Yuri Budanov
Russian colonel convicted of murder of Chechen girl (1963-2011)
Yuri Dmitrievich Budanov (Russian: Ю́рий Дми́триевич Буда́нов, IPA: [ˈjʉrʲɪj ˈdmʲitrʲɪjɪvʲɪdʑ bʊˈdanəf]; 24 November 1963 – 10 June 2011) was a Russian military officer convicted for the kidnapping and murder of Elza Kungayeva 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 (of the ten years he was sentenced), he was released on parole on 15 January 2009.
On 10 June 2011, Budanov was shot dead in Moscow.
Biography
Early life
Budanov was born in 1963 in Khartsyzk, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union. He graduated from the Tank Military School in Kharkiv and went on officer career in the Soviet Army, particularly, serving with the Soviet base (Southern Group of Forces) in Hungary.
At the fall of the Soviet Union, Budanov was serving in Belarus, but he refused Belarusian citizenship and was transferred to the Siberian Military District, where he appears to have commanded the 160th Guards Tank Regiment of the 5th Guards Tank Division 1999–2001, and then to Chechnya. In 1999 Budanov graduated from the Malinovsky Military Armored Forces Academy, receiving the rank of Guards Colonel.
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