Shaaban Abash (, ; 1890 – 1953) was the rider of the 'Abkhaz Hundred' Circassian cavalry regiment of the Caucasian native division in Imperial Russia during the First World War. Shaaban was also Afro-Abkhazian and one of the few ever photographed.
Early life Shaaban Abash was born in the village of Adzyubzha, in what was then the Sukhum Okrug of the Kutais Governorate in the Russian Empire (now Abkhazia) to an Afro-Abkazian peasant family.
Military service and career At the age of 17, he enrolled in the 'Abkhaz Hundred' Circassian cavalry regiment, which took part in the First World War. He was awarded the Cross of St. George for making a reconnaissance raid across the river Dniester and returning under fire after collecting valuable intelligence. After the establishment of the Soviet Union, Shaaban Abash was an associate of the leader of Abkhazia Nestor Lakoba, in 1931 he was elected a member of the Central Election Commission of Abkhazia.
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