Bashir Aushev

Aushev served as Deputy Prime Minister under former Ingush President Murat Zyazikov.[1] Zyazikov was a former Soviet K.G.B. agent, who was unpopular in Ingushetia because of repressive policies in the small Russian republic.[1] Aushev had been responsible for Ingustetia's law enforcement agencies under Zyazikov while in office.[1]

Aushev resigned from office in October 2008, when Murat Zyazikov was removed from office by the Russian government and replaced by Yunus-bek Yevkurov.[1] He reportedly did not work from October 2008, when he left office, to his death in June 2009.[1]

Aushev was shot and killed outside of his home in Nazran, Ingushetia, on 13 June 2009.[1] Two unidentified gunmen opened fire on Aushev as he was exiting his car at the gate leading to his home.[1]

Aushev's assassination was part of a string of killings and attacks on officials throughout Ingushetia and other parts of Russia's North Caucasus region in June 2009.[1] On 10 June 2009, the deputy chief justice in the Supreme Court of Ingushetia, Aza Gazgireeva, was shot and killed.[1] Just nine days after Aushev's assassination, the President of Ingushetia, Yunus-bek Yevkurov, was severely wounded in a bomb attack on his motorcade on 22 June 2009.[2]