Sultan Sosnaliyev

Soslan Sosnaliyev
Soslan Sosnaliyev
	Minister of Defence of Abkhazia
	In office; April 1993 – July 1996
Preceded by	Vladimir Arshba
Succeeded by	Vladimir Mikanba
Personal details
Born	23 April 1942; Kabardino-Balkar ASSR, Soviet Union
Died	23 November 2008 (aged 66); Moscow, Russia

Sultan Aslambekovich Sosnaliyev (Russian: Султан Асламбекович Сосналиев; 23 April 1942 – 23 November 2008) was a Soviet Army officer of Circassian ethnicity who served as a commander of Abkhaz and North Caucasian forces during the War in Abkhazia and as the defence minister of Abkhazia in 1993–1996 and 2005–2007.

Early life

Sultan Sosnaliyev was born in

Zhukov Air and Space Defense Academy and served in the Soviet anti-aircraft forces for 29 years. He retired in 1990 in the rank of a colonel and worked in Kabardino-Balkaria

's construction industry till 1992.

Role in the War in Abkhazia

Sosnaliyev became the head of the military department of the newly formed Confederation of Mountain Peoples of the Caucasus. After the beginning of the War in Abkhazia he arrived to Abkhazia with the group of Kabardin volunteers through on 15 August 1992. He was appointed the head of the staff of the Gudauta-based State Committee of the Defence and was one of the planners of the victorious Battle of Gagra.

He was appointed the minister of defence in April 1993 and later awarded the rank of

Major General. Sosnaliyev and Sergei Dbar planned the July and September Sukhumi offensives. On 24–25 March 1994 Sosnaliyev was in charge of the last operation of the war – capture of the village of Lata in the Kodori Valley

.