Vladimir Chub. Strokes for a portrait I met Vladimir Fedorovich in 1995. I was then the commander of the 58th army, and he headed the administration of the Rostov region, although he was not yet considered a "political heavyweight". But besides this, Chub was a member of the Military Council

Chapter 9. STROKE TO THE PORTRAIT In this chapter we would like to cite the memories of Alexander Mikhailovich Sakharovsky of his relatives, colleagues and workmates, who tell about the various stages of his life and

Self-proclaimed Chechen Republic of Ichkeria (-). In the USSR - Major General of Aviation. Generalissimo 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 (children of his father from a previous marriage). The father was a veterinarian.

The exact date of 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 Dudaeva in her book “ Million one: Dzhokhar Dudayev” writes that the year of birth of Dzhokhar could be 1943, not 1944). Dzhokhar came from the taip Tsechoi of the village of Yalkhoroy. His mother Rabiat was a native of the Nashkhoy taip, 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 the Russian political scientist Sergei Kurginyan, in exile, the Dudayev family adopted the Viskhadzhi vird (a religious brotherhood established by Vis-Khadzhi Zagiev) of the Kadyrian wing 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, often skipped school, while Dzhokhar studied well and was even elected head of the class.

After some time, the Dudaevs, along with other deported Caucasians, were transferred to Shymkent, 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 in SMU-5, at the same time he studied in the 10th grade of 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 profile training, he entered (-1966) (since Chechens were then tacitly equated with enemies of the people, then with upon admission, Dzhokhar had to lie that he was Ossetian, however, while 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 was erected in Tartu on the building of the Barclay Hotel in memory of Dudayev.

In March 1991, Dudayev demanded the self-dissolution of the Supreme Council of the Chechen-Ingush Republic. In May, the retired general accepts 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 Chechen People's Republic was transformed. From that moment, 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, stating that the deputies of the Supreme Council of the Chechen-Ingush Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic "did not justify trust" and declaring them "usurpers".

On October 27, 1991, presidential elections were held in Checheno-Ingushetia, which were won by Dzhokhar Dudayev, who received 90.1% of the vote. With his first decree, Dudayev proclaimed the independence of the self-proclaimed Chechen Republic of Ichkeria (ChRI) from the RSFSR and the USSR, which was not recognized by either the allied or Russian authorities, or by 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 elections invalid, and on November 7, Russian President Boris Yeltsin issued a decree on the introduction of a state of emergency in Chechen-Ingushetia, but it was never implemented, since the Soviet Union still existed, and the security forces were in formal subordination not Yeltsin, but 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 on the territory subject to him. An armed seizure of buildings of power ministries and departments was carried out, military units were disarmed, military camps of the Ministry of Defense were blocked, 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 CRI Parliament adopted a decision to abolish the existing authorities in the republic and to recall the People's Deputies of the USSR and the RSFSR from the CHIASSR. Dudayev's decree introduced the right of citizens to acquire and store firearms.

After the collapse of the USSR, the situation in Chechnya finally got out of Moscow's control. In December-February, the seizure of abandoned weapons continued. In early February, the 556th regiment of internal troops was defeated, attacks were made on military units. More than 4,000 small arms, about 3 million pieces of various ammunition, etc. were stolen.

After that, Dudayev makes visits to the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus and Turkey. At the end of September, Dzhokhar Dudayev visited Bosnia, where a civil war was going on at that time. 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 the UN headquarters.

After that, Dzhokhar Dudayev headed to the United States, accompanied by Deputy Prime Minister Mairbek Mugadaev and Grozny Mayor 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 worsened, Dudayev lost his former support.

At 3:30 am on August 8, several unidentified people broke into Dudayev's office, located on the 9th floor of the presidential palace, and opened fire, but the guards returned fire at the shots, and the attackers fled. During the assassination attempt, Dudayev was not injured.

In the summer of 1993, constant armed clashes took place on the territory of Chechnya. The opposition is forced out to the north of the republic, where alternative authorities were formed. At the end of the year, Chechnya refuses to take part in the elections of the State Duma and the referendum on the constitution, the parliament opposes the inclusion in the new Constitution of the Russian Federation of the provision on Chechnya as a subject of the Russian Federation.

On the instructions of Dzhokhar Dudayev, camps for 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 in a 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 noisy response in the press, however, at the appointed " hour X» Dudayev did not appear. Once in Lefortovo, Raduev repented that he had said this "for the sake of politics."

