Ruslan Gelayev

Ruslan Gelayev
Руслан Гелаев
Prime Minister of Ichkeria
In office
1 January 1997 – February 1997
Preceded byAslan Maskhadov
Succeeded byAslan Maskhadov
Personal details
Born16 April 1964
Komsomolskoye (Saadi-Kotar), Chechen–Ingush Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, Soviet Union
Died28 February 2004(2004-02-28) (aged 39)
Near Bezhta, Republic of Dagestan, North Caucasus
AwardsChechen Republic of Ichkeria Qoman Siy (1995)
NicknameBlack Angel
Military service
Allegiance Confederation of Mountain Peoples of the Caucasus
 Abkhazia
Chechen Republic of Ichkeria Chechen Republic of Ichkeria
Years of service1992–1993 (Abkhazia)
1993–2004 (Chechnya)
RankBrigadier General (demoted in 2000)
CommandsBorz ("Gelayev's spetsnaz")
Sharia Guard
Battles/warsWar in Abkhazia
First Chechen War
Second Chechen War
2001 Kodori crisis

Ruslan (Khamzat) Germanovich Gelayev[1] (Russian: Руслан Германович Гелаев; Chechen: ГелаевгӀер Герман-воъ Руслан, romanized: Gelaevher German-vo' Ruslan) was a prominent commander in the Chechen resistance movement against Russia, in which he played a significant, yet controversial, military and political role in the 1990s and early 2000s. Gelayev was commonly viewed as an abrek and a well-respected, ruthless fighter.[2] His operations spread well beyond the borders of Chechnya and even outside the Russian Federation and into Georgia. He was killed while leading a raid into the Russian Republic of Dagestan in 2004.

  1. ^ His name is also often transliterated as "Khamzat" and "Gelaev".
  2. ^ Milestones, TIME, Mar. 08, 2004