Khozh-Ahmed Noukhaev
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Khozh-Ahmed Noukhaev is a leader of the Chechen mafia organization known as Obshina and a prominent figure in Chechen politics. He was born in 1954 into the Yalkhoi teip (clan) from the Geldagan village in Shalinsky District of the Chechen Republic.
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[edit] Early life
He arrived to Moscow in 1974 and matriculated into Moscow State University, Faculty of Law. Along with Said-Khasanom Abumuslimov (Vice-President of Chechnya under Yanderbiev) he organized an underground committee for the liberation of Chechnya called Obshina. The committee studied books by Avtrkhanova, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, and Andrei Sakharov. According to Nukhaev, 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. By 1987 Chechen criminals had developed into a well-organized community under Nukhayev and Suleimanov, the group forced the most influential Russian Mafia gangs (the Lyubertsy, Solntsevo, and Balashikha) out of Moscow which allowed the Chechens to occupy the dominant position.[1]
[edit] First Chechen War
According to unverified sources, Nukhaev commanded a small group of militants during the first months of the 1994-1996 war. It was later claimed that he was wounded in 1995 during the battle for Grozny and sent to Turkey for recovery. While still in Turkey he formed a cabinet of the government of Ichkeria and dealt with problems related to the bringing wounded fighters to Turkey for treatment. In 1996 Zelimkhan Yandarbiyev occupied the post of first Vice-Premier of Ichkeria. Nukhaev handled external economic ties and international relations as well as oil and gas manufacturing. In Spring 1997 he directed the Caucasian-American Trade-Manufacturing Chamber which was registered in Washington DC. He then created the holding Caucasian Common Market and became co-founder of Caucasian Investment Fund.
[edit] Activities During the Second Chechen War
Soon after the start of the Second Chechen War, Nukhaev left for Baku, Azerbaijan 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 is such that guerilla 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 or former UN Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali to oversee the freeing of illegally detained persons on both sides.[2] It is believed by some that he also helped finance the militant groups of Ruslan Gelaev and Aslambek Abdulkhadzhiev. In 2001 Nukhaev first proposed the extremely unpopular idea (among both allies and enemies of Russia) of splitting Chechnya into a northern Russian half and a southern Ichkerian half. That same year Nukhaev founded the inter-teip movement Nokhchi-Latta-Islam, and politician Aleksandr Dugin was also working with him during this time.
[edit] Book by Paul Klebnikov
Noukhaev was the subject of a book entitled "Conversations with a Barbarian" by the late American/Russian journalist Paul Klebnikov. The book is based on interviews with Noukhaev conducted by Klebnikov in Azerbaijan. In it, Noukhaev discusses his past, including his involvement in criminal activities in Moscow. He also argues for the superiority of the Chechen and Islamic clan/tribal-based social system, while Klebnikov argues for an opposite position. After its publication, this book was banned by Russian authorities. 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.
[edit] Possible death in the Mountains of Dagestan
Khozh-Akhmed Nukhaev stayed in Azerbaijan 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 to Chechnya in late 2003. He supposedly convinced Ruslan Gelaev to cross Dagestan to Georgia and was with a group of Gelayev's fighters when they were surrounded in the mountains during the winter of 2004. Part of Gelaev's men were killed, some taken captive and on February 28 Gelaev himself was 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 brought from Azerbaijan and can sometimes still be found in the market of Grozny and Nazran.[3]
[edit] Notes
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