In Georgia . It was stated that his preparing to present in front of TV cameras in Turkey shortly before the presidential elections scheduled in the republic in order to destabilize the situation .

In September 1998, in the park named after Dzhokhar Dudayev, which is located in the Vilnius microdistrict Zhverynas, the lines of the poet Sigitas Gyada dedicated to Dudayev were inscribed on it. The inscription in Lithuanian reads: “O son! If you wait for the next century, and, stopping at the high Caucasus, you look around: do not forget that there were men here too, who raised the people and came out to protect the holy ideals of freedom. (literal translation)

On September 12, 1969, Dzhokhar Dudayev married the daughter of Major Alevtina (Alla) Dudayeva (nee 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 2006 information, Dzhokhar Dudayev has five grandchildren.

Avlur was wounded in February 1995, participating in the battles for Argun (there was a version that he died there), but the former fellow soldier of Dzhokhar, Vytautas Eidukaitis, managed to take him to Lithuania, where on March 26, 2002, Avlur received citizenship in the name of 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 data, he and his children live in Sweden, where Avlur prefers to distance himself from any publicity as much as possible.

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 who the detector could not catch in a lie. Most of the polls given to him were about his father and his attitude towards Russia:

Leading: Do you feel hatred for the Russian people?
Degi: Not.
Leading: If given the opportunity, would you avenge your father?
Degi: Yes .

He declined to answer the super question, as he was probably confused by the previous one:

Leading: Do you think that Chechen traditions restrict human freedom?
Degi: Yes .

According to 2013 data, he manages the VEO company in Lithuania, specializing in solar energy. In May 2013, Degi was charged with making forged documents. Immediately after his arrest, his mother Alla called what was happening "a provocation of the Russian special services." Degi himself, however, pleaded guilty and was fined 3,250 litas by a court decision in December 2014.

Dana, while still in Russia, married Masud Dudayev and they had four children. In August 1999, they left Russia and lived in Azerbaijan for some time, 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 already lived), but failed, as local authorities found many inconsistencies between the documents and the words of the couple. The family tried to appeal against the refusal of the Swedish authorities in the Stockholm court, but in March 2013 he upheld the decision of the authorities. Permission to file an appeal against the court order was also denied to Dudayev. They did not apply to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, despite the fact that they had such an opportunity, because they considered that if they lost, the Swedish authorities would deport them to Russia. In July 2013, Dana with two children left for Germany, and Masud with two others went to the UK (moreover, they crossed the border illegally), where they now live with Akhmed Zakayev. There, Massoud asked the British government for protection, but this was also denied to the family, and the British authorities began to try 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 decision of the Home Office as legal.

Photo: And it was! On the eve of the war, Ataman Nikolai Kozitsyn signed the Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation with Dudayev. Grozny city, August 24, 1994

DZHOKHAR DUDAEV WAS LIQUIDATED TWENTY YEARS AGO

Twenty years ago, in the spring of 1996, the history of Chechnya, rich in twists and turns, underwent another sharp turn: the first president of Ichkeria, General Dzhokhar Dudayev, gave his last order on April 21 - "live long."

"The owner is sound asleep"

From the very beginning of the war, our special services hunted for Dudayev. Three attempts ended in failure, the fourth gave a positive result.

The first time, they say, the sniper missed, and the bullet only slightly touched Dudayev's father. The second time a mine exploded, laid on the route of his car, only turned the car over. And the third time, Dudayev was saved by a miracle - he, along with the guards, left the house five minutes before it was smashed to pieces by an aircraft rocket.

On April 4, 1996, Dudayev settled with his headquarters in Gekhi-Chu, a village in the Urus-Martan district, located southwest of Grozny. The Dudayevs - Dzhokhar, Alla and their youngest son Degi, who at that time was twelve years old - settled in the house of the younger brother of the Prosecutor General of Ichkeria, Magomet Zhaniev.

During the day, the head of Ichkeria was usually at home, and at night he was on the road. “Dzhokhar, as before, at night, traveled around our Southwestern Front, appearing here and there, constantly being close to those who held positions,” recalled Alla Dudayeva.

In addition, her husband regularly traveled to the nearby forest for communication sessions with the outside world, carried out through the installation of satellite communications "Immarsat-M". The Ichkerian president avoided calling directly from home, fearing that the Russian special services could pinpoint his location from an intercepted signal.

