Chechen leader's rival "assassinated" in Dubai

Russian authorities on Monday identified a Chechen man as an opponent of pro-Russian President Ramzan Kadyrov after he was shot dead in the emirate of Dubai in what police said appeared to be an assassination.

There were conflicting reports about the events that had taken place with Dubai police saying on Saturday that the Chechen, Sulaiman Yamadayev, had been shot dead.

"The murder of the Chechen seems to be an assassination because he was shot dead in the parking of the building where he was living," Lieutenant General Dahi Khalfan Tamim, head of Dubai police, said in a statement.

"It seems the 36-year-old victim, called Sulaiman Madov, had been under surveillance for some time," he added.

Russian Consul Sergei Krasnogor said the dead man was a former rebel chief, who had challenged the Moscow-backed Kadyrov for control of Chechen security forces until last year, when he was dismissed from the command of an elite battalion and forced to flee.

"I just received confirmation from the Dubai police that he was killed," Krasnogor told Reuters. "We haven't personally seen any papers or a passport yet."

The Moskovsky Komsomolets newspaper contradicted the Dubai police's statement and quoted Yamadayev's brother as saying, "I am currently in hospital in Dubai."

"Sulaiman is in a grave state, unconscious, no one is allowed to see him. But I think he'll pull through," he said.

"I suspect who has done it but I don't want to say so far. Everybody knows anyway for whom Sulaiman is like a bone in the throat."

The murder of the Chechen seems to be an assassination because he was shot dead in the parking of the building where he was living

Dubai police chief

Chechen war

Last September, their brother Ruslan was killed by unidentified gunmen in central Moscow. Kadyrov rejected accusations he had been behind the murder and said the killers wanted to discredit him and to destabilize Chechnya.

Chechen exiles say three Chechens have been assassinated in the last six months in Istanbul and one in Vienna. Kadyrov has strongly rejected allegations he could be linked to those murders.

Yamadayev fought against Russia in the first Chechen war of 1994-96, when Moscow suffered a humiliating defeat and had to pull out of the separatist southern province.

But like some other leading rebels, including Kadyrov, he switched to the Russian side after then President Vladimir Putin sent troops in 1999 to retake mainly Muslim Chechnya.

Yamadayev became the commander of the Vostok battalion, a unit of battle-hardened former rebels which played a key role in subduing large-scale separatist resistance. In 2005 he was named a Hero of Russia, the top national honour.

Ramzan Kadyrov, who took over the job of Chechen leader from his father Akhmad who was assassinated in 2004, has tried to concentrate power in his hands and has drawn fire from human rights groups alarmed at alleged abuses in the province.

Sulaiman is in a grave state, unconscious, no one is allowed to see him. But I think he'll pull through

Sulaiman\\\'s brother