Sulim Yamadayev Sulim Bekmirzayevich Yamadayev ( ; 21 June 1973 – 30 March 2009 ) was a Chechen rebel commander from the First Chechen War who had switched sides together with his brothers Dzhabrail , Badrudi , Isa and Ruslan in 1999 during the outbreak of the Second Chechen War . He was " de facto " commander of the Russian military Special Battalion Vostok unit belonging to the GRU . As such , until 2008 , he was officially in command of the biggest pro - Moscow militia outside the control of the current Chechen president Ramzan Kadyrov . From August 1 to 22 August 2008 Yamadayev was wanted in Russia on a federal warrant . Nevertheless , he served as one of the Russian military commanders in Russia ' s war with Georgia during the same period . On 5 March 2003 , Sulim ' s brother Dzhabrail Yamadayev was assassinated by a bomb . On 24 September 2008 Sulim ' s brother , Ruslan Yamadayev , was shot dead on Smolenskaya Embankment in Moscow . Initial press responses reported name of the victim as " Sulim Yamadayev " ; the name was corrected later . Sulim Yamadayev was shot in Dubai on 28 March 2009 , and died in hospital on 30 March 2009 . Biography . Yamadayev studied business in Moscow before returning to Chechnya . He once said that his dream was to become a fighter and that during a time he decided to go to Afghanistan to train . Yamadayev ' s political interests were tightly tied with those of his teip ( clan ) Benoi , which has long - standing claims to the town of Gudermes . Under the Chechen president Aslan Maskhadov , he served as a field commander and commanded a special forces detachment which routed a radical Wahhabi militia at Gudermes in 1998 . During the Second Chechen War , the Yamadayevs and Akhmad Kadyrov arranged for their stronghold of Gudermes to be taken over by federal forces without a fight . Later , Sulim became leader of the GRU Spetsnaz unit called the Special Battalion Vostok ( " East " ) of nearly 600 men , succeeding his brother Dzhabrail Yamadayev following his assassination in 2003 . While working closely with the General of the Army Alexey Maslov , Sulim Yamadayev received the medal and title of Hero of the Russian Federation after his Vostok battalion killed the commander of the Arab Mujahideen in Chechnya , Abu al - Walid , in April 2004 . Together with his paramilitary soldiers known within Chechnya as " Yamadayevtsy " , which are alleged to be unruly and prone to mix warfare with crime , Yamadayev often conflicted with Ramzan Kadyrov ( the son of Akhmad ) and Said - Magomed Kakiyev over who controls overall military authority in Chechnya . Isa and Badrudi , the younger brothers of Sulim , became the company commanding officer s in the battalion . On 14 April 2008 , the forces loyal to Yamadayev and Ramzan Kadyrov engaged in one of the biggest battles between rival Chechen factions . The clash occurred when convoys from each group ran into each other in Gudermes and reportedly resulted in around 18 dead . A bitter conflict between the men loyal to Yamadayev and forces of Kadyrov followed . In this conflict , Kadyrov prevailed and eventually Yamadayev was sacked from his post and declared a wanted " criminal " in Chechnya . On 6 August , the previous ' Hero of Russia ' Yamadayev and some of his commandos were put on a federal wanted list . According to his brother and Duma deputy Ruslan Yamadayev , Sulim still allegedly lived in Moscow and did not hide at the time of the warrant being issued . The other Yamadayev brother , Badrudi was placed on the federal wanted list earlier in 2008 . According to Moscow - based defence analyst Pavel Felgenhauer , " It ' s important because this had been a rare challenge to Kadyrov in Chechnya . Now , it ' s clear that Yamadayev has been quashed and Kadyrov controls Chechnya . " A few days after he was declared wanted in Russia , " Gazeta " reported that Yamadayev was participating in military actions in the outskirts of Tskhinvali in the Georgia ' s breakway Republic of South Ossetia . " Novaya Gazeta " military correspondent Arkady Babchenko accompanied Yamadayev and his remaining loyal men in Georgia . Following the war , on 22 August , " RIA Novosti " reported Yamadayev was officially dismissed from his post as commander of the Vostok battalion in Chechnya . On the same day , the search for Yamadayev was stopped , officially because the Chechen MVD had established his whereabouts ( according to investigatory bodies , Yamadayev was in Moscow ) . On 24 September 2008 , Ruslan Yamadayev and a retired Russian army General Sergey Kizyun ( protector of the Yamadayev clan ) were shot in Sulim ' s car in the central Moscow while driving from the Kremlin ; Ruslan Yamadayev was fatally wounded . Initial press responses reported the name of the victim as " Sulim Yamadayev " ; this was corrected later . Sulim Yamadayev blamed Kadyrov and vowed to avenge the death of his brother . Assassination . On 29 March 2009 , Sulim Yamadayev was reported to be the victim of an assassination in Dubai , where he lived for several months as Suleiman Yamadayev and / or Suleyman Madov ; his two bodyguards said he was shot in the back of the neck in an underground garage . The police attempted to detain a Russian citizen in connection with the attack , but the suspect was able to flee . However , despite the early reports of death , according to his younger brother , Isa , Yamadayev survived at least three gunshot wounds and was hospitalized in critical condition . According to RIAN , Yamadayev was placed in a military hospital after surviving an assassination attempt : he reportedly returned fire on his attackers , which " saved his life . " Dubai police dismissed this , reporting that Yamadayev died instantly from wounds sustained during the shooting . The Chechen president Ramzan Kadyrov confirmed , on 1 April that Yamadayev had been buried in the Gulf state . On 5 April 2009 , the Dubai police accused Adam Delimkhanov of ordering the assassination . Delimkhanov is a member of the Russian State Duma for the United Russia party and Kadyrov ' s cousin and a close associate . He denied the accusation , saying it was " a provocation and an attempt to destabilize conditions in the Chechen Republic . " Later , the Interpol has issued arrest warrants for seven Russian citizens in connection with the killing . Besides Delimkhanov , Zelimkhan Mazayev , Elimpasha Khatsuyev , Salman Kimayev , Tirpal Kimayev , Ramazan Musiev and Marvan Kimayev were named as being wanted for " crimes against life and health " . On 13 May 2009 , Sulim ' s brother Isa Yamadayev claimed he was alive . Isa claimed Sulim was only injured and was in a Dubai hospital under police guard , adding that they were in contact via the Internet . Russian diplomats had earlier admitted that they had not received documentary evidence of his body and that only Dubai Police had repeatedly informed them that he was buried in a local cemetery . Allegations of crimes . According to the Russian human rights organization Memorial in August 2008 , " Now we know from evidences of eyewitnesses that during the war in Georgia the fighters of the Vostok battalion were humanely treating the prisoners of war . As far as I understand , the Chechen battalion didn ' t take part in pogroms [ of Georgians in Gori District , and everything incriminated to Yamadayev refers to the past . "