Dudayev Dzhokhar Musaevich- Chechen state and political figure, leader of the Chechen liberation movement, the first president of the self-proclaimed Chechen Republic of Ichkeria.
Born on February 15, 1944 in the village of Pervomaiskoye, Galanchozhsky district, Chechen-Ingush Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. He comes from the Yalkhoroi teip.
Dzhokhar Duzhaev was the seventh child in the family (he had 9 brothers and sisters).
The Dudayev family, along with thousands of other Chechens and Ingush, were deported to the Pavlodar region of the Kazakh SSR.
In 1957, he and his family returned to Grozny.
Graduated in 1959 high school No. 45. He worked as an electrician at SMU-5, and at the same time studied in the 10th grade at evening school No. 55.
In 1960 he entered the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics of the North Ossetian State University pedagogical institute, then, after listening to a year-long course of lectures on specialized training, he entered the Tambov Higher Military Pilot School with a specialty as a pilot engineer, from which he graduated in 1966.
In 1974 he graduated from the command department of the Air Force Academy. Yu. A. Gagarin.
Since 1962, he has served in command and administrative positions in the Armed Forces of the USSR.
Since 1966, he served in the 52nd instructor heavy bomber regiment (Shaikovka airfield, Kaluga region).
Since 1970, he served in the 1225th heavy bomber air regiment (Belaya garrison near Irkutsk, Trans-Baikal Military District), where he held the positions of deputy regiment commander (1976-1978), chief of staff (1978-1979), detachment commander (1979-1980), commander of this regiment (1980-1982).
In 1982 he headed the headquarters of the 31st Heavy Bomber Division of the 30th Air Army, and in 1985 he was transferred to a similar position in the Thirteenth Guards Heavy Bomber Division (Poltava, 1985-1987).
In 1986-1987 he took part in the Afghan war. According to representatives of the Russian command, at first he was developing a plan of action for strategic aviation in the country, then, on board a Tu-22MZ bomber as part of the 132nd heavy bomber regiment of Long-Range Aviation, he personally flew combat missions into the Western regions of Afghanistan, introducing the “carpet bombing” technique. enemy positions.
Dudayev himself always denied the fact of his active participation in military operations against Islamists in Afghanistan.
In 1987-1991, he was the commander of the strategic 326th Ternopil heavy bomber division of the 46th strategic air army (Tartu, Estonian SSR), at the same time acting as head of the military garrison.
1989 - received the rank of Major General of Aviation.
June 9, 1991 - at the second session of the Chechen National Congress, Dudayev was elected chairman of the Executive Committee of the OKCHN, into which the former executive committee of the CHNS was transformed.
Dudayev, as the head of the Executive Committee of the OKChN, began the formation of parallel authorities in the Chechen-Ingush Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic.
In September 1991, he led a rally in Grozny demanding the dissolution of Supreme Council Chechen Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic due to the fact that on August 19 the party leadership in Grozny supported the actions of the State Emergency Committee.
On October 1, 1991, by decision of the Supreme Council of the RSFSR, the Chechen-Ingush Republic was divided into the Chechen and Ingush Republics (without defining borders).
On October 27, 1991 he was elected president Chechen Republic. With his first decree, Dudayev proclaimed the independence of the self-proclaimed Chechen Republic of Ichkeria (CRI) from Russian Federation, which has not been recognized Russian authorities, nor by any foreign countries.
On November 7, Russian President Boris Yeltsin issued a decree introducing a state of emergency in Chechnya and Ingushetia. In response to this, Dudayev introduced martial law in the territory under his control.
On March 3, 1992, Dudayev said that Chechnya would sit down at the negotiating table with the Russian leadership only if Moscow recognized its independence. Nine days later, the CRI parliament adopted the constitution of the republic, declaring it an independent secular state.
On March 13, Gamsakhurdia signed a decree recognizing the state independence of Chechnya, and on March 29, Dudayev signed a decree recognizing Georgia as an independent state.
On April 17, 1993, Dudayev dissolved the ChRI government, parliament, constitutional Court and the Grozny city assembly, introducing direct presidential rule and curfew throughout Chechnya.
On July 25, Dudayev spoke at an extraordinary congress of the Karachai people and condemned Russia for trying to prevent the mountain people from gaining independence, promising the Karachais to provide any assistance “in the fight for the long-awaited freedom and national dignity.”
By the beginning of 1994, Dudayev's regime was weakened by internal contradictions, instability and collapse of governance. The opposition forms the Supreme Council of Chechnya, headed by Umar Avturkhanov.
From the very beginning of the first Chechen war Russian special services were hunting for Dudayev. Three assassination attempts ended in failure.
On December 11, 1994, units of the Russian Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Internal Affairs entered the territory of Chechnya on the basis of the decree of Russian President Boris Yeltsin “On measures to suppress the activities of illegal armed groups on the territory of the Chechen Republic and in the zone of the Ossetian-Ingush conflict.”
On April 21, 1996, Russian special services located a signal from cell phone Dudayev near the village of Gekhi-chu, 30 km from Grozny. 2 Su-25 attack aircraft with homing missiles were lifted into the air. Dudayev died from a rocket strike while talking on the phone with Russian deputy Konstantin Borov.
In Ukraine, streets in Lviv and Ivano-Frankivsk are named after Dudayev.
Was married. Wife: Alevtina (Alla) Dudaeva - the daughter of an officer. Father of two sons (Avlur and Degi) and a daughter (Dana).
Dzhokhar Dudayev was born on February 15, 1944 in the village of Pervomaiskoye, Galanchozhsky district, Chechen-Ingush Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, the seventh child in the family. He comes from the Yalkhoroi teip. Eight days after his birth, the Dudayev family was deported to the Pavlodar region of the Kazakh SSR, among many thousands of Chechens and Ingush.
In 1957, he and his family returned to their homeland and lived in Grozny. In 1959 he graduated from secondary school No. 45, then began working as an electrician at SMU-5, while at the same time studying in the 10th grade at evening school No. 55, which he graduated a year later. In 1960, he entered the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics of the North Ossetian Pedagogical Institute, then, after listening to a year-long course of lectures on specialized training, he entered the Tambov Higher Military Pilot School with a specialty in “pilot engineer”.
Military career before the start of the Chechen conflict
IN Armed Forces USSR since 1962, served in both command and administrative positions.
Since 1966, he served in the 52nd Instructor Heavy Bomber Regiment, starting as an assistant commander of an airship.
In 1971-1974 he studied at the command department of the Air Force Academy. Yu. A. Gagarin.
Since 1970, he served in the 1225th heavy bomber air regiment, where in subsequent years he successively held the positions of deputy regiment commander, chief of staff, detachment commander, and commander of this regiment.
In 1982 he became chief of staff of the 31st Heavy Bomber Division of the 30th Air Army, and in 1985 he was transferred to a similar position in the 13th Guards Heavy Bomber Division.
In 1986-1987, he took part in the war in Afghanistan: according to representatives of the Russian command, he was first involved in developing a plan of action for strategic aviation in the country, then on board a Tu-22MZ bomber as part of the 132nd heavy bomber regiment of Long-Range Aviation, he personally flew combat missions in western regions of Afghanistan, introducing the so-called technique. carpet bombing of enemy positions. Dudayev himself always denied the fact of his active participation in military operations against Islamists in Afghanistan.
In 1987-1991, he was the commander of the strategic 326th Ternopil Heavy Bomber Division of the 46th Strategic Air Army, and at the same time served as head of the military garrison.
IN Air Force rose to the rank of major general of aviation.
Beginning of political activity
November 23, 1990, at the invitation of the ideologists of the National Congress Chechen people Zelimkhan Yandarbiev and Movladi Udugov Dudayev arrived in Grozny for the First Chechen National Congress. On November 25, the congress elected its own governing body - the executive committee, which included, among others, retired Major General Dzhokhar Dudayev. On November 27, members of the executive committee unanimously adopted a declaration on the formation of the Chechen Republic of Nokhchi-Cho..
In March 1991, Dudayev demanded the self-dissolution of the Supreme Council of the Chechen-Ingush Republic.
In May 1991, the retired general accepted an offer to return to Chechnya and lead the growing social movement. On June 9, 1991, at the second session of the Chechen National Congress, Dudayev was elected chairman of the Executive Committee of the OKCHN, into which the former executive committee of the CHNS was transformed. From that moment on, Dudayev, as the head of the Executive Committee of the OKChN, began the formation of parallel authorities in the Chechen-Ingush Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, declaring that the deputies of the Supreme Council of the Chechen Republic “did not live up to the trust” and declaring them “usurpers.”