From one of these communication sessions, which took place a few days before Dudayev's death, the general and his retinue returned earlier than usual. “Everyone was very excited,” Alla recalled. Dzhokhar, on the contrary, was unusually silent and thoughtful. Musik (bodyguard Musa Idigov. - Auth.) took me aside and, lowering his voice, whispered excitedly: "One hundred percent are hitting our phone."

... On April 21, 1996, the Russian special services located the signal from Dudayev's satellite phone in the Gekhi-Chu area. Two Su-25 attack aircraft with homing missiles were lifted into the air. Presumably, Dudayev was destroyed by a rocket strike right during a telephone conversation with State Duma deputy Konstantin Borov, who was his informal political adviser.

Alla Dudayeva, in an interview with the Kommersant newspaper, said that she was next to Dzhokhar at the time of his death: “... Dzhokhar began to talk with 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 - behind my back a rocket strike. About twelve meters away I stood from Dzhokhar, I was thrown into a ravine. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a yellow flame. I wanted 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 close me. When it calmed down, he got up, and I heard the crying of Viskhan, Dzhokhar's nephew.

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 stumbled over Dzhokhar. He was already dying. I did not hear his last words, but he managed to say to our guard, Musa Idigov: "Bring it to the end." We picked it up, carried it to the second UAZ, because a pile of metal remained from the first one.

Khamad Kurbanov and Magomed Zhaniev died, Vakha was wounded. They put Dzhokhar in the back seat of the UAZ, Viskhan sat next to the driver, and I huddled behind the window. They were supposed to come for Vakha later. They still thought that Dzhokhar could be saved. Although I already realized then that it was impossible, I felt in his head, on the right, such a hole.

Some details of this operation are contained in the publication of Viktor Barants "Chechen informant handed over Dudayev for a million dollars" (April 2011). The Komsomolskaya Pravda correspondent spoke with former GRU officers, reserve colonels Vladimir Yakovlev and Yuri Aksyonov, who in April 1996 took part in the action to eliminate the leader of the Chechen separatists.

“Through our Chechen agents, we obtained information that Dudayev intends to get in touch in such and such a square ... And we even knew the approximate time. Therefore, full combat readiness was declared ... On that day, all of us - both ground troops and pilots, were lucky as never before. Dudayev was still approaching Gekhi-Chu, and the plane was already taxiing to take off in Mozdok ... We later learned that Dudayev was there with his wife, assistants, and security guards. They arrived at the wasteland. Launched a satellite phone. At that time, Dudayev spoke really longer than usual. We heard the distant rumble of an airplane, then a deafening explosion. A few hours later, we received confirmation “from the other side” that Dudayev’s corpse was being prepared for burial ... A coded message was transmitted to the headquarters - something like “The owner fell asleep soundly” ... That's it.

The burial place of Dudayev is still unknown ... It is located in the south of Chechnya in one of the rural cemeteries. According to Akhmed Zakaev, who lives in London, the remains were reburied on the eve of or with the start of the second military campaign in the North Caucasus.

Dzhokhar Dudayev was allegedly born on February 15, 1944 in the village of Pervomaisky in the Galanchozhsky district of the Chechen-Ingush Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (now the Achkhoy-Martanovsky 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 of blood and four brothers and two half-sisters (his father's children from a previous marriage).

The exact date of 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 “One Million First: Dzhokhar Dudayev,” writes that the year of Dzhokhar’s birth could be 1943, not 1944.

Dzhokhar was a native of the teip Yalkhoroy. His mother Rabiat belonged to the Nashkhoy teip, originally from Khaibakh. Eight days after his birth, in February 1944, the Dudayev family was deported to the Pavlodar region of the Kazakh SSR during the mass eviction of Chechens and Ingush.

When Dzhokhar was six years old, his father died. While his brothers and sisters studied poorly, often skipping school, Dzhokhar was distinguished by good academic performance and was even elected head of the class.

After some time, the Dudayevs, along with other deported Caucasians, were transferred to Shymkent. Dzhokhar studied there until the sixth grade, after which in 1957 the family returned to their homeland and settled in Grozny.

In 1959, Dudayev graduated from high school No. 45, then began working as an electrician in SMU-5. At the same time, he studied in the tenth grade of evening school No. 55, which he graduated a year later.

