Political Career
In the 1980s, Zyazikov was a member of the KGB and later the FSB. In the 1990s, he became part of Ingushetia's security council and on May 23, 2002, he was elected president of the republic in the controversial circumstances. Zyazikov is considered a close ally with former Russian president and current Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, especially because of his province's proximity to Chechnya.
On April 6, 2004, Zyazikov was lightly wounded when a car bomb was rammed into his motorcade (he sat in an armored Mercedes W140) on the main road near the city of Nazran. Zyazikov blamed Chechen rebels for that attack and a June 2004 raid in Ingushetia that killed more than 90 people.
On February 27, 2006, Zyazikov's father-in-law (and a member of provincial legislature) Magomed Chakhkiyev was kidnapped in Nazran after his car was shot at and crashed. On March 30, 2006, the kidnappers made their demands: they wanted Zyazikov and Ingushetia prosecutor general Makhmud Ali Kalimatov to resign in exchange for Chakhkiyev's release. He was released by the police on May 1, 2006, apparently without any payments to the kidnappers. The kidnappers have not been arrested.
On March 23, 2007, his 72-year-old uncle, Uruskhan Zyazikov, was kidnapped in Barsuki, Ingushetia by four armed men. A reward of 2,000,000 rubles (approximately $77,200) for information leading to his return was announced on March 29, 2007. No demands were made by the kidnappers at that point. On June 29, 2007, Zyazikov announced at a press conference that his uncle was still alive. He didn't offer any more information about the kidnapping. The Interior Minister of Ingushetia, Beslan Khamkhoyev, resigned and was replaced by Musa Medov a day before the press conference, apparently as a fallout from the kidnapping. The uncle was released by the kidnappers unharmed on October 11, 2007.
Zyazikov has been accused by the government's critics of corruption and inability to deal with political unrest which has plagued the Ingush republic. The opposition attribute the growing violence to popular anger fueled by alleged abductions, beatings, unlawful arrests and killings of suspects by the federal forces and local police and allied paramilitaries. Amid the increasing tensions, Zyazikov fired his government in March 2008, and called for further social and economic reforms.
Read more about this topic: Murat Zyazikov
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