At the beginning of September 1991, he led a rally in Grozny that demanded the dissolution of the Supreme Council of the Chechen Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic due to the fact that on August 19 the party leadership in Grozny supported the actions of the State Emergency Committee. On September 3, Dudayev announced the overthrow of the Supreme Council of the Chechen Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. On the same day, OKCHN forces captured the television center, the Radio House and the House of Political Education. On September 6, the Supreme Council of the Chechen Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic was dispersed by armed supporters of the OKCHN. Dudayevites beat up the deputies and threw the chairman of the Grozny City Council, Vitaly Kutsenko, out of the window. As a result, the chairman of the city council was killed and more than 40 deputies were injured. On September 8, Dudayev’s troops captured the airport and thermal power plant-1, and blocked the center of Grozny.
On October 1, 1991, by decision of the Supreme Council of the RSFSR, the Chechen-Ingush Republic was divided into the Chechen and Ingush Republics.
President of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria
On October 27, 1991, presidential elections were held in Chechnya, won by Dzhokhar Dudayev, who received 90.1% of the votes. With his first decree, Dudayev declared the independence of the self-proclaimed Chechen Republic of Ichkeria from the RSFSR, which was not recognized by either the Russian authorities or any foreign states except the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. On November 2, the Congress of People's Deputies declared the elections invalid; on November 7, Russian President Boris Yeltsin issued a decree introducing a state of emergency in Chechnya and Ingushetia, but it was never implemented. In response to this, Dudayev introduced martial law in the territory under his control. An armed seizure of the buildings of law enforcement ministries and departments was carried out, military units were disarmaed, military camps of the Ministry of Defense were blocked, and rail and air transportation was stopped. OKCHN called on Chechens living in Moscow to “turn the capital of Russia into a disaster zone.”
On November 11, the Supreme Council of Russia, where Yeltsin’s opponents had the majority of seats, did not approve the presidential decree, in fact supporting the self-proclaimed republic.
In November-December, the parliament of the ChRI decided to abolish the existing government bodies in the republic and to recall the people's deputies of the USSR and the RSFSR from the ChRI. Dudayev's decree introduced the right of citizens to purchase and store firearms.
Foreign policy activities
In December-February, the seizure of abandoned weapons continued. At the beginning of February, the 556th Regiment of Internal Troops was defeated, and military units were attacked. More than 4 thousand small arms, approximately 3 million ammunition, etc. were stolen.
In January 1992, Georgian President Zviad Gamsakhurdia was overthrown as a result of an armed coup. Dudayev sent a plane and a special group led by his personal bodyguard Abu Arsanukaev to pick up the Gamsakhurdia family in Yerevan. Dudayev placed the Gamsakhurdia family in his residence in Grozny. In February, Dudayev and Gamsakhurdia unveiled a project to create the “Union of Military Forces of Transcaucasia” - uniting all Transcaucasian and North Caucasian states into a league of republics independent from Russia.
On March 3, Dudayev said that Chechnya would sit down at the negotiating table with the Russian leadership only if Moscow recognized its independence. Nine days later, on March 12, the CRI parliament adopted the constitution of the republic, declaring it an independent secular state. On March 13, Gamsakhurdia signed a decree recognizing the state independence of Chechnya, and on March 29, Dudayev signed a decree recognizing Georgia as an independent state. The Chechen authorities, encountering almost no organized resistance, seized the weapons of the Russian military units, stationed on the territory of Chechnya. By May the Dudayevites captured 80% military equipment and 75% of small arms of the total amount available to the military in Chechnya. At the same time, after the coup in Azerbaijan, when the Popular Front of Azerbaijan, led by its leader Abulfaz Elchibey, came to power in the country, Dudayev established contact with the new leadership of this South Caucasian republic. In an exclusive interview given in 2005, ex-president Georgian Eduard Shevardnadze told the following:
| « | After Abulfaz Elchibey became the President of Azerbaijan, to establish relations, I called him and offered to meet. He told me that he doesn’t have time yet and will inform me further when needed. Exactly 6 months after that we met in Baku. At the beginning of the conversation, Elchibey asked me: “Do you want to meet with the President of Chechnya, Dzhokhar Dudayev?” I said that I came to Baku to meet with Elchibey, not Dudayev. He said: “Dudayev is waiting for you on the floor below, I ask you to meet him.” This was at a time when the Chechens fought in Abkhazia against us.... Elchibey and I went downstairs. I greeted Dudayev warmly according to Caucasian custom. He suggested that I create an anti-Russian union and make a statement on this matter. I knew the strength of Russia and therefore calmly declared that Georgia could not lead against Russia. Dudayev listened to me and said that if I refuse, he will make a similar request to Elchibey. There was no longer a topic to continue the conversation and I returned to my homeland. Then I heard nothing about this alliance. |
» |
On July 25, Dudayev spoke at an emergency congress of the Karachai people and condemned Russia for trying to prevent the mountain people from gaining independence, promising the Karachais to provide any assistance “in the fight for the long-awaited freedom and national dignity.” In August the king Saudi Arabia Fahd and the Emir of Kuwait Jaber al-Sabah invited Dudayev to visit their countries as President of the Chechen Republic. During lengthy audiences with the king and emir, Dudayev raised the issue of establishing diplomatic relations at the ambassadorial level, but the Arab monarchs stated that they would be ready to recognize the independence of Chechnya only after appropriate consultations with Russia and the United States. As a result of the visit, no documents were signed: according to the representative of the Chechen Foreign Ministry Artur Umansky, the Arab leaders wanted to avoid reproaches from Moscow. Nevertheless, at the unofficial level, the monarchs demonstrated their affection to Dudayev in every possible way. King Fahd visited with him the holy Muslim city of Medina and the main shrine of Islam, the al-Kaaba temple in Mecca, thereby performing the minor hajj. The Emir of Kuwait hosted a gala dinner in honor of Dudayev in the presence of ambassadors from 70 countries. In Saudi Arabia, the Chechen leader also held talks with the President of Albania, Sali Berisha, and the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Haris Silajdzic, who were there.
After this, Dudayev makes visits to the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus and Turkey. At the end of September, Dzhokhar Dudayev visited Bosnia, where at that time there was Civil War. However, at the Sarajevo airport, Dudayev and his plane were arrested by French peacekeepers. Dudayev was released only after telephone conversation between the Kremlin and the UN headquarters.
After this, Dzhokhar Dudayev headed to the United States, accompanied by Deputy Prime Minister Mairbek Mugadayev and the mayor of Grozny Beslan Gantemirov. According to official sources, the purpose of the visit was to establish contacts with American entrepreneurs for the joint development of Chechen oil fields. The visit ended on October 17, 1992.
Constitutional crisis in Chechnya
By the beginning of 1993, the economic and military situation in Chechnya had worsened, and Dudayev had lost his previous support.
On February 19, by his decision, Dudayev approved the constitution of the Chechen Republic, according to which a presidential republic was introduced. A survey was organized on the approval of the Constitution, in which, as the Dudayevites claimed, 117 thousand people took part, of which 112 thousand approved the project.
On April 15, an open-ended opposition rally began on Teatralnaya Square in Grozny. The parliament accepted a call to citizens to restore legitimate power in the republic and scheduled a referendum on confidence in the parliament and the president for June 5. In response to this, on April 17, 1993, Dudayev dissolved the ChRI government, parliament, constitutional court and Grozny city assembly, introducing direct presidential rule and curfew throughout Chechnya, and also appointed Zelimkhan Yandarbiev as vice-president.
Shortly before the referendum, armed Dudayevites staged a destruction of the Central Election Commission. On June 4, an opposition rally was shot at, the buildings of the Grozny City Hall and the Main Department of Internal Affairs were stormed, as a result of which approximately 50 people were killed.
At 3:30 a.m. on August 8, several unknown persons burst into Dudayev’s office, located on the 9th floor of the presidential palace, and opened fire, but the guards returned fire in response to the shots, and the attackers fled. Dudayev was not injured during the assassination attempt.
The fight against armed opposition
In the summer of 1993, constant armed clashes took place on the territory of Chechnya. The opposition is being pushed out to the north of the republic, where alternative authorities have been formed. At the end of the year, Chechnya refuses to take part in elections State Duma and a referendum on the constitution, the parliament opposes the inclusion in the new Constitution of the Russian Federation of a provision on Chechnya as a subject of the Russian Federation.
