Rustam Asildarov

Rustam Asildarov (born 9 March 1981) also known as Emir Abu Muhammad is a militant and former leader of the Vilayat Dagestan organisation in the Russian Republic of Dagestan.

Asildarov was born in the Kadar region of Dagestan's Buynaksky District, a region that became the center of Salafism during the late 1990s and was partially out of the Russian government’s control. The Russian state reinstalled control over the area after military operation in September 1999.^[2]

Asildarov succeeded Ibragimkhalil Daudov as emir of Dagestan's Central Sector when Daudov became the overall emir of the Caucasus Emirate's Dagestan Front in May 2010.^[3] Following the death of Daudov, on 8 August 2012 Dokku Umarov appointed Asildarov as the new emir of the Dagestan Front.^[4]

In December 2014, a video clip of Asildarov was posted online in which he retracted his oath of allegiance to Umarov’s successor, Ali Abu Mukhammad, and pledged loyalty to Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. Ali Abu Muhammad responded days later with a video in which he condemned Asildarov’s “betrayal” and appointed Said Kharakansky as the new leader of Vilayat Dagestan.^[1][5]

References