Khozh-Ahmed Noukhaev
Encyclopedia
Chechen mafia
The Chechen mafia is one of the largest organized crime groups operating in the former Soviet Union next to established Russian mafia gangs, which originally consisted of criminals of Chechen ethnicity who later also tried to recruit former Russian special military forces, police and army officers...
known as Obshina and a prominent figure in Chechen politics. He was born in Central-Asian exile into the Yalkhoi teip
Teip
Teip is a Chechen and Ingush tribal organization or clan, self-identified through descent from a common ancestor and geographic location. There are about 130-233 teips...
(clan) from the Geldagan village in Shalinsky District
Shalinsky District, Chechen Republic
Shalinsky District is an administrative and municipal district , one of the fifteen in the Chechen Republic, Russia. Its administrative center is the town of Shali...
of the Chechen Republic
Chechnya
The Chechen Republic , commonly referred to as Chechnya , also spelled Chechnia or Chechenia, sometimes referred to as Ichkeria , is a federal subject of Russia . It is located in the southeastern part of Europe in the Northern Caucasus mountains. The capital of the republic is the city of Grozny...
.
Early life
He arrived in MoscowMoscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
in 1974 and matriculated into Moscow State University
Moscow State University
Lomonosov Moscow State University , previously known as Lomonosov University or MSU , is the largest university in Russia. Founded in 1755, it also claims to be one of the oldest university in Russia and to have the tallest educational building in the world. Its current rector is Viktor Sadovnichiy...
, Faculty of Law. Along with Said-Khasan Abumuslimov (later Vice-President of Chechnya under Zelimkhan Yandarbiyev
Zelimkhan Yandarbiyev
Zelimkhan Abdumuslimovich Yandarbiyev was a Chechen writer and a politician, who served as acting president of the breakaway Chechen Republic of Ichkeria between 1996 and 1997...
) he organized an underground committee for the liberation of Chechnya called Obshina. The committee studied books by Abdurakhman Avtorkhanov
Abdurakhman Avtorkhanov
Abdurakhman Avtorkhanov was an acclaimed Soviet historian and writer turned anti-communist. He worked primarily in the fields of Soviet history and History of the CPSU...
, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn was aRussian and Soviet novelist, dramatist, and historian. Through his often-suppressed writings, he helped to raise global awareness of the Gulag, the Soviet Union's forced labor camp system – particularly in The Gulag Archipelago and One Day in the Life of...
, and Andrei Sakharov
Andrei Sakharov
Andrei Dmitrievich Sakharov was a Soviet nuclear physicist, dissident and human rights activist. He earned renown as the designer of the Soviet Union's Third Idea, a codename for Soviet development of thermonuclear weapons. Sakharov was an advocate of civil liberties and civil reforms in the...
. According to Noukhaev, Abumuslimov was responsible for politics and information while he took care of financial matters and weapons. In 1980 Nukhaev was sentenced to eight years for banditry, which he claimed were actually for political reasons. During this time he acquired the nickname “Khozha” and was considered a boss of the Chechen mafia along with Nikolay Suleimanov
Nikolay Suleimanov
Nikolay Suleimanov, known more commonly as "Khoza", was a leading "authority" of the Chechen mafia organization Obshina.Suleimanov came to Moscow in the early 1980s and helped Khozh-Ahmed Noukhaev and Ruslan A. to set up the Chechen gangs there...
. By 1987 Chechen criminals had developed into a well-organized community under Nukhayev and Suleimanov, the group forced the most influential Russian Mafia
Russian Mafia
The Russian Mafia is a name applied to organized crime syndicates in Russia and Ukraine. The mafia in various countries take the name of the country, as for example the Ukrainian mafia....
gangs (the Lyubertsy, Solntsevo
Solntsevskaya bratva
The Solntsevskaya Bratva is a powerful organized crime organization from Moscow, Russia. It is named after the Solntsevo neighborhood in the city. It is considered to be one the most dangerous criminal organizations in the entire world.-History:...
, and Balashikha) out of Moscow which allowed the Chechens to occupy the dominant position.
Activities during the Second Chechen War
Soon after the start of the Second Chechen WarSecond Chechen War
The Second Chechen War, in a later phase better known as the War in the North Caucasus, was launched by the Russian Federation starting 26 August 1999, in response to the Invasion of Dagestan by the Islamic International Peacekeeping Brigade ....