By the beginning of 1994, Dudayev's regime was weakened by internal contradictions, instability and collapse of governance. The opposition forms the Supreme Council of Chechnya, headed by Umar Avturkhanov. In response, Dudayev is launching new repressions against the opposition. In particular, in August, more than 200 oppositionists were killed in the Urus-Martan region. On August 10, a National Congress was held in Grozny, organized by Dudayev’s supporters. The congress spoke in favor of general mobilization and the declaration of a “holy war” on Russia.
On September 20, Umar Avturkhanov said that all peaceful ways to solve the Chechen problem had been exhausted. On September 30, helicopters of the Provisional Council raided the Grozny airfield, destroying part of Dudayev’s aircraft.
On October 15, the forces of the Provisional Council entered Grozny, encountering virtually no resistance, but then retreated from the city, as if having received some order from Moscow. After receiving armored vehicles, the military potential of the Provisional Council increased significantly. On November 17, preparations began for a new assault on Grozny.
On the morning of November 26, Grozny was shelled and stormed by opposition forces. Three armed columns entered Grozny in three directions. The television center was occupied without a fight, and three tanks remained near it. It was also reported that the Presidential Palace was taken by a detachment that took part in the assault on the side of the opposition field commander Ruslana Labazanova. The tankers who took up positions near the television center were soon attacked by the “Abkhaz battalion” of Shamil Basayev and surrendered to the security guards of the television center. By the end of the day on November 26, the forces of the Provisional Council left Grozny. The defeat of the opposition was due to the different goals of its constituent groups, the limitation of the planning of the operation to the capture of the center of Grozny and the involvement of large forces by the Dudayev regime to repel the assault. Dudayev’s forces captured Russian military personnel who fought on the side of the opposition under a contract with Federal service counterintelligence of the Russian Federation.
After the unsuccessful assault on Grozny, the opposition could only count on military assistance from the center. On December 11, units of the Russian Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Internal Affairs entered the territory of Chechnya on the basis of the decree of Russian President Boris Yeltsin “On measures to suppress the activities of illegal armed groups on the territory of the Chechen Republic and in the zone of the Ossetian-Ingush conflict.”
1995
At the direction of Dzhokhar Dudayev, camps for holding prisoners of war and civilians were created in Chechnya.
Source - Wikipedia
Dudayev, Dzhokhar Musaevich (Chech. Dudiin Musa-kIant Zhovkhar; February 15, 1944, Yalkhoroy, Chechen-Ingush Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic - April 21, 1996, Gekhi-chu, Chechen Republic) - Chechen political figure, leader of the Chechen separatist movement of the 1990s , first president of the self-proclaimed Chechen Republic of Ichkeria (1991-1996). In the past, he was a major general of aviation, the only Chechen general in the Soviet Army. Member of the CPSU since 1968. Generalissimo of the CRI (1996).
Proclaimed the state sovereignty of the Chechen Republic and its secession from the Russian Federation. After the entry of Russian federal troops into Chechnya, he led the armed resistance. In April 1996, he was killed as a result of an operation by Russian special services.
Dzhokhar Dudayev was born on February 15, 1944 in the village of Pervomaisky, Galanchozhsky District, Chechen-Ingush Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (now Achkhoy-Martan District of the Chechen Republic). He was the youngest thirteenth child of the veterinarian Musa and Rabiat Dudayev, he had three brothers and three sisters and four brothers and two half-sisters (his father’s children from a previous marriage). His exact date of birth is unknown: during the deportation, all documents were lost, and due to the large number of children, the parents could not remember all the dates (Alla Dudayeva in her book “The First Million: Dzhokhar Dudayev” writes that Dzhokhar’s year of birth could have been 1943, and not 1944). Dzhokhar came from the Yalkhoroi taipa. His mother Rabiat came from the Nashkhoi taipa, from Khaibakh. Eight days after his birth, the Dudayev family was deported to the Pavlodar region of the Kazakh SSR, among many thousands of Chechens and Ingush during the mass deportation of Chechens and Ingush in February 1944. At the same time, his maternal grandparents were burned alive in the village of Khaibakh.
According to Russian political scientist Sergei Kurginyan, in exile the Dudayev family accepted the Viskhadji vird (a religious brotherhood established by Vis-Khadzhi Zagiev) of the Kadyri persuasion of Sufi Islam:
Qadiriyya received a particularly strong impetus for development after the deportation of Chechens to Kazakhstan in 1944. In the 50s, in the Tselinograd region of the Kazakh SSR, among the Chechens evicted there, the youngest and most radical vird of Qadiriyya was formed - the vird of Vis-Hadzhi Zagiev. During the exile of the Dudayev family to Kazakhstan (returned only in 1957), Dzhokhar’s elder brother, Bekmuraz, joined the vird of Vis-Hadzhi Zagiev. Today, Bekmuraz is a member of the group of ustaz (mentors) of this vird. Dzhokhar Dudayev placed his bet on this youngest and largest vird of the Qadiri tariqa in Chechnya. The Council of Elders was formed mainly from the vird of Vis-Hadji Zagiev and other virds of Qadiriyya. Ustazes of Naqshbandiyyah were declared " wasp's nest KGB", and the followers of Vis-Hadzhi Zagiev are the purest supporters of the national idea.
When Dzhokhar was six years old, Musa died, which had a strong impact on his personality: his brothers and sisters studied poorly and often skipped school, while Dzhokhar studied well and was even elected head of the class.
After some time, the Dudayevs, along with other deported Caucasians, were transported to Chimkent, where Dzhokhar studied until the sixth grade, after which in 1957 the family returned to their homeland and settled in Grozny. In 1959 he graduated from secondary school No. 45, then began working as an electrician at SMU-5, while at the same time studying in the 10th grade at evening school No. 55, which he graduated a year later. In 1960, he entered the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics of the North Ossetian Pedagogical Institute, but after the first year, secretly from his mother, he left for Tambov, where, after listening to a year-long course of lectures on specialized training, he entered the Tambov Higher Military Aviation School named after M. M. Raskova (1962-1966) (since Chechens were then secretly equated with enemies of the people, upon admission Dzhokhar had to lie that he was an Ossetian, however, receiving a diploma with honors, he insisted that his real origin be entered in his personal file).
In the Armed Forces of the USSR since 1962, he served in command positions in combat units of the Air Force. After graduating from college in 1966, he was sent to the 52nd Guards Instructor Heavy Bomber Aviation Regiment (Shaikovka airfield, Kaluga region) to the position of assistant aircraft commander. In 1968 he joined the ranks of the Communist Party. In 1971 he entered and in 1974 graduated from the command department of the Air Force Academy. Yu. A. Gagarin.
Since 1970, he served in the 1225th heavy bomber air regiment (Belaya garrison in the Usolsky district Irkutsk region(Sredny settlement), Transbaikal Military District), where in subsequent years he successively held the positions of deputy commander of an air regiment (1976-1978), chief of staff (1978-1979), detachment commander (1979-1980), commander of this regiment (1980-1982) . (Subsequently renamed into the 200th Guards Heavy Bomber Aviation Regiment - 200 Guards TBAP).
In 1982 he became chief of staff of the 31st heavy bomber division of the 30th air army, and in 1985-1987 he was transferred as chief of staff to the 13th guards heavy bomber air division (Poltava): he “was remembered by many Poltava residents with whom fate brought him together. According to his former colleagues, he was a hot-tempered, emotional and at the same time extremely honest and decent person. At that time he still remained a staunch communist, was responsible for political work with personnel."
In 1986-1987, he took part in the war in Afghanistan: according to representatives of the Russian command, he was first involved in developing a plan of action for strategic aviation in the country, then on board a Tu-22MZ bomber from the 132nd heavy bomber regiment of Long-Range Aviation, he personally flew combat missions in western regions of Afghanistan, introducing the so-called technique. carpet bombing of enemy positions. Dudayev himself always denied the fact of his active participation in military operations against Islamists in Afghanistan.
In 1987-1991, he was the commander of the strategic 326th Tarnopol Heavy Bomber Division of the 46th Strategic Air Army (Tartu, Estonian SSR), and at the same time served as head of the military garrison. The rank of major general of aviation was awarded in 1989.
