Ruslan Labazanov

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Ruslan Labazanov (1967 - June 1, 1996) was a criminal boss of the Chechen mafia and head of a Chechen armed faction.

A member of the Turkxoj teip (clan), Labazanov was born in Kazakhstan in 1967 and was a physical training instructor in the Soviet Red Army and was a martial arts expert. In 1990 he was convicted of murder in Rostov and spent time in jail before escaping in 1991. For a while he was the head of former Chechen president Dzhokhar Dudaev's personal security guard, before switching to the anti-Dudayev opposition as the head of his own paramilitary unit.[1]

During the First Chechen War Labazanov developed a reputation as a vicious and corrupt fighter who would change sides quickly if the price is right.[2] On June 1, 1996 it was reported that Labazanov was slain together with his bodyguard in the village of Tolstoi-Yurt, 15 kilometres north of Grozny. Shamil Basayev was later implicated in the killing.[3] According to the other version, he was killed by members of the "allied" Russian forces.

[edit] Notes

Prose contains specific citations in source text which may be viewed in edit mode.

  1. ^ Hughes, James, Chechnya: The Causes of a Protrated Post-Soviet Conflict, 2001
  2. ^ The Search for Peace in Chechnya 1994 - 1996, John F. Kennedy School of Government
  3. ^ Labazanov Killed, Basayev Implicated, ITAR-TASS, 06-01-1996

[edit] External links

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