Arbi Barayev: Difference between revisions
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[[Image:Arbi_Barayev.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Arbi Barayev with his gunmen]] |
[[Image:Arbi_Barayev.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Arbi Barayev with his gunmen]] |
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'''Arbi Alautdinovich Barayev''' ([[Chechen language|Chechen]]: '''Арби Алаутдинович Бараев''') ([[Russian language|Russian]]: '''Бараев, Арби Алаутдинович''') ([[1973]] - [[June 23]], [[2001]]), |
'''Arbi Alautdinovich Barayev''' ([[Chechen language|Chechen]]: '''Арби Алаутдинович Бараев''') ([[Russian language|Russian]]: '''Бараев, Арби Алаутдинович''') ([[1973]] - [[June 23]], [[2001]]), [[nickname]]d '''"[[The Terminator|Terminator]]"''', was a Chechen [[warlord]] and renegade leader of [[Special Purpose Islamic Regiment]] (SPIR), a [[militant]] [[Chechens|Chechen]] rebel group. In 2001 he was reported killed in battle in his hometown of [[Alkhan-Kala]] near the capital [[Grozny]]. Arbi Barayev was the uncle of [[Movsar Barayev]], a key figure in the 2002 [[Moscow theater hostage crisis]]. |
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==Life== |
==Life== |
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Revision as of 15:36, 18 March 2008
Arbi Alautdinovich Barayev (Chechen: Арби Алаутдинович Бараев) (Russian: Бараев, Арби Алаутдинович) (1973 - June 23, 2001), nicknamed "Terminator", was a Chechen warlord and renegade leader of Special Purpose Islamic Regiment (SPIR), a militant Chechen rebel group. In 2001 he was reported killed in battle in his hometown of Alkhan-Kala near the capital Grozny. Arbi Barayev was the uncle of Movsar Barayev, a key figure in the 2002 Moscow theater hostage crisis.
Life
Barayev, who was reported boasting that he personally killed 170 people, and his associates were known for brutal killings and kidnappings, as well as possibly two attempts to assassinate Aslan Maskhadov.[1] In 1997, Maskhadov signed a decree putting Barayev's SPIR group under the command of the Chechen interior ministry. However, Barayev refused to obey the order, and his militia fought with Maskahdov's men outside the town of Gudermes in the summer of 1998. Around 80 people were killed and more than a hundred were wounded. The Islamic Regiment was not disarmed,[2] but Barayev was stripped of his rank of Brigade General and declared as the enemy of Ichkeria and the Chechen people.
Barayev and his group, based around the town of Urus-Martan, were accused of shooting dead six International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) nurses in the ICRC hospital of Novye Atagi in 1996 and of decapitating four foreign Granger Telecom engineers in 1998. It was claimed that the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation (FSB) outbid the employers of kidnapped Briton engineers to get them decapitated by Barayev and his gang rather than be released.[1] Supposedly the video and photographic materials of their executions fed FSB propaganda efforts at beginning of Second Chechen War.[1] According to another version, the bid came from Barayev's "Arab friends" - possibly al-Qaeda. Barayev himself denied accusations that his group killed the four beheaded foreigners.[3]
It was also claimed that Barayev betrayed Ruslan Gelayev and his rebels to the Russian military forces in 2000,[1] resulting in the massacre of rebel forces in the battle of Komsomolskoye. Supposedly, Barayev and his men bribed their way out of Komsomolskoye while leaving Gelayev and his people to their fate.[4] The incident led to the vendetta declaration on the part of Gelayev, whose fighters then blew up several houses used by Barayev's group in Alkhan-Kala and killed a number of his men.
Barayev freely lived in Alkhan-Kala and passed through Russian military checkpoints without any problems. In May 2000, GRU serviceman leaked papers about Barayev's affiliation with FSB to a Chechen journalist.[1] He also reportedly sent a group of his fighters to train in Taliban-controlled areas of Afghanistan in the spring of 2001.[5]
Chechen surgeon Khassan Baiev described Arbi Barayev as
a born killer, and his men were desperados with blood vendettas proclaimed against them for murder. They joined Barayev for protection against the avengers in an endless cycle of violence... He owned a stable of expensive foreign cars, had several wives, and moved around with an escort of twenty to thirty guards. Everyone assumed that he was in the pay of Russian intelligence. Relatives of Arbi Barayev publicly denounced him for his crimes, saying that the family announced in the courtyard of the mosque that if anyone killed him, they would relinquish all claims. There would be no blood revenge.[6]
Death
After the suspicious death of FSB chief Vice-Admiral German Ugryumov, who allegedly provided cover (krysha) for Barayev, GRU decided to get rid of him. In a well-prepared operation, Chechen GRU agents made arrest of Barayev after storming an FSB base where he ran for cover, killing an FSB agent in the process.[1]
In October 2007, Chechen president Doku Umarov made a controversial move when he posthumously restored Barayev to the rank of Brigadier General.[7]
References
- ^ a b c d e f The Security Organs of the Russian Federation. A Brief History 1991-2004 by Jonathan Littell, Psan Publishing House 2006.
- ^ Moscow Tragedy: More Questions Than Answers
- ^ Chechnya Rebel Kidnapping and Beheading
- ^ The Jamestown Foundation
- ^ Chechen Terrorist Organizations: Statement of the Case - U.S. Department of State
- ^ Khassan Baiev, Ruth Daniloff. The Oath: A Surgeon Under Fire. Walker & Company. 2004. ISBN 0-802-71404-8. (Khassan Baiev is a surgeon who amputated leg of Shamil Basayev after his injury on a mine field and operated on Salman Raduev and Arbi Barayev himself. However, Barayev promised to kill Baiev because he always also helped wounded Russian soldiers if necessary).
- ^ Chechnya Weekly; Convoy Ambushed in Vedeno