“Dudayev was a well-trained officer. He graduated from the Gagarin Academy and commanded a regiment and division with dignity. He firmly controlled the aviation group during the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan, for which he was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Battle. He was distinguished by restraint, calmness and concern for people. In his division, a new training base was equipped, canteens and airfield life were equipped, and strict statutory order was established in the Tartu garrison. Dzhokhar was deservedly awarded the rank of major general of aviation,” recalled Hero of Russia Army General Pyotr Deinekin
After the events in Vilnius, Dudayev spoke on Estonian radio, saying that if Soviet troops will be sent to Estonia, he will not allow them through the airspace.
According to the memoirs of Galina Starovoitova, in January 1991, during Boris Yeltsin’s visit to Tallinn, Dudayev provided Yeltsin with his car, in which Yeltsin returned from Tallinn to Leningrad.
On June 20, 1997, a memorial plaque in memory of Dudayev was installed on the building of the Barclay Hotel in Tartu.
On November 23-25, 1990, the Chechen National Congress was held in Grozny, which elected an Executive Committee headed by Chairman Dzhokhar Dudayev.
In March 1991, Dudayev demanded the self-dissolution of the Supreme Council of the Chechen-Ingush Republic. In May, the retired general accepted an offer to return to Checheno-Ingushetia and lead the growing social movement. On June 9, 1991, at the second session of the Chechen National Congress, Dudayev was elected chairman of the Executive Committee of the OKCHN (National Congress of the Chechen People), into which the former executive committee of the CHNS was transformed. From that moment on, Dudayev, as the head of the Executive Committee of the OKChN, began the formation of parallel authorities in the Chechen-Ingush Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, declaring that the deputies of the Supreme Council of the Chechen-Ingush Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic “did not live up to the trust” and declaring them “usurpers.”
The events of August 19-21, 1991 in Moscow became a catalyst for the aggravation of the political situation in the republic. The Chechen-Ingush Republican Committee of the CPSU, the Supreme Council and the government supported the State Emergency Committee, but the OKCHN opposed the State Emergency Committee. On August 19, at the initiative of the Vainakh Democratic Party, a rally in support of the Russian leadership began in the central square of Grozny, but after August 21 it began to be held under the slogans of the resignation of the Supreme Council along with its chairman. On September 4, the Grozny television center and the Radio House were seized. Dzhokhar Dudayev read out an appeal in which he called the leadership of the republic “criminals, bribe-takers, embezzlers” and announced that from “September 5 until the holding of democratic elections, power in the republic passes into the hands of the executive committee and other general democratic organizations.” On September 6, the Supreme Council of the Chechen Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic was dispersed by armed supporters of the OKCHN. Dudayevites beat up the deputies and threw the chairman of the Grozny City Council, Vitaly Kutsenko, out of the window. As a result, the head of the city was killed and more than 40 deputies were injured. Two days later, Dudayev’s troops captured the Severny airport and CHPP-1, and blocked the center of Grozny.
On October 27, 1991, presidential elections were held in Checheno-Ingushetia, won by Dzhokhar Dudayev, who received 90.1% of the votes. With his first decree, Dudayev proclaimed the independence of the self-proclaimed Chechen Republic of Ichkeria (CRI) from the RSFSR, which was not recognized by either the Russian authorities or any foreign states, except for the partially recognized Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (after Dudayev’s death). On November 2, the Congress of People's Deputies of the RSFSR declared the past elections invalid, and on November 7, Russian President Boris Yeltsin issued a decree introducing a state of emergency in Chechnya-Ingushetia, but it was never implemented. In response to this, Dudayev introduced martial law in the territory under his control. An armed seizure of the buildings of law enforcement ministries and departments was carried out, military units were disarmaed, military camps of the Ministry of Defense were blocked, and rail and air transportation was stopped. OKCHN called on Chechens living in Moscow to “turn the capital of Russia into a disaster zone.”
On November 11, the Supreme Council of the RSFSR, where Yeltsin’s opponents had the majority of seats, did not approve the presidential decree, in fact supporting the self-proclaimed republic.
In November-December, the parliament of the ChRI decided to abolish the existing government bodies in the republic and to recall the people's deputies of the USSR and the RSFSR from the ChRI. Dudayev's decree introduced the right of citizens to purchase and store firearms.
In December-February, the seizure of abandoned weapons continued. At the beginning of February, the 556th Regiment of Internal Troops was defeated, and military units were attacked. More than 4 thousand small arms, approximately 3 million pieces of various ammunition, etc. were stolen.
In January 1992, Georgian President Zviad Gamsakhurdia was overthrown as a result of an armed coup. Dudayev sent a plane and a special group led by his personal bodyguard Abu Arsanukaev to pick up the Gamsakhurdia family in Yerevan. Dudayev placed the Gamsakhurdia family in his residence in Grozny. In February, Dudayev and Gamsakhurdia unveiled a project to create the “Union of Military Forces of Transcaucasia” - uniting all North Caucasian and Transcaucasian states into a league of republics independent from Russia.
On March 3, Dudayev said that Chechnya would sit down at the negotiating table with the Russian leadership only if Moscow recognized its independence. Nine days later, on March 12, the CRI parliament adopted the Constitution of the CRI, declaring it an independent secular state. On March 13, Gamsakhurdia signed a decree recognizing the state independence of Chechnya, and on March 29, Dudayev signed a decree recognizing Georgia as an independent state. The Chechen authorities, encountering almost no organized resistance, seized the weapons of Russian military units stationed on the territory of Chechnya. By May, the Dudayevites captured 80% of military equipment and 75% of small arms of the total amount available to the military in Chechnya. At the same time, after the coup in Azerbaijan, when the Popular Front of Azerbaijan, led by its leader Abulfaz Elchibey, came to power in the country, Dudayev established contact with the new leadership of this South Caucasian republic. In an exclusive interview given in 2005, former Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze said the following:
After Abulfaz Elchibey became the President of Azerbaijan, to establish relations, I called him and offered to meet. He told me that he doesn’t have time yet, and when necessary, he will inform me additionally. Exactly 6 months after that we met in Baku. At the beginning of the conversation, Elchibey asked me: “Do you want to meet with the President of Chechnya, Dzhokhar Dudayev?” I said that I came to Baku to meet with Elchibey, not Dudayev. He said: “Dudayev is waiting for you on the floor below, I ask you to meet him.” This was at a time when the Chechens fought in Abkhazia against us...
Elchibey and I went downstairs. I greeted Dudayev warmly according to Caucasian custom. He suggested that I create an anti-Russian union and make a statement on this matter. I knew the strength of Russia and therefore calmly declared that Georgia could not lead against Russia. Dudayev listened to me and said that if I refuse, he will make a similar request to Elchibey. There was no longer a topic to continue the conversation, and I returned to my homeland. Then I heard nothing about this alliance.
On July 25, Dudayev spoke at an emergency congress of the Karachai people and condemned Russia for trying to prevent the mountain people from gaining independence, promising the Karachais to provide any assistance “in the fight for the long-awaited freedom and national dignity.” In August, King Fahd of Saudi Arabia and Emir of Kuwait Jaber al-Sabah invited Dudayev to visit their countries as President of the Chechen Republic. During lengthy audiences with the king and emir, Dudayev raised the issue of establishing diplomatic relations at the ambassadorial level, but the Arab monarchs stated that they would be ready to recognize the independence of Chechnya only after appropriate consultations with Russia and the United States. As a result of the visit, no documents were signed: according to the representative of the Chechen Foreign Ministry Artur Umansky, the Arab leaders wanted to avoid reproaches from Moscow. Nevertheless, at the unofficial level, the monarchs demonstrated their affection to Dudayev in every possible way. King Fahd visited with him the holy Muslim city of Medina and the main shrine of Islam, the al-Kaaba temple in Mecca, thereby performing the minor hajj. The Emir of Kuwait hosted a gala dinner in honor of Dudayev in the presence of ambassadors from 70 countries. In Saudi Arabia, the Chechen leader also held talks with the President of Albania, Sali Berisha, and the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Haris Silajdzic, who were there.
After this, Dudayev makes visits to the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus and Turkey. At the end of September, Dzhokhar Dudayev visited Bosnia, where at that time there was a civil war. However, at the Sarajevo airport, Dudayev and his plane were arrested by French peacekeepers. Dudayev was released only after a telephone conversation between the Kremlin and UN headquarters.
After this, Dzhokhar Dudayev headed to the United States, accompanied by Deputy Prime Minister Mairbek Mugadayev and the mayor of Grozny, Bislan Gantemirov. According to official sources, the purpose of the visit was to establish contacts with American entrepreneurs for the joint development of Chechen oil fields. The visit ended on October 17, 1992.
