Popularly known as the "Garibaldi of the Caucasus", Shanibov led a largely-unsuccessful campaign for the region's nations to achieve independence from Russia and commanded volunteer troops in both the 1992–1993 War in Abkhazia.
[2] However, his true birthdate could be as much as a year earlier, owing to poor record-keeping and the occupation of the region by Nazi Germany during World War II.
As a supporter of democratic socialism, Shanibov's career prospects were stalled following Leonid Brezhnev's accession to the leadership of the Soviet Union,[3] and a 1968 thesis on self-government brought additional unwanted attention.
Amidst the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Shanibov initially styled himself after Andrei Sakharov and Mikhail Gorbachev with calls for democracy and a "common Caucasian home".
[4] On 25 August 1989 he was elected as president of the Confederation of Mountain Peoples of the Caucasus (CMPC) in Sukhumi, where a conflict between Abkhaz and Georgian nationalists was already beginning to become violent.
[3] Within his native Kabardino-Balkaria, Shanibov was also developing a reputation as a leading politician of the pro-democratic opposition to the former communist leadership, which had begun to reconsolidate power in the region.
[12] For the remainder of his life, Shanibov was relatively quiet, though he continued to give interviews and attended a 2017 ceremony celebrating foreign volunteers of the War in Abkhazia.