Yuri Budanov

Who was Yuri Budanov?

Yuri Dmitrievich Budanov was a Russian military officer convicted by a Russian court of kidnapping and murder in Chechnya.

Budanov was highly controversial in Russia: despite the conviction, Budanov enjoyed widespread support of Russian households as polled by public opinion. At the same time, he was broadly hated in Chechnya, even by the pro-Russian Chechens. In December 2008, a court in the south Russian Ulyanovsk Oblast granted a petition for early release. After eight years in prison, he was released on parole on 15 January 2009.

On 10 June 2011, Budanov was shot dead in Moscow by an unknown perpetrator; responsibility for the attack was later claimed by the Caucasus Emirate.