Everything about Akhmed Zakayev totally explained
Akhmed Khalidovich Zakayev (
Russian:
Ахмед Халидович Закаев) (born
April 26 1956 in
Kazakh SSR,
Soviet Union) is the former
Deputy Prime Minister and the current
Prime Minister of the separatist
Chechen Republic of Ichkeria. He was also the
Foreign Minister of the Ichkerian government, appointed by the
President Aslan Maskhadov shortly after his 1997 election, and again in 2006 by
Abdul Halim Sadulayev.
Early life
Akhmed Zakayev was born in 1959 in the settlement of
Kirovskiy in
Kazakhstan, where his family was deported by
Stalin in 1944. He graduated from the
acting and
choreography schools in
Voronezh and
Moscow and worked as an actor at
Grozny theatre, specializing in a
Shakespearean roles. Since 1991, he was the chairman of the Chechen Union of the Theatrical Actors.
Chechen wars
In 1994, Zakayev became a
Minister of Culture in the government of
Dzokhar Dudayev. After the start of the
First Chechen War he left his job and and took weapons, taking part in the
battle of Grozny in 1994-1995 and leading the defence of the village
Goyskoye in the March/April 1995. His group operated in the South West of the country with its headquarters in the town of
Urus-Martan; he was promoted to the rank of
Brigadier General and appointed the commander of the
Urus-Martan Front. Eventually, in February 1996, he became the commander of the whole Western Group of Defense of Ichkeria. In August 1996, Zakayev's forces took part in the
Chechen recapture of Grozny, where he led the attack on the city's Central Railway Station (according to the later
indictment, this attack killed about 200 Russian Interior Ministry troops).
His war merits in the mid-1990s paved Zakayev's way to Chechen high politics. He became the
acting president Zelimkhan Yandarbiyev's advisor for the security matters and the secretary of the Chechen
Security Council. As a moderate leader, he represented Chechnya at the
peace talks in Khasav-Yurt, which in 1996 brought a peaceful end to the first armed conflict between Moscow and Grozny. After the war, Zakayev became the Chechen
Deputy Prime Minister in charge of
education and
culture and a special envoy of President Aslan Maskhadov in relations with Moscow.
During the early phases of the
Second Chechen War in 1999-2000, Zakayev commanded Maskhadov's presidential guard. Zakayev was involved in negotiations with
Russian representatives before and during the resumed hostilities. In 2000, after having been wounded in a
car accident during another
siege of Grozny, he left for abroad and turned into the most prominent representative of President Maskhadov in
Western Europe, including
France and
Switzerland. Since January 2002, Zakayev resides in
United Kingdom with his immediate family.
In exile
On
November 18 2001, Zakayev, already wanted internationally by Russia, flew from
Turkey to the
Sheremetyevo International Airport near
Moscow to meet the Kremlin's envoy, General
Viktor Kazantsev, but the talks were fruitless because Kazantsev demanded a complete
capitulation of the Chechen side. On
July 18,
2002, he met with the former Secretary of Security Council of Russia
Ivan Rybkin in
Zürich,
Switzerland.
Zakayev case
Living in London, Zakayev organized the World Chechen Congress in Copenhagen, Denmark, in October 2002. During the congress, he was accused by Russia of involvement in planning the Moscow theatre siege. He was detained there on October 30, 2002, under an Interpol warrant filed by Russia, which named him a suspect in the theater siege. Zakayev denied involvement in the theater capture. He was held in Denmark for five weeks and released due to lack of evidence.
Therefore, on November 13, 2003, a British judge rejected the Russian request, saying that it was politically motivated and that he'd be at risk of torture in the case of "unjust and oppressive" extradition. He also said the crimes which involve Zakayev allegedly using armed force against combatants were not extraditable because they took place in an "internal armed conflict" situation. Russian authorities in turn responded by accusing the court of "double standards".
After political asylum
On November 29 2003, it was announced that he'd been granted political asylum in the UK. Since then, he's visited Germany and Poland without being arrested.
During the September 2004 Beslan school hostage crisis, Zakayev agreed with the civilian negotiators and authorities of North Ossetia-Alania to fly to Russia to negotiate with the hostage takers. However, siege ended in bloody confusion just few hours before this could happen.
In London, Zakayev became a close friend to the Russian dissident and former FSB officer Alexander Litvinenko, murdered by radioactive poisoning in November 2006. Zakayev accused the President of Russia Vladimir Putin of ordering the death of Litvinenko. In 2007, British police warned Zakayev that there was an increased threat to his personal security shortly before the alleged attempt to kill Berezovsky. According to the KGB defector Oleg Gordievsky in 2008, Zakayev was placed #2 on the FSB assassination list, between Berezovsky and Litvinenko.
On October 31, 2007, Zakayev officially distanced himself from the resigned Chechen president Doku Umarov and the Chechen Islamist ideologist Movladi Udugov who together declared the creation of Caucasus Emirate. Zakayev called for the remnants of the separatist parliament to form the new government. Soon after, on November 20, 2007, Zakayev has submitted his resignation from the ministerial post, but said this shouldn't be viewed as a departure from "the fight for our independence, our freedom, and for the recognition of our state". Since November 2007, Zakayev says he's now the Prime Minister of the Chechen government in exile.
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