[1] In 1991, following the collapse of the Soviet Union and the subsequent declaration of independence Chechnya from the Russian Federation, he became a personal bodyguard to his uncle, Vakha Arsanov, the future vice president.

Barayev also protected Vice President Zelimkhan Yandarbiyev, with whom he formed a close personal relationship, and Sultan Geliskhanov, director of Chechnya's State Security Department.

Barayev formed the Special Purpose Islamic Regiment, where he and his associates became infamous for their alleged part in a wave of lawlessness which swept the devastated country.

[6][7] The group, based around the town of Urus-Martan, were linked to a series of high-profile crimes including the notorious murder of six foreign Red Cross employees shot dead in the hospital of Novye Atagi in September 1996, as well as the kidnappings of Yelena Masyuk, a Russian NTV journalist and personal friend of President Maskhadov, and Valenti Vlasov, Russian president Boris Yeltsin's envoy to Chechnya.

Other high-profile hostages allegedly kidnapped by Barayev included the ORT journalists Roman Pereveztsyev and Vladislav Tibelius, an Italian journalist Mauro Galligani, British children-aid workers Camilla Carr and Jon James (during a failed operation to rescue them, the Chechen anti-kidnap unit commandos engaged in a deadly clash with "unknown terrorists", unofficially Salman Raduyev's men; they were eventually ransomed by Boris Berezovsky) and others.

In 1997, Maskhadov signed a decree putting Barayev and his Special Purpose Islamic Regiment under the command of the Chechen interior ministry.

[9] In December 1998, Barayev proclaimed the Supreme Council of Islamic Jamaats, dug trenches around Urus-Martan and threatened to attack targets across and outside of Chechnya if Maskhadov tried to fight them.

Relatives of Arbi Barayev publicly denounced him for his crimes, saying that the family announced in the courtyard of the mosque that if anyone killed him, they would relinquish all claims.

"[14] Facing death threats from Barayev as well as from the federal side, Baiev was eventually forced to seek political asylum in the United States.

[7] In April 2001, Barayev's men allegedly ambushed and killed Viktor Popkov, a Russian dissident working in Chechnya as an aid worker and human rights activist since 1995, in the close vicinity of a military roadblock.

[6][18] In October 2002, the continuation of the SPIR carried out the Moscow theater hostage crisis, led by Barayev's 22-year-old nephew and successor Movsar and featured his widow Zura Barayeva, both of whom died in the attack.