, Nukhaev left for Baku
Baku
Baku , sometimes spelled as Baki or Bakou, is the capital and largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and of the Caucasus region. It is located on the southern shore of the Absheron Peninsula, which projects into the Caspian Sea. The city consists of two principal...
, Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan , officially the Republic of Azerbaijan is the largest country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded by the Caspian Sea to the east, Russia to the north, Georgia to the northwest, Armenia to the west, and Iran to...
, and financed the underground Chechen newspapers Ichkeria and Mekh-kell. In 1999 he made a public statement calling for an international commission to bring peace to Chechnya, saying Russia will never gain its objectives by military means because the Chechen people's will for self-determination
Self-determination
Self-determination is the principle in international law that nations have the right to freely choose their sovereignty and international political status with no external compulsion or external interference...
is such that guerrilla warfare will continue for years. Noukhaev said the first step in the peace process should be establishment of an International Commission headed by such respected world figures as former President Jimmy Carter
Jimmy Carter
James Earl "Jimmy" Carter, Jr. is an American politician who served as the 39th President of the United States and was the recipient of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize, the only U.S. President to have received the Prize after leaving office...
or former UN Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali
Boutros Boutros-Ghali
Boutros Boutros-Ghali is an Egyptian politician and diplomat who was the sixth Secretary-General of the United Nations from January 1992 to December 1996...
to oversee the freeing of illegally detained persons on both sides. It is believed by some that he also helped finance the militant groups of Ruslan Gelayev and Aslambek Abdulkhadzhiev
Aslambek Abdulkhadzhiev
General Aslambek Abdulkhadzhiev was a field commander during the First and Second Chechen Wars. He was a deputy of Shamil Basayev, and commissioner of Shalinsky and Vedensky Districts after being appointed by Dzhokhar Dudayev in 1994....
. In 2001 Nukhaev first proposed the controversial idea (among both his allies and enemies) of splitting Chechnya into a northern Russian half and a southern de facto
De facto
De facto is a Latin expression that means "concerning fact." In law, it often means "in practice but not necessarily ordained by law" or "in practice or actuality, but not officially established." It is commonly used in contrast to de jure when referring to matters of law, governance, or...
, but not de jure
De jure
De jure is an expression that means "concerning law", as contrasted with de facto, which means "concerning fact".De jure = 'Legally', De facto = 'In fact'....
Ichkerian half. That same year Nukhaev founded the inter-teip
Teip
Teip is a Chechen and Ingush tribal organization or clan, self-identified through descent from a common ancestor and geographic location. There are about 130-233 teips...
movement Nokhchi-Latta-Islam, and politician Aleksandr Dugin
Aleksandr Dugin
Aleksandr Gelyevich Dugin is a politologist and one of the most popular ideologists of Russian expansionism, nationalism, and fascism, with close ties to the Kremlin and Russian military. He was the leading organizer of National Bolshevik Party, National Bolshevik Front, and Eurasia Party...
was also working with him during this time.
Book by Paul Klebnikov
Noukhaev was the subject of a book entitled Conversation with a Barbarian: Interviews with a Chechen Field Commander on Banditry and Islam by the late American/Russian journalist Paul KlebnikovPaul Klebnikov
Paul Klebnikov was a Russian-American journalist and historian of Russian history. He worked for Forbes Magazine for over 10 years and at the time of his death was Chief editor of the Russian edition. His murder in Moscow in 2004 was seen as a blow against investigative journalism in Russia...
. The book is based on interviews with Noukhaev conducted by Klebnikov in Baku
Baku
Baku , sometimes spelled as Baki or Bakou, is the capital and largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and of the Caucasus region. It is located on the southern shore of the Absheron Peninsula, which projects into the Caspian Sea. The city consists of two principal...
, Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan , officially the Republic of Azerbaijan is the largest country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded by the Caspian Sea to the east, Russia to the north, Georgia to the northwest, Armenia to the west, and Iran to...
. In it, Noukhaev discusses his past, including his involvement in criminal activities in Moscow and creating Caucasian Common Market
Caucasian Common Market
The Caucasian Common Market was a private holding company created to bring prosperity and well-being to the Caucasus region, and in addition, its recognition by the world community as an important subject of international commodity exchange and, consequently, international law.Among the company's...