By the beginning of 1993, the economic and military situation in Chechnya had worsened, and Dudayev had lost his previous support.
On February 19, by his decision, Dudayev approved the constitution of the Chechen Republic, according to which a presidential republic was introduced. A survey was organized on the approval of the Constitution, in which, as the Dudayevites claimed, 117 thousand people took part, of which 112 thousand approved the project.
On April 15, an open-ended opposition rally began on Teatralnaya Square in Grozny. The parliament accepted a call to citizens to restore legitimate power in the republic and scheduled a referendum on confidence in the parliament and the president for June 5. In response to this, on April 17, 1993, Dudayev dissolved the ChRI government, parliament, constitutional court and Grozny city assembly, introducing direct presidential rule and curfew throughout Chechnya, and appointed Zelimkhan Yandarbiev as vice-president.
Shortly before the referendum, armed Dudayevites staged a destruction of the Central Election Commission. On June 4, an opposition rally was shot at, the buildings of the Grozny City Hall and the Main Department of Internal Affairs were stormed, as a result of which approximately 50 people were killed.
At 3:30 a.m. on August 8, several unknown persons burst into Dudayev’s office, located on the 9th floor of the presidential palace, and opened fire, but the guards returned fire in response to the shots, and the attackers fled. Dudayev was not injured during the assassination attempt.
In the summer of 1993, constant armed clashes took place on the territory of Chechnya. The opposition is being pushed out to the north of the republic, where alternative authorities have been formed. At the end of the year, Chechnya refuses to take part in the State Duma elections and the referendum on the constitution; the parliament opposes the inclusion in the new Constitution of the Russian Federation of a provision on Chechnya as a subject of the Russian Federation.
By the beginning of 1994, Dudayev's regime was weakened by internal contradictions, instability and collapse of governance. The opposition forms the Supreme Council of Chechnya, headed by Umar Avturkhanov. In response, Dudayev is launching new repressions against the opposition. In particular, in August, more than 200 oppositionists were killed in the Urus-Martan region. On August 10, a National Congress was held in Grozny, organized by Dudayev’s supporters. The congress spoke in favor of general mobilization and the declaration of a “holy war” on Russia.
On September 20, Umar Avturkhanov said that all peaceful ways to solve the Chechen problem had been exhausted. On September 30, helicopters of the Provisional Council raided the Grozny airfield, destroying part of Dudayev’s aircraft.
On October 15, the forces of the Provisional Council entered Grozny, encountering virtually no resistance, but then retreated from the city, as if having received some order from Moscow. After receiving armored vehicles, the military potential of the Provisional Council increased significantly. On November 17, preparations began for a new assault on Grozny.
On the morning of November 26, 1994, Grozny was shelled and stormed by Russian special services and opposition forces. Three armed columns entered Grozny in three directions. The television center was occupied without a fight, and three tanks remained near it. It was also reported that the Presidential Palace was taken by a detachment of field commander Ruslan Labazanov who participated in the assault on the opposition side. The tankers who took up positions near the television center were soon attacked by the “Abkhaz battalion” of Shamil Basayev and surrendered to the security guards of the television center. By the end of the day on November 26, the forces of the Provisional Council left Grozny. The defeat of the opposition was due to the different goals of its constituent groups, the limitation of the planning of the operation to the capture of the center of Grozny and the involvement of large forces by the Dudayev regime to repel the assault. Dudayev’s forces captured Russian military personnel who fought on the side of the opposition under a contract with the Federal Counterintelligence Service of the Russian Federation.
After the unsuccessful assault on Grozny, the opposition could only count on military assistance from the center. On December 11, units of the Russian Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Internal Affairs entered the territory of Chechnya on the basis of the decree of Russian President Boris Yeltsin “On measures to suppress the activities of illegal armed groups on the territory of the Chechen Republic and in the zone of the Ossetian-Ingush conflict.”
At the direction of Dzhokhar Dudayev, camps for holding prisoners of war and civilians were created in Chechnya, sometimes called concentration camps.
On June 14, 1995, a raid by a detachment of militants under the command of Shamil Basayev on the city of Budyonnovsk (Stavropol Territory) took place, accompanied by a massive hostage-taking in the city. This action led to the death of about 100 civilians. After the events in Budyonnovsk, Dudayev awarded orders personnel Basayev's detachment. On July 21, 1995, Dudayev awarded Basayev the rank of brigadier general.
From the very beginning of the first Chechen war, Russian special services were hunting Dudayev. Three attempts ended in failure. On April 21, 1996, Russian special services located the signal from Dudayev’s satellite phone in the area of the village of Gekhi-chu, 30 km from Grozny. 2 Su-25 attack aircraft with homing missiles were lifted into the air. Presumably, Dudayev was killed by a missile strike right during a telephone conversation with State Duma deputy Konstantin Borov. Alla Dudayeva, in an interview with the Kommersant newspaper, said that she was next to Dzhokhar at the time of his death. She said, in particular:
And then Dzhokhar started talking to Borov. He told me: “Go to the ravine.” And here I am standing with Vakha Ibragimov on the edge of the ravine, early spring, the birds are singing. And one bird is crying - as if moaning from a ravine. I didn’t know then that it was a cuckoo. And suddenly - a rocket hit behind me. I stood about twelve meters from Dzhokhar and was thrown into a ravine. Out of my peripheral vision I saw a yellow flame. I started to get out. I look - there is no UAZ. And then the second blow. One of the guards fell on top of me; he wanted to lock me up. When it calmed down, he stood up, and I heard Viskhan, Dzhokhar’s nephew, crying. I got out, I don’t understand where everything disappeared: neither the UAZ, nor Vakha Ibragimov, I was walking as if in a dream and then I tripped over Dzhokhar. He was already dying. I didn’t hear his last words, but he managed to tell our guard, Musa Idigov: “Bring the matter to the end.” We picked him up and carried him to the second UAZ, because what was left from the first one was a pile of metal. Hamad Kurbanov and Magomed Zhaniev were killed, Vakha was wounded. Dzhokhar was put in the back seat of the UAZ, Viskhan sat next to the driver, and I hid behind the window. They were supposed to come for Vakha later. They still thought that Dzhokhar could be saved. Although I already understood then that it was impossible, I felt such a hole in his head, on the right...
Borovoy himself is not sure that Dudayev was liquidated precisely during a telephone conversation with him. The place where Dudayev was buried is unknown.
15 years later, details of Dudayev’s liquidation appeared in the Russian press.
Despite his death, immediately after it and subsequently there were repeated reports that Dudayev might be alive. In June 1996, his son-in-law Salman Raduev, also previously declared “killed,” held a press conference in Grozny and swore on the Koran that Dudayev survived the assassination attempt and that on July 5, three months after the liquidation of Dzhokhar, he met with him in one of the European countries. He said that the wounded general was taken from the scene of the incident by car by representatives of the OSCE mission to a safe place indicated by him, that at the moment the President of Chechnya is hiding abroad and “will definitely return when necessary.” Raduev’s statements had a loud resonance in the press, but Dudayev did not appear at the appointed “hour X”. Once in Lefortovo, Raduev repented that he had stated this “for the sake of politics.”
In August 2001, the President of Chechnya, Akhmat Kadyrov, said that Dudayev might be alive. According to him, there is no reason to assert that Dudayev was not killed, but there is also no reason to confidently state the opposite, and suggested that within the framework presidential campaign In 1996, Boris Yeltsin's election headquarters advised him to quickly end the conflict in Chechnya and conduct peace negotiations with any representatives of the separatists, with the exception of Dudayev, who was considered the initiator of the conflict in the country. However, Kadyrov does not provide any details of the operation to take Dudayev “into the shadows.” Kadyrov's statement was later refuted.
In September 2003, the representative office of the Regional Operational Headquarters for the management of counter-terrorism operations in the North Caucasus, citing separatist Internet resources, reported that they had information about the possible appearance of its double in the Pankisi Gorge in Georgia. It was stated that they were “preparing to present him in front of television cameras in Turkey” shortly before the presidential elections scheduled in the republic in order to destabilize the situation.
Family
On September 12, 1969, Dzhokhar Dudayev married the daughter of Major Alevtina (Alla) Dudayeva (née Surikova) and they had three children: two sons - Avlur (Ovlur, “first-born lamb”) (born December 24, 1969) and Degi (born 25 May 1983) - and daughter Dana (born in 1973). According to information from 2006, Dzhokhar Dudayev has five grandchildren.