In 1960, Dzhokhar entered the Physics and Mathematics Department of the North Ossetian Pedagogical Institute. However, after the first year, secretly from his mother, he left for Tambov, where, after listening to a one-year course of lectures on profile training, he entered the Tambov Higher Military Aviation School named after Marina Raskova (1962-1966).

After graduating from college in 1966, Dudayev was sent to the 52nd Guards Instructor Heavy Bomber Aviation Regiment, which was based at the Shaikovka airfield in the Kaluga region. The first position is the assistant commander of an airship.

In 1968 Dudayev became a communist. In 1971 he entered, and in 1974 he graduated from the command faculty of the Yuri Gagarin Air Force Academy.

Since 1970, he served in Transbaikalia, in the 1225th heavy bomber aviation regiment, based in the Belaya garrison in the Usolsky district of the Irkutsk region. There, in subsequent years, he successively held the positions of deputy commander of an air regiment, chief of staff, commander of a detachment and commander of a unit.

In 1982, Dudayev was appointed chief of staff of the 31st heavy bomber division, and in 1985 he was transferred to Poltava, chief of staff of the 13th Guards Heavy Bomber Aviation Division.

According to former colleagues, Dzhokhar Musaevich was a quick-tempered, emotional and at the same time extremely honest and decent person. Responsible, among other things, for political work with personnel.

In 1988, Dudayev took part in the war in Afghanistan. He made combat missions to the western regions aboard a Tu-22MZ bomber, introducing the technique of so-called carpet bombing of enemy positions. However, Dudayev himself has always denied the fact of his active participation in hostilities against the Islamists in Afghanistan.

Former Defense Minister Pavel Grachev, speaking of his Afghan meetings with Dudayev, recalled that they spoke twice, at the air force base in Bagram and in Kabul: “We coordinated the interaction of long-range aviation and paratroopers. Dzhokhar Dudayev was the initiator and developer of the so-called carpet bombing in Afghanistan. Good officer. Soviet hardening, graduated from our school, literate ... "

Since 1989, Dudayev was the commander of the strategic 326th Tarnopol heavy bomber division of the 46th strategic air army. The base is the city of Tartu, Estonian SSR. At the same time, he served as the head of the military garrison. The rank of Major General of Aviation was awarded to him in 1989.

“Dudaev was a well-trained officer,” recalled Army General Pyotr Deinekin, Hero of Russia. - He graduated from the Gagarin Academy, adequately commanded a regiment and division. He firmly managed the aviation group during the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan, for which he was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of War. He was distinguished by endurance, calmness and concern for people. A new training base was equipped in his division, canteens and airfield life were equipped, a firm statutory order was established in the Tartu garrison. Dzhokhar deservedly was awarded the rank of Major General of Aviation.

MILESTONES CHANGE. POWER TAKE

The Soviet Union, being destroyed from within, was living out its "last days", and Dudayev decided which way to go next. On November 23-25, 1990, the Chechen National Congress was held in Grozny. The head of the Executive Committee invited his "Varangian" Dzhokhar Dudayev.

After the January events in Vilnius, where troops and special forces of the KGB were sent on the orders or with the knowledge of Gorbachev, Dudayev spoke on Estonian radio, stating that if Soviet troops were sent to Estonia, he would not let 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 he returned to Leningrad.

In March 1991, Dudayev demanded the self-dissolution of the Supreme Council of the Chechen-Ingush Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. In May, after being transferred to the reserve, he accepts an offer to return home 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 National Congress of the Chechen People. From that moment on, Dudayev, as the head of the OKCHN Executive Committee, forms parallel authorities. According to him, the deputies "did not justify the trust", they are "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 GKChP, but the OKCHN opposed the GKChP.

On August 19, at the initiative of the Vainakh Democratic Party of Yandarbiyev, a rally in support of the Russian leadership began on the central square of Grozny. However, after August 21 (the failure of the GKChP in Moscow), it began to take place 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. Dudayev read out an appeal in which he called the leadership of the republic "criminals, bribe-takers, embezzlers of public funds." And he 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 CHIASSR was dispersed by armed supporters of the OKCHN. Dudayevites beat the deputies and threw Vitaly Kutsenko, chairman of the Grozny City Council, first secretary of the city committee of the CPSU, out of the window of the third floor. The head of the city died, and more than forty deputies were injured. Two days later, the Dudaevites captured the Severny airport and CHPP-1, blockading the center of Grozny.

