Topic: Murat Zyazikov

Murat Magometovich Zyazikov (Russian: Мура́т Магоме́тович Зя́зиков) (born September 10, 1957) is the former president of the southern Russian republic of Ingushetia. He was born in what is now Kyrgyzstan.

In the 1980s, Zyazikov was a member of the KGB and later the FSB. In the 1990s he became part of Ingushetia's security council and on May 23, 2002 he was elected president of the republic in the controversional circumstances. Zyazikov is considered a close ally with former Russian president and current Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, especially because of his province's proximity to Chechnya.

On April 6, 2004, Zyazikov was lightly wounded when a car bomb was rammed into his motorcade (he sat in an armored Mercedes W140) on the main road near the city of Nazran. Chechen rebels were blamed for that attack and a June 2004 raid in Ingushetia that killed more than 90 people.