Assassination
Yuri Budanov was assassinated around 11:30 on 10 June 2011 in central Moscow (Hamovniki, Komsomolski prospekt), Russia. Six silenced shots were fired, four of which struck Budanov in the head. The killer escaped in a car driven by an accomplice. The car was subsequently found partially burned several blocks from the site of the attack. A gun believed to be a Makarov PM was found with a silencer inside the car. Budanov's wife witnessed the assassination and is currently held by Russian authorities. Russian police investigators commented that the attack was carefully planned and they consider blood revenge as one of the likely motives. One witness to the murder described the driver of the car from which the six shots were fired as being "of Slavic appearance. Dokku Umarov claimed responsibility for the assassination as he sat by the commander of the Riyadus-Salikhiyn Brigade saying "I am addressing you today about a joyous occasion: yesterday, on June 10, Allah by his will brought us a great celebration, punishing one of the sadists, the reprobate, the killer Budanov. The same fate, the same revenge awaits the others. Let these celebrations happen more often for Muslims." Upon the release of a video by Umarov, one of the investigators in the case said that "We have been expecting this kind of statement for a long time because the 'Chechen version' is one of the main ones we are working with. Nevertheless, these types of terrorist statements will not alter the course of our probe. We are studying all the leads."
His funeral was attended by such Russian right-winged leaders as Vladimir Zhirinovsky and accompanied by a three-gun salute. The Moscow police were report to have made a dozen arrests immediately before closing most of the investigation to the press.
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