Suspected Russian War Criminal Appointed North Ossetia’s Labor Minister

Yuri Abayev, a 34-year-old former Russian military officer and suspected war criminal, has been appointed as Minister of Labor and Social Development in the Russian republic of North Ossetia.

Sergey Menyailo, the head of the republic, announced the appointment on his official Telegram channel on Tuesday, May 6.

“As Abayev’s mentor, I know what he is capable of. I am sure he can handle it,” Menyailo said. 

In turn, Abayev said that in his new post, he intends to “direct all efforts to the comprehensive adaptation of SVO [Russia’s name for its war on Ukraine] participants to a peaceful and comfortable life.”

Abayev is a former officer in the Russian army known by the call sign “Buffalo” who took part in Moscow’s wars in Syria and the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. 

He was one of more than 80 military officers selected for the “Time of Heroes” program – the March 2024 initiative of Russian leader Vladimir Putin to expedite military officers who served in his “special military operation” into government positions.

In May 2024, as a Lt. Col, Abayev was acting as the deputy commander of the 70th Guards Motor Rifle Regiment of Russia’s 42nd Motorized Rifle Division, deployed from Shali in Chechnya, which was fighting near the city of Robotyne in Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region.

In June 2024, Ukraine’s Main Intelligence Directorate (HUR) posted a report that, supported by a video, showed four unarmed Ukrainian soldiers surrendering to troops from Abayev’s unit with their hands raised. 

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Their captors made them lie face down and, according to an intercepted radio message, were told by one of their commanders, believed to be Abayev, to shoot the four prisoners – which they did at close range.

Executing prisoners of war constitutes a war crime under the Geneva Convention.

The HUR report identified that in addition to Abayev, the following four members of his unit carried out the murders:

• Capt. Dmitry Nagorny, commander of the 2nd battalion
• Sen. Lt. Temirlan Abutalimov, commander of the 1st assault company
• Lt. Zaur Bekov, commander of the 3rd assault company
• Sen. Lt. Yusup Imagazaliev, commander of the 6th assault company

HUR also believes that Abayev’s troops were involved in the murder of several other Ukrainian prisoners of war in separate incidents.

In recognition of his service in Ukraine and Syria, Abayev was made a “Hero of Russia” in February this year.