An investigation has found that Chechen native Murad Dadaev, known in Germany as Noah Krieger, a member of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, is the biological brother of convicted killer Suleyman Dadaev. In 2009, Dadaev was involved in the killing of Umar Israilov, a critic of Chechen Head Ramzan Kadyrov.
The disclosures about Dadaev aka Krieger stem from a recent investigation by the Russian independent media outlet Important Stories (iStories, Vazhnye istorii) and the German project Correctiv.
Suleyman Dadaev, who was sentenced to 19 years in prison in 2011, was released early from an Austrian prison and returned to Russia on the day of the country’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
The right-wing populist party AfD, known for its strident anti-immigrant and anti-Islam platform, is currently the largest opposition force in the German Parliament. Within the party, Murad Dadaev, while calling himself Noah Krieger, has actively promoted the image of an ‘integrated German Muslim’.
Dadaev, as Krieger, has become a prominent figure in German social media, gathering more than 430,000 followers on Instagram. His public rhetoric is openly nationalist and provocative: he advocates the deportation of people who ‘cannot behave themselves’, declaring the need to ‘cleanse Germany of all the unworthy’.
He does not hesitate to use German nationalist and even Nazi kitsch, posting on his social media the Wehrmacht belt motto ‘Gott mit uns’ (‘God is with us’) and the first stanza of the national anthem ‘Deutschland über alles’ (‘Germany above all'’) which the Federal Republic of Germany abandoned after the collapse of Nazism.
Moreover, Dadaev openly calls the AfD ‘a pro-Russian party’, expresses admiration for Russian President Vladimir Putin, and complains that Germany is ‘under America’, calling for purchases of Russian gas.
Despite such an explicit stance, Dadaev managed to quickly establish himself in the ranks of the AfD, maintaining contacts with senior party politicians, including the deputy head of the parliamentary faction Jorn Konig and the ultra-nationalist MP Mischa Fere, who is linked to the party’s extremist wing. His luxurious nineteenth-century villa in Hanover, which he says he rents to himself, has effectively become the headquarters of the Hanover branch of the AfD, where meetings and parties with party functionaries are held.
However, the investigation by iStories found that behind the mask of a German nationalist lies a man with deep and highly compromising connections.
Dadaev says he left Chechnya in May 2006, already after Chechen Head Ramzan Kadyrov came to power. He moved to Europe thanks to his elder brother, Suleyman Dadaev. In the Austrian press, Suleyman Dadaev is better known as Muslim Dadaev — a figure in a contract killing case.
On 13 January 2009, Umar Israilov, a former bodyguard of Kadyrov’s, was shot dead in Vienna. Israilov had fled Chechnya in 2004, receiving asylum in Austria. In exile he became an important witness, filing complaints with the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) and testifying that Kadyrov personally participated in torture and extrajudicial killings of Chechens.
The investigation into Israilov’s murder established that Suleyman Dadaev headed the Chechen Cultural Society in Austria together with Ramzan Edilov, an associate of Kadyrov. This organisation was used to collect information about Chechens living in the country.
During the operation to eliminate Israilov, which had originally been planned as an abduction for removal to Chechnya, Suleyman Dadaev was tasked with surveillance. The Vienna Prosecutor’s Office concluded that the organiser of the crime was Kadyrov.
During the subsequent trial, Suleyman Dadaev spoke in detail about his past: he graduated from a military school in Volgograd and after the First Chechen War served in the Ichkerian security structures. In 1998, according to him, Doku Umarov, the future ‘terrorist No. 1 in Russia’, invited him to a Taliban training camp in Pakistan. After training he was accepted into the Ichkerian internal intelligence service. In 2003, on Umarov’s orders, Suleyman Dadaev stayed in Europe, changed his name to Muslim Dadaev, obtained asylum in Austria, and brought his brothers there.
In 2011, Suleyman Dadaev was sentenced in Austria to 19 years in prison for complicity in Israilov’s killing — meaning he should be still serving his sentence. However, iStories found evidence indicating his unexpected release.
On 24 February 2022 — the day Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine — Suleyman Dadaev flew to Moscow on a direct flight from Vienna. Shortly afterwards, he obtained a new driving licence in Chechnya and registration in Moscow, divorced his wife, and acquired a passport in the name of Surkho Shikaro, which had been his nickname among Chechens in Austria.
The Austrian authorities declined to comment on the release of Dadaev. The Austrian Justice Ministry only explained that under Austrian law, a person convicted of such offences may be eligible for early release after serving half of the sentence if they voluntarily leave the country.
Murad Dadaev confirmed to iStories the fact of his brother’s release, although he initially claimed that he was ‘still in prison’. Correcting himself, he said: ‘Well yes, he was released […] The man is living his life, he has served his sentence. He is neither on the run nor hiding from anyone’. Murad Dadaev, however, claims that he is ‘not very much in touch’ with his brother now.
Murad Dadaev himself actively demonstrates connections with Kadyrov’s circle. His posts receive comments from the Chechen leader’s adviser Khamzat Kadyrov. He also admits that he is friends with UFC champion Khamzat Chimaev, a favourite fighter of Kadyrov.
Said-Magomed Ibragimov, a Chechen from Hamburg, often visits the villa where the AfD gathers.
Ibragimov has been seen several times in the company of Chechnya’s Deputy Prime Minister and former commander of the Akhmat Special Forces Abuzayd Vismuradov, as well as the current head of the Chechen government Magomed Daudov, both of whom regularly visited Europe before sanctions were imposed on them.
‘Both on the Chechen and on the German side I am accused of being some kind of agent. And I say, I have nothing against being an agent, just pay me better instead of spreading these rumours. But no one pays me. I live on my own, I work late. Such accusations against me are just talk. I have never taken part in any clans and I am not going to. I keep a neutral position. I tell all Chechens: do not quarrel, do not fight. My position is neutral, everyone knows that. Some do not like that I can express support towards the Russian authorities, towards Kadyrov. I think this person has achieved a lot, and that is a fact. What he has built in the republic deserves respect’, Dadaev said.
OC Media