Avlur was wounded in February 1995 while participating in the battles for Argun (there was a version that he died there), but Dzhokhar’s former fellow soldier Vytautas Eidukaitis managed to take him to Lithuania, where on March 26, 2002 Avlur received citizenship in the name Oleg Zakharovich Davydov (his date of birth was changed to December 27, 1970). Citizenship itself caused criticism in Lithuania itself because it was issued in one day. Avlur is married and, as of 2013, he and his children live in Sweden, where Avlur prefers to distance himself as much as possible from any publicity.
Degi, according to 2011 data, has Georgian citizenship, but also lives in Lithuania, having a residence permit there. In 2004 he graduated from the Higher Diplomatic College International Relations in Baku and in 2009 - Technical University in Vilnius. In 2012, he took part in the Georgian show “Moment of Truth” (Georgian analogue American show“The Moment of Truth”) and became the first in the history of the Georgian version whom the detector could not catch in a lie. Most of the questions he was asked were about his father and his attitude towards Russia:
Host: Do you hate the Russian people?
Degi: No.
Host: If the opportunity presented itself, would you avenge your father?
Degi: Yes.
He refused to answer the super question because he was probably confused by the previous one:
Host: Do you think that Chechen traditions limit human freedom?
Degi: Yes.
According to 2013 data, he runs the VEO company in Lithuania, specializing in solar energy. In May 2013, Degi was charged with producing false documents. Immediately after his arrest, his mother Alla called what was happening “a provocation of the Russian special services.” Degi himself, however, admitted his guilt and, by a court decision in December 2014, was fined 3,250 litas.
Dana, while still in Russia, married Masud Dudayev and they had four children. In August 1999, they left Russia and lived for some time in Azerbaijan, then moved to Lithuania and then to Turkey, where they stayed until 2010. Then in June of the same year, their family tried to get political refuge in Sweden (where Avlur already lived), but unsuccessfully, since local authorities found many inconsistencies between the documents and the words of the couple. The family tried to appeal the refusal of the Swedish authorities in a Stockholm court, but in March 2013 it upheld the authorities' decision. Dudaev was also denied permission to appeal the court ruling. They did not appeal to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, despite the fact that they had such an opportunity, because they believed that if they lost, the Swedish authorities would deport them to Russia. In July 2013, Dana and two children left for Germany, and Masud and two others went to the UK (they crossed the border illegally), where they now live with Akhmed Zakaev. There, Masood asked the British government for protection, but this too was denied to the family, and British authorities began attempting to deport them back to Sweden. Then the family filed a lawsuit demanding a review of the decision of the UK Home Office, but in June 2015, the High Court of London recognized the Home Office decision as law.
Statements
“Russia can only be defeated by force”
After Russian aviation destroyed several combat training aircraft based in the suburbs of Grozny, Dudayev said: “I congratulate the leadership of the Russian Air Force on achieving dominance in the skies of Ichkeria. Meet me on the ground."
“I dare to assure those who in the White House are giving completely insane orders and are ready to cause global bloodshed on our soil: we will deal a terrible blow. 30 minutes will be enough to have a mountain of corpses. And the grief of the mothers of Russian soldiers will be immeasurable.”
“We can be so useful to Russia that she herself doesn’t even suspect it. We are very Good friends, although very disgustingly predatory enemies."
“There is no such force in the world, no such weapon that could break our spirit.”
Interesting Facts
In the early 90s, Dzhokhar Dudayev banned the showing of the animated series “Well, wait a minute!” on Chechen television. According to the general, it insulted the image of the wolf - the state symbol of independent Ichkeria.
Chechen bard Timur Mutsuraev dedicated several of his songs to Dzhokhar Dudayev.
Self-proclaimed Chechen Republic of Ichkeria (-). In the USSR - Major General of Aviation. Generalissimo of the CRI (1996).
The youngest, thirteenth child of Musa and Rabiat Dudayev, he had three brothers and three sisters and four brothers and two half-sisters (his father’s children from a previous marriage). My father was a veterinarian.
Exact date birth is unknown: during the deportation all documents were lost, and due to the large number of children, parents could not remember all the dates (Alla Dudayeva in her book “ The first million: Dzhokhar Dudayev” writes that Dzhokhar’s year of birth could have been 1943, not 1944). Dzhokhar came from the Tsechoi taipa of the village of Yalkhoroi. His mother Rabiat came from the Nashkhoi taipa, from Khaibakh. Eight days after his birth, the Dudayev family was deported to the Pavlodar region of the Kazakh SSR during the mass deportation of Chechens and Ingush in February 1944.
The opposition press wrote that Dudayev was born on April 15, 1944 in the village of Pervomaiskoye, Pervomaisky district, Grozny region. Thus, the Dudayev family was not deported, which may be explained by the fact that Dudayev's father worked closely with the NKVD.
According to Russian political scientist Sergei Kurginyan, in exile the Dudayev family accepted the Viskhadji vird (a religious brotherhood established by Vis-Hadji Zagiev) of the Kadyri persuasion of Sufi Islam.
When Dzhokhar was six years old, Musa died, which had a strong impact on his personality: his brothers and sisters studied poorly and often skipped school, while Dzhokhar studied well and was even elected head of the class.
After some time, the Dudayevs, along with other deported Caucasians, were transported to Chimkent, where Dzhokhar studied until the sixth grade, after which in 1957 the family returned to their homeland and settled in Grozny. In 1959 he graduated from secondary school No. 45, then began working as an electrician at SMU-5, while at the same time studying in the 10th grade at evening school No. 55, which he graduated a year later. In 1960, he entered the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics, but after the first year, secretly from his mother, he left for Tambov, where, after listening to a year-long course of lectures on specialized training, he entered (-1966) (since Chechens were then secretly equated with enemies of the people, then when upon admission, Dzhokhar had to lie that he was Ossetian, however, receiving a diploma with honors, he insisted that his real origin be entered in his personal file).
According to the memoirs of Galina Starovoitova, in January 1991, during Boris Yeltsin’s visit to Tallinn, Dudayev provided Yeltsin with his car, in which Yeltsin returned from Tallinn to Leningrad.
On June 20, 1997, a memorial plaque in memory of Dudayev was installed on the building of the Barclay Hotel in Tartu.
In March 1991, Dudayev demanded the self-dissolution of the Supreme Council of the Chechen-Ingush Republic. In May, the retired general accepted an offer to return to Checheno-Ingushetia and lead the growing social movement. On June 9, 1991, at the second session of the Chechen National Congress, Dudayev was elected chairman of the Executive Committee of the OKCHN (National Congress of the Chechen People), into which the former executive committee of the CHNS was transformed. From that moment on, Dudayev, as the head of the Executive Committee of the OKChN, began the formation of parallel authorities in the Chechen-Ingush Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, declaring that the deputies of the Supreme Council of the Chechen-Ingush Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic “did not live up to the trust” and declaring them “usurpers.”
“On September 5, before democratic elections are held, power in the republic passes into the hands of the executive committee and other general democratic organizations”On October 27, 1991, presidential elections were held in Checheno-Ingushetia, won by Dzhokhar Dudayev, who received 90.1% of the votes. With his first decree, Dudayev declared the independence of the self-proclaimed Chechen Republic of Ichkeria (CRI) from the RSFSR and the USSR, which was not recognized by either the allied or Russian authorities, or any foreign states, except for the partially recognized Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (after Dudayev’s death). On November 2, the Congress of People's Deputies of the RSFSR recognized the past elections as invalid, and on November 7, Russian President Boris Yeltsin issued a decree introducing a state of emergency in Checheno-Ingushetia, but it was never implemented, since it still existed Soviet Union, and the power structures were formally subordinate not to Yeltsin, but to Gorbachev; the latter, after the August putsch, actually no longer had real power and completely lost control over the processes taking place in the country. In response to Yeltsin’s decision, Dudayev introduced martial law in the territory under his control. An armed seizure of the buildings of law enforcement ministries and departments was carried out, military units were disarmaed, military camps of the Ministry of Defense were blocked, and rail and air transportation was stopped. OKCHN called on Chechens living in Moscow to “turn the capital of Russia into a disaster zone.”
In November-December, the parliament of the ChRI decided to abolish the existing government bodies in the republic and to recall the people's deputies of the USSR and the RSFSR from the Chechen Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. Dudayev's decree introduced the right of citizens to purchase and store firearms.
