Career
Yamadayev was one of the Kremlin"s most loyal allies. Ruslan Yamadayev belonged to the Gudermes-based Chechen Benoi teip. From 2003 to 2007, he was a deputy to the State Duma from Chechnya.
In 2004, he was nominated for the Chechen presidency.
Death
On 24 September 2008, Ruslan Yamadayev was assassinated on Smolenskaya Embankment in central Moscow near the Russian White House when returning from a meeting in the Kremlin. Initially, it was reported the name of the victim as Sulim, which was corrected later.
The other victim of the shooting, the former military commandant of Chechnya and retired Colonel General Sergei Kizyun, was hospitalized in grave condition. The Russian police has launched a criminal case on charges of murder and attempted murder.
The pro-Moscow president of Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov who had, in the months prior to the assassination, engaged in a bitter rivalry with the Yamadayevs denied accusations of being behind the killing, and suggested Yamadayev fell victim of a blood feud.
Sulim Yamadayev also accused Kadyrov and promised to take revenge. Sulim himself was reported killed on 29 March 2009 in Dubai. In April 2009, a court in Moscow convicted two Chechen of the assassination of Yamadayev.
Aslanbek Dadayev, allegedly Yamadayev"s murderer, was sentenced to 20 years imprisonment, and Elimpasha Khatsuev, allegedly drove the car, was sentenced to 15 years in prison.