. He also argues for the superiority of the Chechen and Islamic clan/tribal-based social system, while Klebnikov argues for an opposite position. After Klebnikov's murder in Moscow in 2004, it was alleged that Noukhaev had ordered the killing in retaliation for his negative portrayal in this book. Several Chechens were charged with carrying out the killing on Noukhayev's orders but all were subsequently acquitted at trial.
Political activities in Russia
After April 2001, he became actively involved in work of Eurasia PartyEurasia Party
The Eurasia Party was registered as a political party by the Ministry of Justice of Russia on 21 June 2002, approximately one year after the Pan-Russian Eurasia Movement was established by Aleksandr Dugin...
led by Russian nationalist Aleksandr Dugin
Aleksandr Dugin
Aleksandr Gelyevich Dugin is a politologist and one of the most popular ideologists of Russian expansionism, nationalism, and fascism, with close ties to the Kremlin and Russian military. He was the leading organizer of National Bolshevik Party, National Bolshevik Front, and Eurasia Party...
, despite being officially wanted by police. On June 28, 2001, he appeared on the Dugin party's press conference in Moscow to propose that Chechnya be divided into North Chechnya (the plains region within the frame of the Russian Federation) and South Chechnya (the mountain region largely independent from Russia, but still closedly bonded to Russia and fiercily hostile to "Wahhabism
Wahhabism
Wahhabism is a religious movement or a branch of Islam. It was developed by an 18th century Muslim theologian from Najd, Saudi Arabia. Ibn Abdul Al-Wahhab advocated purging Islam of what he considered to be impurities and innovations...
", that is Islamic fundamentalism
Islamic fundamentalism
Islamic fundamentalism is a term used to describe religious ideologies seen as advocating a return to the "fundamentals" of Islam: the Quran and the Sunnah. Definitions of the term vary. According to Christine L...
, and the "Great Satan
Great Satan
The Great Satan is a derogatory epithet for the United States of America in some Iranian foreign policy statements...
", that is the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
).
Possible death in the Mountains of Dagestan
Khozh-Akhmed Nukhaev stayed in AzerbaijanAzerbaijan
Azerbaijan , officially the Republic of Azerbaijan is the largest country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded by the Caspian Sea to the east, Russia to the north, Georgia to the northwest, Armenia to the west, and Iran to...
for an extended period of time. It is from there that he edited the internet site named after him, Noukhaev.com. Since Spring 2004 no new information has come through from him. According to some sources, Nukhaev secretly arrived in Chechnya in late 2003. He supposedly convinced Ruslan Gelayev to cross Dagestan
Dagestan
The Republic of Dagestan is a federal subject of Russia, located in the North Caucasus region. Its capital and the largest city is Makhachkala, located at the center of Dagestan on the Caspian Sea...
to Georgia
Georgia (country)
Georgia is a sovereign state in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded to the west by the Black Sea, to the north by Russia, to the southwest by Turkey, to the south by Armenia, and to the southeast by Azerbaijan. The capital of...
and was with a group of Gelayev's fighters when they were surrounded in the mountains during the winter of 2004. Some of Gelayev's men were killed, some taken captive and on February 28 Gelayev himself was allegedly killed. Several sources consider that Nukhaev was killed alongside the fighters, although another version maintains that he was released. In support of the first version is the circumstantial evidence that neither Ichkeria or Mekh-Kell newspapers are being issued. There are no new book-brochures by Nukhaev about Russian-Chechen and international relations, or promoting his opinion on the future of Chechnya. These book-brochures were brought from Azerbaijan and can sometimes still be found in the markets of Grozny
Grozny
Grozny is the capital city of the Chechen Republic, Russia. The city lies on the Sunzha River. According to the preliminary results of the 2010 Census, the city had a population of 271,596; up from 210,720 recorded in the 2002 Census. but still only about two-thirds of 399,688 recorded in the 1989...
and Nazran
Nazran
Nazran is a town in the Republic of Ingushetia, Russia. It served as the republic's capital in 1991–2000, until the town of Magas was specially built as the new capital. Nazran is the largest city of the republic: -General:...
.
Links
- Materials about Nukhaev (Russian), from databaseDatabaseA database is an organized collection of data for one or more purposes, usually in digital form. The data are typically organized to model relevant aspects of reality , in a way that supports processes requiring this information...
anticompromat.ru by Pribylovsky - Interview with Noukhaev — Scene taken from “The Making of a New Empire” by Jos de Putter