After the collapse of the USSR, the situation in Chechnya was completely out of Moscow's control. In December-February, the seizure of abandoned weapons continued. At the beginning of February, the 556th Regiment of Internal Troops was defeated, and military units were attacked. More than 4 thousand small arms, approximately 3 million pieces of various ammunition, etc. were stolen.
After this, Dudayev makes visits to the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus and Turkey. At the end of September, Dzhokhar Dudayev visited Bosnia, where at that time there was a civil war. However, at Sarajevo airport, Dudayev and his plane were arrested by French peacekeepers. [ ] Dudayev was released only after a telephone conversation between the Kremlin and UN headquarters.
After this, Dzhokhar Dudayev headed to the United States, accompanied by Deputy Prime Minister Mairbek Mugadayev and the mayor of Grozny Bislan Gantamirov. According to official sources, the purpose of the visit was to establish contacts with American entrepreneurs for the joint development of Chechen oil fields. The visit ended on October 17, 1992.
By the beginning of 1993, the economic and military situation in Chechnya had worsened, and Dudayev had lost his previous support.
At 3:30 a.m. on August 8, several unknown persons burst into Dudayev’s office, located on the 9th floor of the presidential palace, and opened fire, but the guards returned fire in response to the shots, and the attackers fled. Dudayev was not injured during the assassination attempt.
In the summer of 1993, constant armed clashes took place on the territory of Chechnya. The opposition is being pushed out to the north of the republic, where alternative authorities have been formed. At the end of the year, Chechnya refuses to take part in the State Duma elections and the referendum on the constitution; the parliament opposes the inclusion in the new Constitution of the Russian Federation of a provision on Chechnya as a subject of the Russian Federation.
At the direction of Dzhokhar Dudayev, camps for holding prisoners of war and civilians were created in Chechnya; sometimes they are called concentration camps; Russian special services hunted Dudayev. Three attempts ended in failure. in Grozny and on the Koran he swore that Dudayev survived the assassination attempt and that on July 5, three months after the liquidation of Dzhokhar, he met with him in one of the European countries. He said that the wounded general was taken from the scene of the incident by car by representatives of the OSCE mission to a safe place indicated by him, which this moment the President of Chechnya is hiding abroad and “will definitely return when necessary.” Raduev’s statements had a loud resonance in the press, but at the appointed “ hour X“Dudayev did not appear. Once in Lefortovo, Raduev repented that he had stated this “for the sake of politics.”
In Georgia . It was stated that his " are preparing to present themselves in front of television cameras in Turkey“shortly before the presidential elections scheduled in the republic in order to destabilize the situation.
In September 1998, in a park named after Dzhokhar Dudayev, which is located in the Vilnius microdistrict Žvėrynas, lines from the poet Sigitas Gyada, dedicated to Dudayev, were embossed on it. The inscription in Lithuanian reads: “Oh, son! If you wait until the next century, and, stopping in the high Caucasus, look around: do not forget that here too there were men who raised the people and came out to freedom to defend holy ideals.” (literal translation)
On September 12, 1969, Dzhokhar Dudayev married the daughter of Major Alevtina (Alla) Dudayeva (née Kulikova) and they had three children: two sons - Avlur (Ovlur, “first-born lamb”; born December 24, 1969) and Degi (born May 25 1983) - and daughter Dana (born in 1973). According to information from 2006, Dzhokhar Dudayev has five grandchildren.
Avlur was wounded in February 1995 while participating in the battles for Argun (there was a version that he died there), but Dzhokhar’s former fellow soldier Vytautas Eidukaitis managed to take him to Lithuania, where on March 26, 2002 Avlur received citizenship in the name Oleg Zakharovich Davydov (his date of birth was changed to December 27, 1970). Citizenship itself caused criticism in Lithuania itself because it was issued in one day. Avlur is married and, according to 2013, he and his children live in Sweden, where Avlur prefers to distance himself as much as possible from any publicity.
Degi, according to 2011 data, has Georgian citizenship, but also lives in Lithuania, having a residence permit there. In 2004, he graduated from the Higher Diplomatic College of International Relations in Baku and in 2009 from the Technical University in Vilnius. In 2012 he took part in the Georgian show “ Moment of truth"(Georgian analogue of the American show " The Moment of Truth") and became the first in the history of the Georgian version whom the detector could not catch in a lie. Most of the questions he was asked were about his father and his attitude towards Russia:
Leading: Do you feel hatred towards the Russian people?
Degi: No.
Leading: If the opportunity presented itself, would you avenge your father?
Degi: Yes .
He refused to answer the super question because he was probably confused by the previous one:
Leading: Do you think that Chechen traditions limit human freedom?
Degi: Yes .
According to 2013 data, he runs the VEO company in Lithuania, specializing in solar energy. In May 2013, Degi was charged with producing false documents. Immediately after his arrest, his mother Alla called what was happening “a provocation of the Russian special services.” Degi himself, however, admitted his guilt and, by a court decision in December 2014, was fined 3,250 litas.
Dana, while still in Russia, married Masud Dudayev and they had four children. In August 1999, they left Russia and lived for some time in Azerbaijan, then moved to Lithuania and then to Turkey, where they stayed until 2010. Then in June of the same year, their family tried to obtain political asylum in Sweden (where Avlur was already living), but was unsuccessful, as local authorities found many inconsistencies between the documents and the couple’s words. The family tried to appeal the refusal of the Swedish authorities in a Stockholm court, but in March 2013 it upheld the authorities' decision. Dudaev was also denied permission to appeal the court ruling. They did not appeal to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, despite the fact that they had such an opportunity, because they believed that if they lost, the Swedish authorities would deport them to Russia. In July 2013, Dana and two children left for Germany, and Masud and two others went to the UK (they crossed the border illegally), where they now live with Akhmed Zakaev. There, Massoud asked the British government for protection, but this was also denied to the family, and the British authorities began trying to deport them back to Sweden. Then the family filed a lawsuit demanding a review of the decision of the UK Home Office, but in June 2015, the High Court of London declared the Home Office’s decision legal.
Dzhokhar Dudayev - leader of the self-proclaimed Chechen Republic of Ichkeria from 1991 to 1996, major general of aviation, commander of a strategic division Soviet army, military pilot. The military general made the meaning of his life to defend the independence of Chechnya. When this goal could not be achieved peacefully, Dudayev took part in the military conflict between Chechnya and Russia.
Take it to yourself:
Childhood and youth
The exact date of birth of Dzhokhar Dudayev is unknown, but it is generally accepted that he was born on February 15, 1944 in the family of a veterinarian in the village of Pervomaisky (Galanchozhsky district of the Chechen-Ingush Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic). He comes from the taipa (clan) Tsechoi.
The confusion with the date of birth of the Chechen leader is explained quite simply. The fact is that in 1944 the Chechen population was deported from their native places because they were unfairly accused of having connections with the Germans. The Dudayev family was sent to Kazakhstan, where little Dzhokhar grew up. His parents Musa and Rabiat had 13 children, seven in common (four sons and three daughters), and six children of Musa from his first marriage (four sons and two daughters). Dzhokhar was the youngest of all. When moving to Kazakhstan, the boy's parents lost some of their documents. Among them was the metric of the youngest son. And subsequently his parents, because large quantity guys, couldn’t remember exactly the date of birth of their youngest son.
Dzhokhar Dudayev's father, Musa, died when the boy was about six years old. This greatly affected the child’s psyche and he had to grow up ahead of time. Almost all of Dzhokhar’s sisters and brothers did poorly in school, often skipped classes and did not give of great importance lessons. But Dzhokhar, on the contrary, from the first grade he understood that he had to master knowledge and studied diligently. He immediately became one of the best in the class, and the guys even chose him as head boy.
In 1957, the Dudayev family, along with other deported Chechens, was returned to their native land and they settled in the city of Grozny. Here Dzhokhar studied until the ninth grade and then went to work as an electrician at the fifth SMU. At the same time, the teenager had an exact goal and he knew that he was obliged to get a diploma higher education. Therefore, Dzhokhar did not drop out of school, attended evening classes at school and still graduated from the 10th grade. After that, he submitted documents to the North Ossetian Pedagogical Institute (Faculty of Physics and Mathematics). However, after studying there for a year, the young man realized that he had a different calling. He left Grozny secretly from his family and entered the Tambov Higher Military Aviation School.
