Arbi Barayev Politician

Arbi Alautdinovich Barayev (Chechen: Арби Алаутдинович Бараев) (Russian: Бараев, Арби Алаутдинович), nicknamed "The Terminator", was a renegade Chechen warlord often accused of clandestine links with the Russian special services. In 1996 he became the founder and first leader of the Special Purpose Islamic Regiment, which was regarded as one of the main hostage-taking, kidnapping, and oil-smuggling groups operating in Chechnya during the lawless interwar period that followed the 1994–1996 conflict with Russia.Barayev's actions contributed significantly to the rise of the Chechen criminal state in the late 1990s, helping to drive out foreign journalists and humanitarian workers while undermining the presidency of Aslan Maskhadov. He reportedly boasted of personally killing over 160 people and is said to be responsible for the deaths of over 50 people from his home village of Alkhan-Kala, including family members. Arbi was an uncle of Movsar Barayev, a key figure in the 2002 Moscow theater hostage crisis.