Magomed Tushayev

Magomed Tushayev (born February 23, 1986, in Grozny, died February 26, 2022 in Hostomel) was a General and advisor to the Head of the Chechen Republic. He commanded the 141 Motorized Regiment of the Chechnya National Guard. 
Tushayev was part of a group who terrorized the LGBTQ community in Chechnya. This included kidnapping and torturing dozens of men who were suspected to be gay. This has been called Chechnya's "anti-gay purge".
He was killed by soldiers of the National Guard of Ukraine. This was during 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine|Russia's invasion of Ukraine. His death was confirmed by the Ukranian news agency and the office of the Ukranian President.
==Biography==
Tushayev was an only child, and he has been interested in the military since he was a child, and was fascinated by the theme of military uniforms. After graduating from the school in Sernovodsk, he studied finance and law in Makhachkala. In 2008 he joined OMON . He later became a riot police officer in the Republic of Chechnya, then transferred to SOBR and was promoted to head of the 4156th Unit of the Federal Army of the Russian Federation State Guard in the city of Grozny . Then he was made the deputy head of the department of SOBR 
In 2017, he became the commander of the 141 Motorized Regiment of the Chechen National Guard. Akhmat Kadyrov , one of the elite units of the Russian Federation, and served as commander in April 2018.
In 2019 he was promoted to the rank of major . In 2021, Tushayev took part in tests at the training center of the National Guard of the Russian Federation in the Stavropol Krai. After positive results, he obtained the right to wear a red beret, which was the highest distinction for special forces soldiers.
==Crimes==
Tushayev was a close confidant of Ramzan Kadyrov, the head of the Chechen Republic, and one of Kadyrov's three senior advisers. Tushayev was personally congratulated by Kadyrov on his 34th birthday . Tushayev was also one of the key executors of the anti-gay purge in the Chechen Republic. According to the " Daily Mirror ", citing news from a Russian human rights organization, Tushayev was part of a group who terrorized the LGBTQ community in Chechnya. This included kidnapping and torturing and extrajudicially killing dozens of men who were suspected to be gay. This has been called Chechnya's "anti-gay purge". Tushayev also kidnapped gay human rights activist Ibrahim Selimkhanov (Ибрагим Селимханов) at Moscow ’s Novi Gileyevo station in May 2021 and returned to Grozny to interrogate intelligence about the Chechen LGBTQ+ community and people. LGBTQ+ activists had filed a complaint about Tushayev's kidnapping of Selimkhanov with the Russian Federal Investigative Committee of the Russian Ministry of Justice, but officials refused to take further action. 
==Death==
In the first half of February 2022, he was the commander of the 141st Regiment as a major . 
According to Interfax-Ukraine, Tushayev died during hostilities during Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine near Hostomel, where Ukrainian troops defeated a Chechen national guard special unit.
Ukraine claims that Tushayev led a special mobile group into Ukraine during the Russian invasion of Ukraine to behead a Ukrainian dignitary, but was killed on February 26, 2022 in an exchange of fire with Ukrainian Alpha Special Forces at Antonov Airport . The Chechen special forces and 56 tank columns led by Tushayev were all annihilated and captured by the Ukrainian Alpha Special Forces. But Kadyrov denied the news of Tushayev's death and released a video of himself talking on the phone with a person who was said to be Tushayev. 
Following the announcement of Tushayev's death, Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov in the following days denied the information that Magomed Tushayev was killed and assured that the soldier was alive . 
Ramzan Kadyrov released a video in which he claimed to speak by telephone with Tushayev. Videos are then published by various accounts on social networks, supposed to deny the reports of the death of Touchayev.
According to Liberation, Touchayev's death was still not confirmed on March 24, 2022.
He was killed by soldiers of the National Guard of Ukraine. This was during Russia's invasion of Ukraine. His death was confirmed by the Ukranian news agency and the office of the Ukranian President.
He was the commander-in-chief of the 141st Motorized Regiment of the Chechen National Guard, Akmat Kadyrov, and a member of the OMON. On February 26, 2022, unconfirmed reports claimed that he had been killed in battle during the Russian invasion of Ukraine by soldiers of the Ukrainian National Guard and the Ukrainian “Alpha Unit”. The deaths were confirmed by both the Ukrainian president's government and the Ukrainian media. 
In many media reports from that time, Tushayev was titled as a general. Later, in the message of Telegraf.com.ua, unlike other Russian generals killed, Tushyev was referred to as a general of the Rosgvard ( Federal Service of the Russian National Guard Troops ). On March 16, 2022, he was also mentioned as a general in a statement by the Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council on Russian commanders killed by the Ukrainian side since the beginning of the invasion. The Chechen website Czecznia Siegodnia published a video confirming that Magomed Tushayev was alive. However, the amateur film shown as evidence does not allow to unequivocally verify neither the identity of the man claiming to be Tushayev, nor the date of the recording itself.
==Decorations==
Tushayev received numerous decorations, including:
* Medal "For Courage"
* Order of Courage
* Ordre Akhmat Kadyrov 
* Medal of the Order "For Merits of the Fatherland" 2nd class with swords
* "Excellence in Policing" badge - "for contribution to the fight against terrorism." 
Category:1986 births
Category:2022 deaths
Category:Russian people