Rustam Asildarov

Who is Rustam Asildarov?

Rustam Asildarov also known as Emir Abu Muhammad is the militant leader of the Vilayat Dagestan organisation in the Russian Republic of Dagestan.

Asildarov was born in the Kadar region of Dagestan's Buynaksky District, a region that became the center of Salafism during the late 1990s and was partially out of the Russian government’s control. The Russian state reinstalled control over the area after military operation in September 1999.

Asildarov succeeded Ibragimkhalil Daudov as emir of Dagestan's Central Sector when Daudov became the overall emir of the Caucasus Emirate's Dagestan Front in May 2010.

Following the death of Daudov, on 8 August 2012 Dokku Umarov appointed Asildarov as the new emir of the Dagestan Front.