Vladimir Magomedovich Semyonov

Who is Vladimir Magomedovich Semyonov?

Vladimir Magomedovich Semyonov is a Russian colonel-general and the first president of the Karachay–Cherkess Republic.

Semyonov was born on 8 June 1940 in the village of Khuzruk and has an ethnic Karchay father and an ethnic Russian mother. He is a Sunni Muslim. He joined the Soviet Army in 1958. He completed the Baku military college in 1962, the Frunze Military Academy in 1970 and the General Staff Academy in 1979.

He is a professional military commander. In 1988, Vladimir Semyonov was appointed as the head of the Transbaikal Military District. In 1991, he became a commander-in-chief of Soviet Land Forces and deputy minister of the Ministry of Defence. From 1992 to 1996 Vladimir Semyonov headed the Russian Ground Forces. He was dismissed from his post by the Russian Defence Minister Igor Radionov in 1996 but returned to duty in 1998 as Chief Military Adviser to the Minister of Defense of Russia.

In May 1999 he won the presidential elections in Karachay–Cherkessia which caused ethnic tension between Karachays and Cherkesses. The tension was pacified without bloodshed. Vladimir Semyonov tried to solve socio-economic problems of the Republic but in vain. On August 31, 2003, he lost in the general election and left his post to Mustafa Batdyyev.