Musa Muradov, the former editor-in-chief of the Groznensky Rabochiy newspaper, recalled: “At the end of October 1991, Elza Sheripova, the Prosecutor General of independent Ichkeria, came to the editorial office of the Groznensky Rabochy newspaper and put the text of the main law on my table: “Publish!”. The typewritten text is full of typos. In some paragraphs, “Chechnya” is replaced by “Sudan” and the names of the Baltic republics: the document was hastily compiled from the constitutions of these countries. “It’s nothing,” says the attorney general, correcting mistakes. “We need to secure sovereignty as soon as possible. The people are tired, they can't wait."

On October 27, 1991, presidential elections were held in Checheno-Ingushetia, which were won by Dudayev, who received 90.1% of the vote. By his first decree, he proclaimed the independence of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria (ChRI), which, however, was not recognized by either the Russian authorities or any foreign states.

MEETING WITH DUDAYEV

Photojournalist Dmitry Borko and I happened to be the first Moscow journalists to talk to Dzhokhar Dudayev immediately after the victory of the rebels. It happened like this. Our editor-in-chief Gennady Ni-Li called me and casually said: “Dudaev seized power in Grozny, there are riots in the city ... Fly to Grozny and interview him.”

In fact, Gennady Pavlovich threw me out of the boat into the river - he will swim out, he will not swim out ... For which I am grateful to him! You could refuse. But I saluted it and rushed to the White House, where I was a parliamentary correspondent, in order to get a ticket for the Moscow-Grozny plane from the deputy cash desk.

Despite the share of adventurism, I was well aware of the possible consequences of this enterprise. That is why I stocked up on "credentials" - two official appeals addressed to Dudayev, on letterheads. They were signed by Oleg Rumyantsev, executive secretary of the Constitutional Commission of the Congress of People's Deputies of the Russian Federation, co-chairman of the Social Democratic Party of Russia (SDPR), and Nikolai Travkin, head of the parliamentary committee, Hero of Socialist Labor, chairman of the Democratic Party of Russia (DPR).

Actually, these solid papers helped me find my way to Dudayev, because upon arrival in Grozny, on the square in front of the former Chechen-Ingush Republican Committee of the CPSU, I was detained as a “KGB agent”. And the next day, Dudayev received me, and we spent two hours in a meaningful conversation.

Recalling that meeting, I want to note the main thing: at that time, Dudayev was still a Soviet and military man. This was evident in everything - in mentality, demeanor and speech turns. I remember one of his phrases: "Chechnya is the last Soviet republic of the Soviet Union." I don't know what he invested in it, since before that he himself supported Boris Yeltsin in his confrontation with the Union Center.

Twice during the conversation, the head of the Vainakh Democratic Party, Zelimkhan Yandarbiev, the future head of Ichkeria, who, already in exile, was blown up in Doha (Qatar), when he returned home after Friday prayers, visited the office twice.

Then, in the fall of 1991, no one, I think, could have imagined that this gloomy schizophrenic with a frozen look, who headed the children's magazine Raduga, would become one of the ideologists of Wahhabism.

When Yandarbiev appeared, who sat down and silently listened to what we were talking about, Dudayev changed literally before our eyes; he began in an excited manner to pour claims and sharp accusations against Moscow.

After sitting for about five minutes, Yandarbiev, without uttering a word, got up and left, after which Dudayev calmed down and continued the conversation in the same vein. And so it went on twice. This made me think that Dudayev was influenced by his inner circle, being his hostage - which, in fact, was shown by subsequent events.

Having learned that Dudayev had spoken with a correspondent from Moscow for two hours, the leader of the Daimokhk (Fatherland) movement, Lecha Umkhaev, a former deputy of the Supreme Council of the Chi ASSR, decided to meet with me.

When in August 1990 an informal group of the Chechen intelligentsia created an organizing committee to convene the 1st Congress of the Chechen people, which included representatives of almost all parties and public movements, authoritative and respected people in the republic, Lecha Umkhaev was elected chairman of the OK.

It was he, Lecha Umkhaev, who was approved by the congress as Dudayev's first deputy.

Heading the moderate wing of the All-National Committee of the Chechen People, Umkhaev figured out the situation and, together with his supporters, left the leadership of the OKCHN.