True, he had to use a trick and lie admissions committee that he is Ossetian. At that time, Chechens were equated with enemies of the people, and Dzhokhar understood perfectly well that if he made his personal data public, he simply would not enroll in the university of his choice.
During his studies, the young man did not change his principles and devoted all his strength to mastering his chosen specialty to perfection. As a result, cadet Dudayev received a diploma with honors. It is worth noting that he was a patriot, and it was extremely unpleasant for him to hide his nationality, which he was actually proud of. Therefore, before presenting him with a document confirming his higher education, he insisted that his personal file must indicate that he is a Chechen.
After graduating from college, Dzhokhar Dudayev was sent to serve in the armed forces of the USSR, as an assistant commander of an airship and joined the Communist Party. Without interrupting his immediate duties, in 1974 he graduated from the Yuri Gagarin Air Force Academy (command department). In 1989, he was transferred to the reserve with the rank of general.
Former colleagues spoke of Dudayev with great respect. People noted that, despite his emotionality and temper, he was a very obliging, decent and honest person who could always be relied on.
Political career of Dzhokhar Dudayev
In November 1990, as part of the national Chechen congress held in Grozny, Dzhokhar Dudayev was elected chairman of the executive committee. Already in March next year, Dudayev made a demand: the Supreme Council of the Chechen-Ingush Republic must voluntarily resign its powers.
In May, Dudayev was transferred to the reserve with the rank of general, after which he returned to Chechnya and became the head of the growing national movement. Later he was elected head of the executive committee of the National Congress of the Chechen People. In this position, he began to form the system of government bodies of the republic. At the same time, the official Supreme Council continued to work in parallel in Chechnya. However, this did not stop Dudayev, and he openly declared that the council deputies were usurping power and did not live up to the hopes placed on them.
After the August coup that took place in the Russian capital in 1991, the situation in Chechnya also began to heat up. On September 4, Dudayev and his associates forcibly seized the television center in Grozny, and Dzhokhar addressed the residents of the republic with a message. The essence of his statement was that the official government did not live up to the trust, so democratic elections will be held in the republic in the near future. Until they take place, the leadership of the republic will be carried out by the movement led by Dudayev and other political general democratic organizations.
A day later, on September 6, Dzhokhar Dudayev and his comrades forcibly entered the building of the Supreme Council. More than 40 deputies were beaten by militants and received injuries of varying severity, and the city mayor, Vitaly Kutsenko, was thrown out of the window, the man died. On September 8, Dudayev’s militants blocked the center of Grozny, seized the local airport and CHPP-1.
At the end of October of the same 1991, elections took place. The Chechens almost unanimously (more than 90% of the votes) supported Dzhokhar Dudayev and he took the post of president of the republic. The first thing he did in his new position was to issue a decree according to which Chechnya became an independent republic and also separated from Ingushetia.
Meanwhile, the independence of Chechnya was not recognized by either other states or the RSFSR. Wanting to take control of the situation, Boris Yeltsin planned to introduce a special situation in the republic, but due to bureaucratic nuances this was impossible. The fact is that at that time only Gorbachev could give orders to the armed forces, since the Soviet Union still existed “on paper”. But, in fact, he no longer had real power. As a result, a situation arose in which neither the former nor the current leader of Russia could take real measures to resolve the conflict.
In Chechnya, there were no such problems and Dzhokhar Dudayev quickly seized power over the relevant structures, introduced martial law in the republic, removed pro-Russian deputies from power, and also allowed local residents purchase weapons. At the same time, ammunition was often stolen from destroyed and looted military units of the RSFSR.
In March 1992, under the leadership of Dudayev, the Chechen constitution was adopted, as well as other state symbols. However, the situation in the republic continued to heat up. In 1993, Dudayev lost some of his supporters and people began to organize protest rallies, demanding the return of legality and power capable of restoring order. In response to the expressed dissatisfaction, the national leader held a referendum, during which it became clear that the population was dissatisfied with the new government.
Then Dudayev removed the government, parliament, city leadership, etc. from power. After this, the leader took all power into his own hands, organizing direct presidential leadership. And during the next protest rally, his supporters opened fire on opposition-minded citizens and killed about 50 people. A couple of months later, the first attempt was made on Dudayev. Armed people burst into his office and opened fire. However, the personal guard of the Chechen leader came to the rescue in time and tried to shoot the attackers, as a result they disappeared, and Dudayev himself did not receive any injuries.
After this incident, armed clashes with the opposition became the norm, and for several years Dudayev had to defend his power by force: with weapons in hand.
The culmination of the military conflict with Russia
In 1993, Russia holds a referendum on the constitution and this further intensifies the already difficult situation. The independence of the Chechen Republic was not recognized and, accordingly, its population had to take part in the discussion of the most important state document. However, Dudayev perceives the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria as an autonomous unit and states that the Chechen population will not take part in either the referendum or the elections. Moreover, he demanded that the constitution not include any reference to Ichkeria, since it had seceded from Russia.
Accordingly, due to all these events, the situation in the republic is heating up even more. And in 1994, Dudayev’s opposition created a parallel temporary council of the Chechen Republic. The leader of the Chechen Republic reacted very harshly to this, and over the next period of time, about 200 oppositionists were killed in the republic. The Chechen leader also called on the local population to start a holy war against Russia and announced a general mobilization, which marked the beginning of active hostilities between Chechnya and Russia.
Throughout the military conflict, the authorities tried several times to eliminate Dudayev. After three unsuccessful attempts, he was killed. On April 21, 1996, a special unit located his conversation on a satellite phone and launched two missile strikes at this point. Later, the wife of the Chechen leader, Alla Dudayeva, said in an interview that one of the missiles literally destroyed the car in which Dzhokhar was located. The man was seriously wounded in the head and was taken home, where he died from his injuries.
The burial place of Dzhokhar Dudayev is still unknown, and rumors periodically appear that the Chechen leader may be alive.
In fact, the only evidence of Dudayev’s death are the words about his death voiced by representatives of the general’s inner circle, as well as his wife. That is, people who were absolutely devoted to Dudayev and always acted in his interests.
True, there is also a photo where Alla Dudayeva was taken next to the body of her husband. But it is possible that these shots could be staged. They show a woman next to a dead man who lies with his eyes open. At the same time, Dzhokhar’s face is covered in blood, but his wounds are not visible. Accordingly, such a shot can be made with a living person.
The fact that on the day of his death Dudayev took his wife with him into the forest also raises doubts. The fact is that, according to Alla, her husband understood perfectly well that the intelligence services could track his location by phone. Therefore, I never conducted conversations from home, and did not arrange long communication sessions from one point. If the dialogue dragged on, he interrupted it, and then called the interlocutor again from another place. And here the question arises: “Why did Dzhokhar, knowing that at the time of the telephone conversation he was in increased danger, take his wife to the communication session?”
Moreover, many were amazed at how calmly and impartially Alla Dudayeva behaved after the death of her husband. Considering the woman's emotionality, such behavior looked very strange. What surprised everyone even more was the fact that, having arrived in the Russian capital in May 1996, her statements were very loyal to Boris Yeltsin, and almost called on Russians to support his candidacy in the presidential elections. Later, the woman explained her statements by saying that the politician’s victory would ensure a quiet life for the Chechen people and that she acted exclusively in the interests of her fellow citizens. However, even taking into account these nuances, the words expressed in support of the person who gave the order to liquidate her husband look very strange.
In any case, rumors that Dzhokhar Dudayev may be alive have never been confirmed. And moreover, even if the Chechen leader had survived, he would not have abandoned the work he started, since he never stopped halfway and always went towards his goal. That is why his “silence” for many years can safely be considered the main confirmation that Dzhokhar Dudayev really died.
Dzhokhar Dudayev
Dzhokhar Dudayev - leader of the self-proclaimed Chechen Republic of Ichkeria from 1991 to 1996, major general of aviation, commander of a strategic division of the Soviet army, military pilot. The military general made the meaning of his life to defend the independence of Chechnya. When this goal could not be achieved peacefully, Dudayev took part in the military conflict between Chechnya and Russia. Childhood and youth The exact date of birth of Dzhokhar Dudayev is unknown, but it is generally accepted that he was born on February 15, 1944 in the family of a veterinarian in the village of Pervomaisky (Galanchozhsky district of the Chechen-Ingush Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic). He comes from the taipa (clan) Tsechoi. The confusion with the date of birth of the Chechen leader is explained quite simply. The thing is that...
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The general left three children: two sons Avlur and Degi, as well as a daughter Dana.