Retrieved 20 May 2015.
  8. ^ "A Caucasian Warlord Threatens with Terrorist Attacks". Kommersant. Retrieved 20 May 2015.
  9. ^ "Amir Sayfullah: 'How we prepared the declaration of the Caucasus Emirate'". Kavkaz Center. Archived from the original on 8 February 2012. Retrieved 20 May 2015.
  10. ^ "Chechen Attack in Russia". Stratfor. Retrieved 20 May 2015.
  11. ^ "Leader of 2005 Nalchik Attack Killed in Shootout - News". The Moscow Times. Retrieved 20 May 2015.
  12. ^ Suspected top militant killed in Russia's Caucasus
  13. ^ "Ex-wife of commander of Kabardino-Balkarian militants seeks protection from President of Russia". Caucasian Knot. Archived from the original on 15 March 2012. Retrieved 20 May 2015.

External links

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