And now he was sitting in the room of the Kavkaz Hotel and telling me, a random, in general, guest from the capital, that he was the one who, unfortunately, directly had a hand in inviting Dudayev to the republic, that Moscow does not understand - Dudayev is not a democrat at all, but an ambitious leader, and he is turned around by his radical entourage. And that all this, in the end, will lead to big trouble.

Umkhaev urged me to convey this position to the readers of the capital and those politicians with whom I communicate. Time has shown that Umkhaev was absolutely right in his assessments and forecasts. Dudayev bit the bit, and the very logic of events carried him with the strength and pressure of a mountain river.

In the meantime, the democrats and yesterday's party members from the CPSU, who had changed colors, shared the skin of a murdered Soviet bear in Moscow with rapture and bitterness. When they realized it, it was already too late.

After the unpunished murder of Yuri Kutsenko and the absence of any reaction from Moscow to the seizure of the building of the Supreme Council in Grozny by the Dudaevites, the genocide of the Russian-speaking and non-Chechen population of the republic began, the liquidation of people suspected of having links with state security, and the expulsion from the republic of those Chechens who did not support secession from Russia. Grozny alone left 200,000 residents with the complete indifference of the Russian authorities and the world community.

From the moment of the declaration of independence, Dudayev announced a course towards building the state of the Chechen people. After taking office as president, he issued an order to pardon prisoners in prisons and colonies. The amnesty, as well as high unemployment in the subsidized region of Russia, played an important role in the future crimes of militants and criminal elements against the civilian population.

In an interview dated July 6, 2006, to the correspondent of the French weekly Parimatch, the famous writer and publicist Marek Halter, President Vladimir Putin stated in plain text: . Unfortunately, no one responded to this. No one reacted even to the raids on Russian territory that have been carried out all these years. The authorities did not react to mass kidnappings. You know that the number of abducted people in Chechnya amounted to about two thousand people! The interests of the extremists had nothing in common with the interests of the Chechen people. Abductions of Chechens by Chechens have begun in the republic, which has never happened before in the history of Chechnya ”(quote from kremlin.ru).

He also said two years later, during a direct line on December 19, 2002, that in Chechnya “as a result of ethnic cleansing, up to 30 thousand people died, and maybe even more” (“Direct Line with the President of the Russian Federation V.V. Putin". "Olma-Politizdat", 2003).

The head of state, giving these and other assessments, relied on the information and documents of law enforcement agencies. So, according to the assessment of Colonel-General Valery Baranov, who headed the Joint Group of Forces in the North Caucasus, “the sharp outflow of the Russian-speaking population was caused primarily by the change in the political regime and its policy of genocide against Russian-speaking citizens” (Valery Baranov. “From military operations - to the performance of police functions.” Military-Industrial Courier, No. 4, February 2006).

What was going on in Ichkeria under Dudayev is evidenced by the materials of the Parliamentary Commission of the State Duma to study the causes and circumstances of the crisis in the Chechen Republic (Laventa, 1995). The commission was headed by deputy, film director, publicist and public figure Stanislav Govorukhin.

... Such is the price of the collapse of empires and the indifference of temporary workers to the fate of their fellow citizens.

PASSPORT FOR DUDAYEV

Arkady Volsky, head of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (RSPP), told me that Dzhokhar Dudayev was offered a Jordanian passport by Yeltsin (on condition that he leave the war-torn republic), as well as what preceded the start of the war.

We met in July 2005 under the patronage of the Hero of the Soviet Union Gennady Nikolaevich Zaitsev. Five hours spent with Volsky in his office on Staraya Ploshchad. A total of five meetings. Most of it was recorded on magnetic tape, the smaller part - in a notebook, by hand.

Arkady Ivanovich was one of those who are commonly called political heavyweights. Why - you will not immediately understand. A discreet appearance, rustic manners, the unhurriedness of an experienced apparatchik ... But there was fantastic charm and inner calm strength in his appearance and manner of communicating with people of different levels and circles. And most importantly, he was a brave and courageous person - Afghanistan, Chernobyl, Nagorno-Karabakh, Transnistria, the Prigorodny region of North Ossetia, Chechnya ...

- Arkady Ivanovich, in your opinion, the situation in December 1994 and the armed phase of the conflict - were they predetermined?

It is difficult for me to answer this question. But, judging by the statement of Rutskoy, who was quite close to all these cases, I think yes. Judging by the stories of the Chechens themselves, I think that it is predestined.

