Editing Zelimkhan Yandarbiyev (section)

==Life==
Yandarbiyev was originally a literary scholar, poet, and children's literature writer, having studied at the [[Maxim Gorky Literature Institute]] in [[Moscow]] and co-founding a clandestine literature club which would eventually be banned by the Soviet authorities.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Maaß |first1=Ekkehard |title=Chechnya, War and History: 400 Years of Colonial Conquest – 400 Years of Resistance |last2=Kubanek |first2=Bettina |publisher=Deutsch-Kaukasische Gesellschaft e.V. |year=2003 |pages=36}}</ref>

Years later, Yandarbiyev became a leader in the [[Chechen people|Chechen]] nationalist movement as the [[Soviet Union]] began to collapse. In July 1989, he founded the Bart (Unity) Party, a democratic party that promoted the unity of Caucasian ethnic groups against Russian imperialism and terrorism.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Hughes|first1=James|title=Chechnya. From Nationalism to Jihad|date=2007|publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press|location=Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA|page=19}}</ref> In May 1990, he founded and led the [[Vainakh Democratic Party]] (VDP), the first Chechen political party, which was committed to an [[independence|independent]] Chechnya. The VDP initially represented both Chechen and [[Ingush people|Ingush]] until their split after Chechnya's [[declaration of independence]] from the [[Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic]]. {{citation needed|date=October 2010}}

In November 1990, he became the deputy chairman of the newly formed [[All-National Congress of the Chechen People]] (NCChP), which was led by [[Dzhokhar Dudayev]] and which ousted the Soviet-era leadership. With Dudayev, he signed an agreement with Ingush leaders splitting the joint Chechen-Ingush republic in two. In the first Chechen parliament, from 1991 to 1993, Yandarbiyev headed the media [[committee]]. In April 1993 he was appointed as the [[Vice President of Ichkeria]] by Dudayev.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna4261459|title = Ex-Chechen president dies in blast|website = [[NBC News]]| date=13 February 2004 }}</ref>

In April 1996, following the assassination of his predecessor Dzhokhar Dudayev, he became the Acting President of Ichkeria. In late May 1996, Yandarbiyev headed a Chechen delegation that met [[President of Russia]] [[Boris Yeltsin]] and [[Prime Minister of Russia]] [[Viktor Chernomyrdin]] for peace talks at [[Moscow Kremlin|the Kremlin]] that resulted in the signature of a [[ceasefire]] agreement on 27 May 1996.<ref name="nyt_signs">{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1996/05/28/world/chechens-leader-signs-peace-pact-with-the-kremlin.html |title=Chechens' Leader Signs Peace Pact with the Kremlin |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=28 May 1996 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121105124717/http://www.nytimes.com/1996/05/28/world/chechens-leader-signs-peace-pact-with-the-kremlin.html |archive-date=5 November 2012 |url-status=live |access-date=21 March 2008 }}</ref>

In 1997, during the signing of the [[Russian-Chechen Peace Treaty]] in Moscow, Yandarbiyev famously forced Russian President Yeltsin to change seats at a negotiating table so he would be received like a head of sovereign state. Yandarbiyev stood in the [[presidential elections in Chechen Republic, 1997|presidential election]] held in Chechnya in February 1997, but was defeated by the Chechen separatist top military leader, General [[Aslan Maskhadov]], getting 10 per cent of the votes and landing third behind Maskhadov and [[Shamil Basayev]]. Together with Maskhadov, Yandarbiyev took part in signing of the "lasting" peace treaty in Moscow.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1997/05/13/world/yeltsin-signs-peace-treaty-with-chechnya.html |title=Yeltsin Signs Peace Treaty With Chechnya |work=The New York Times |date=13 May 1997 |access-date=21 March 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101120112625/http://www.nytimes.com/1997/05/13/world/yeltsin-signs-peace-treaty-with-chechnya.html |archive-date=20 November 2010 |url-status=live }}</ref>

The two Chechen leaders fell out badly the following year, when Yandarbiyev was accused of being behind an assassination attempt against Maskhadov. In September 1998, Maskhadov publicly denounced Yandarbiyev, accusing him of importing the [[Islamic extremism|Islamic extremist]] philosophy of "[[Wahhabism]]" and of being responsible for "anti-state activities" including anti-government speeches and public meetings, as well as the organisation of illegal armed groups. Yandarbiyev subsequently joined forces with the hard-line [[Islamism|Islamist]] opposition to Maskhadov's rule.{{citation needed|date=January 2022}}

In August–September 1999, Yandarbiyev was assumed as a key figure behind [[War of Dagestan|the invasion]] by the [[Islamic International Brigade]]-led coalition of Islamist guerrillas on the neighboring Russian [[Dagestan|Republic of Dagestan]]. At the beginning of the [[Second Chechen War]], Yandarbiyev traveled abroad to [[Afghanistan]], [[Pakistan]] and the [[United Arab Emirates]] and eventually settled in [[Qatar]] in 1999, where he sought to obtain Muslim support for the Chechen cause.{{citation needed|date=October 2010}}

After being accused of involvement in the October 2002 [[Moscow theater hostage crisis]], Yandarbiyev was placed on [[Interpol]]'s most wanted list and Russia made the first of several requests for [[extradition]] in February 2003, citing Yandarbiyev as a major international terrorist and financier of the [[al-Qaeda]]-backed Chechen resistance.<ref>{{cite web|title=Russia and Qatar |author=Mark N. Katz |access-date=8 May 2010 |url=http://meria.idc.ac.il/JOURNAL/2007/issue4/jv11no4a1.asp |archive-date=11 June 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110611110627/http://meria.idc.ac.il/JOURNAL/2007/issue4/jv11no4a1.asp |url-status=dead }}</ref> In June 2003, his name was consequently added to the United Nations Security Council [[Al-Qaida and Taliban Sanctions Committee]]'s blacklist of al-Qaeda-related suspects.<ref>{{cite web|title=17 added to list of those subject to UN sanctions against Al-Qaida|date=27 June 2003 |url=https://news.un.org/en/story/2003/06/72742-17-added-list-those-subject-un-sanctions-against-al-qaida}}</ref>

Yandarbiyev played a key role in directing funding from foundations in the [[Arab states of the Persian Gulf]] in order to support a radical Chechen faction dubbed the [[Special Purpose Islamic Regiment]], a militant group responsible for the Moscow theater hostage crisis.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://edition.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/02/13/qatar.chechen/index.html |title=Blast kills exiled Chechen leader |agency=[[CNN]] |date=13 February 2004 |access-date=10 November 2007 |archive-date=15 January 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080115083034/http://edition.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/02/13/qatar.chechen/index.html |url-status=live }}</ref> In January 2004, he was interviewed extensively in Qatar for the [[BBC Four]] documentary ''The Smell of Paradise'', where the film-makers called him the "spiritual leader of the Chechens and a poet on the road to [[jihad]]."{{citation needed|date=January 2022}}