Ruslan Tagirovich Khuchbarov; inh, Хучбаранаькъан Тагира Руслан, Khuchbaranäqhan Tagira Ruslan (12 November 1972 – 3 September 2004), was an

Ingush Ingush may refer to: * Ingush language * Ingush people The Ingush (, inh, ГIалгIай, translit=Ghalghaj, pronounced ) per Oxford dictionary "a member of a people living mainly in Ingushetia in the central Caucasus." Ingushetia is a federa ...

militant nicknamed " Polkovnik" (the Russian for

Colonel Colonel (abbreviated as Col., Col or COL) is a senior military officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, a colonel was typically in charge of ...

) notorious for his leading role in the 2004 Beslan school hostage crisis.

Biography

Khuchbarov was an ethnic Ingush and native of the village of

Galashki Galashki (russian: Галашки; inh, Галашкe, ''Galaške'') is a rural locality (a '' selo'') in Sunzhensky District of the Republic of Ingushetia, Russia, located on the left bank of the Sunzha River near the border with the Republic ...

in the republic of

Ingushetia Ingushetia (; russian: Ингуше́тия; inh, ГӀалгӏайче, Ghalghayče), officially the Republic of Ingushetia,; inh, Гӏалгӏай Мохк, Ghalghay Moxk is a republic of Russia located in the North Caucasus of Eastern Europe. ...

. His body was reportedly identified after he was killed during the storming of the school. According to FSB information obtained by the Russian newspaper '' Vremya Novostey'', Khuchbarov was living with his Russian girlfriend and their son in

Oryol Oblast Oryol Oblast (russian: Орло́вская о́бласть, ''Orlovskaya oblast''), also known as Orlovshchina (russian: Орловщина) is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject of Russia (an oblast). Its administrative center is th ...

, until he was accused of murder and attempted murder of two members of the

Armenian diaspora The Armenian diaspora refers to the communities of Armenians outside Armenia and other locations where Armenians are considered an indigenous population. Since antiquity, Armenians have established communities in many regions throughout the world. ...

and declared wanted in 1998. Khuchbarov then went into hiding and moved to Chechnya, where he underwent extensive combat training in a camp of the field commander Ibragimov and took the nickname Colonel, collaborating with Arbi Barayev. Eventually he joined the brigade of Shamil Basayev and became one of his closest associates in Ingushetia. Khuchbarov and one other rebel, Amriev, were responsible for the

Galashki ambush Galashki ambush took place of May 11, 2000, when the separatist militants from the group of Shamil Basayev, led by a Galashki native Ruslan Khuchbarov, attacked and destroyed a convoy of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (Russia), Russian Interio ...

in Ingushetia on 11 May 2000, killing 18 soldiers and officers and wounding three. The bombing of the Ingushetian Department of the FSB on 15 September 2003, when three people died and 32 were seriously injured, has also been ascribed to Khuchbarov. He was involved in the training of

suicide attack A suicide attack is any violent Strike (attack), attack, usually entailing the attacker detonating an explosive, where the attacker has suicide, accepted their own death as a direct result of the attacking method used. Suicide attacks have oc ...

ers. Russian sources initially reported "Polkovnik" to be Ali Taziyev, a former Ingush policeman-turned-rebel who was declared legally dead in 2000. However, this was later refuted by the Russian

prosecutor A prosecutor is a legal representative of the prosecution in states with either the common law adversarial system or the Civil law (legal system), civil law inquisitorial system. The prosecution is the legal party responsible for presenting the ...

s. Investigators then alleged this was the same person as

Akhmed Yevloyev Akhmed and variant Akhmad may refer to: * Ağəməd, Azerbaijan *Akhmed Avtorkhanov, Chechen leader * Akhmed Aziz, Guantanamo internee *Akhmad Kadyrov, First President of the Chechen Republic *Akhmed Zakayev, Prime Minister of the Chechen Republic ...

, an Ingush terrorist leader also said to be Ali Taziyev, but those reports were declared incorrect later: although he had similar features as Yevloyev, his facial profile was a lot different. In addition, Yevloyev turned out to be still alive.Chechnya - The week in brief: 16 - 22 July 2007

ReliefWeb ReliefWeb is a humanitarian information portal founded in 1996. The portal now hosts more than 720,000 humanitarian situation reports, press releases, evaluations, guidelines, assessments, maps and infographics. The portal is an independent vehi ...

, July 19, 2007

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Khuchbarov, Ruslan 1972 births 2004 deaths Beslan hostagetakers Ingush people People of the Chechen wars Male murderers