Supyan Abdullayev

Supyan Abdullayev (born November 8, 1956 in the Kazakh SSR) is the former vice president of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria. He was appointed to this position (vacant since the death of Shamil Basayev) on March 19, 2007, by the President of Chechnya Doku Umarov. Currently, he is the is the most senior figure after Umarov in the ranks of the anti-Russian Caucasian Emirate and his one possible successor. [ [http://www.rferl.org/content/What_Direction_For_Chechnya/1182441.html What Direction For Chechnya?] , Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, July 08, 2008]

Abdullayev is commander of the Jundullah Brigade, linked to the Vedeno-based wing of the Chechen resistance movement which was close to Basayev. He is primarily a religious figure rather than a military man, alike Abdul-Halim Sadulayev.

Biography

Abdullayev is a member of the Chechen Tsadahroi "teip". In the late 1980s Abdullayev, together with the Chechn Islamist leader Movladi Udugov, was a founder member of the Islamic Renaissance Party established in the Soviet Union.

After the First Chechen War, Supyan Abdullaev held the rank of Colonel and the deputy of Islam Khalimov following Khalimov's appointment to the post of minister of internal affairs in 1997. Both of the men left the ministry following the gun battle in Gudermes between the Salafites and the supporters of then-President Aslan Maskhadov on July 15, 1998. In the aftermath, Abdullaev grew distant from politics and was well known as a “second stringer.”

During the Second Chechen War, Abdullayev entered the ranks of the resistance in the very beginning, started out as a leader of a "jamaat" and eventually became the commander of a front and a member of the Maskhadov's government, racing the level of Brigadier General. Even though he was a "jamaat" member, remained loyal to Aslan Maskhadov until the death of the latter.

References