Well, firstly, we ourselves, to be honest (if we take Burbulis and others), brought Dudayev there. Brought and dropped. Secondly, they left all the weapons. Even more than there! I don’t know, apparently, parts left - and left. Thirdly, we even left the planes at the Severny airport. Well, you know all this perfectly well. Therefore, I think war was inevitable. But! When I met with Dudayev, and I met in very difficult conditions ...

- Tell me, please.

- I had a secret (now what to hide?) Task: to offer Dudayev a passport, money, a plane - and fly from Chechnya abroad.

— In 1995?

- Yes. But since we could not bring him to Grozny, of course, after all this war, so I had to crawl into the mountains, on all fours. For the whole day I traveled through impassable mud, “on my stomach”.

— With protection, as it should be?

- With a Chechen who knew where he lives. In the mountains. With what protection, what are you?! They wouldn't let anyone in. You never know. They were afraid of assassination, and so on. Well. And when we arrived ... But I almost lied. I did not have security, but there was one person with me, who was called my assistant.

— And who was it?

- Conditional name - Assistant to the President of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs. And if they check, I arranged an office for him here. With his last name. Well, it doesn't matter. He was not allowed to negotiate, but he still stood. Unarmed.

And to me, Dudayev, answering my words: “I have an instruction from the president to offer you a passport - a Jordanian one. Here's the money, here's the plane. All. Thank you for serving the Soviet Army and for commanding a strategic aviation division,” he said: “Arkady Ivanovich, you insulted me with this proposal. I understand that it does not come from you. You are a performer. I will not leave my people anywhere. I will not leave Russia anywhere. Ichkeria, as well as Russia, is my Motherland. I believe that if the Soviet Union had survived, nothing would have happened here. I believe that if the madness with the separation of Chechnya and Ingushetia had not been done, then nothing (tragic) would have happened either. I believe that if you had not supported a group of unscrupulous people in our republic, this would not have happened either. Therefore, I would rather die here, but I won’t go anywhere.”

Dudaev was mortally offended by my proposal. After that, we had a barbecue and started talking about how, naturally, he was a member of the party and how he now, although he converted to Islam, still understands: democracy, freedom, and so on. “Yours are inventing about the words in the Koran “kill the giaur,” said Dudayev. “I also thought that they were, but in fact these words are not there.” We talked with him until morning. From twelve at night to five in the morning.

Was it all in the mountains?

- In the mountains. God, it was terrible. Moreover, Dudayev's guards consisted of Ukrainians. Quite a "fun" thing. For me.

Do you remember where the meeting took place?

- Not. They dragged me into the night. In a padded jacket, but with a briefcase. I slept in some mountain village. The day before. Then they didn’t let me out of the house for a day, so that no bandits would see ... And then, in the dark, they took me further, to the mountains. I asked: "What do you need to stop?" He says: "Give us the rights of Tatarstan and nothing else is needed."

- On what did you part with Dudayev?

- We parted with him very peacefully, amicably and well. He said: "Sign the agreement, I will try to approve it if Yeltsin signs at least two days before me." The second thing he told me. Slava Mikhailov and his (Dudaev's) men were negotiating in Ingushetia on the eve of the entry of our troops into Grozny. The talks went very well, quite amicably, and suddenly broke off. Mikhailov, on behalf of President Yeltsin, said that he was inviting him to Sochi. “That one-on-one negotiations would end in peace, I had no doubt, and like a child I rejoiced at this invitation. Arriving, I sewed a new uniform in Grozny. The girls made me a cap, - as he said, - with a dog ... "

- With a wolf, a greyhound ...

Yes, with a wolf. “I have prepared for this challenge. A week passes - no, another week passes - again silence. Finally, he (Yeltsin) appears in Moscow, and not in Sochi. I start to pull everyone: why is there no call? Therefore, Arkady Ivanovich, I declare to you officially that if this meeting had taken place, the war would not have started.

Who needed it?

- Well, I tell him too - what do you think? And he began to list names for me. I don't want to talk about it now. I'm sorry.

GRACHEV'S TESTIMONY

Various sources testify that the meeting between Yeltsin and Dudayev was planned. She really was preparing, but could she have prevented the war? ..

It is generally accepted that the initiator of the First Chechen War was Defense Minister Pavel Grachev. However, judging by a number of sources, he did his best to delay the start of a full-scale military operation. However, the top officials in Yeltsin's entourage, including Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin, believed that a "small victorious war" would not harm the Kremlin.

By that time, Dudayev staged a coup similar to what Boris Yeltsin did in Moscow: in the spring of 1993, Dudayev dissolved the CRI government, parliament, the constitutional court and the Grozny city assembly, introducing direct presidential rule and a curfew throughout Chechnya, and also appointed vice -President Zelimkhan Yandarbiev. Armed Dudayevites carried out the defeat of the Central Election Commission. On June 4, an opposition rally was shot, the buildings of the Grozny City Hall and the Central Internal Affairs Directorate were stormed, as a result of which about fifty people were killed.

The number of obvious, glaring problems piled up. An increasing number of Chechens showed dissatisfaction or went over to the side of the armed opposition. Many of Dudayev's associates from among the moderate nationalists with whom he took power were in tense relations with him.

It was necessary to wait until the "fruit" itself fell into the hands, but in Moscow the party of war won. The entry of federal forces into Chechnya once again made the President-General the banner of all separatists and attracted crowds of foreign mercenaries and religious fanatics to Chechnya.

From an interview with Pavel Grachev to the Trud newspaper, March 2011: “I still hoped to delay the operation until spring. However, an order was received - to put forward troops immediately. I took command and flew to Mozdok. By December 20, the troops reached the borders of Chechnya. B.N. asked to speed up, I argued, argued: it was necessary to carry out aerial reconnaissance, draw up maps, train soldiers ... In the end, he offered to meet with Dudayev again.

- So what?

- Allowed. I took twelve people for protection and negotiations and flew by helicopter to Ingushetia, to Sleptsovsk.

— How were you received?

— Threatening cries of the crowd. We barely squeezed into the building. And then Dudayev arrived. The crowd cheered. People fired into the air. He has 250 guards with him. They immediately pushed back my guys and disarmed them.

Could you have been removed?

- Easy. But Dudayev gave the order - do not touch. Field commanders and clerics sat at the table with him. I announced bluntly: Mr. President, the Security Council has decided to use force if you do not obey Moscow's instructions. Dudayev asked if we would go further or just block the republic? I replied, let's go to the end until we put things in order. He is for his own: independence, separation from Russia, we will fight to the last Chechen. After each such statement, the bearded men banged their machine guns on the tabletop as a sign of approval, and the clergy nodded their heads approvingly.

Then Dudayev and I went to a separate room. There's fruit and champagne on the table. I say: "Dzhokhar, let's drink." “No, I am a Muslim.” - "And in Kabul I drank ..." - "Okay." I ask: “Do you understand what you are doing? I will wipe you off the face of the earth." He replies, “I understand, but it’s too late. Did you see the crowd? If I make a concession, you and I will be shot and put in charge of another.” We shook hands.

Was the word "war" uttered?

- Not. He is a military man, I am a military man - everything became clear to us without words. In the evening I reported to Yeltsin, and then the command came from him - to attack.

BLOOD TYPE ON A SLEEVE

There was information that a party card and a portrait of Stalin were found among Dudayev's personal belongings. Like it or not, now it is difficult to say. Looks like Apocrypha. However, the fact that the former Soviet artillery colonel Aslan Maskhadov, who turned from the president of the CRI into a terrorist, kept his party card with him until the very end is a fact!

Both Dudayev and Maskhadov were excellent officers of the Empire. However, with the destruction of the Soviet Union, all their former service lost its sacred meaning. And they became what they became... The same cannot be said about the former president of Ingushetia, Hero of the Soviet Union Ruslan Aushev, who was able to hold himself and keep his republic from turning into a second Ichkeria.

Looking at how the Soviet Union was being destroyed, Dudayev, Maskhadov and many others felt free from the oath of power that was weak and alien to them. An excellent warrior of the Empire, cavalry general Karl Mannerheim, who became the leader of the Finnish nation, did exactly the same.

Unlike many political figures in Finland who were recognized as war criminals, Field Marshal and former President of Finland Karl Mannerheim escaped prosecution - and Stalin did not seek this! Until the end of his life, there was a portrait with a photograph and a personal signature of Emperor Nicholas II on Mannerheim's desktop.

If somewhere in the Universe there is a parallel "political" reality, where the modified USSR, albeit under a different name, continues to exist in the current century, then there is certainly a place for General Dudayev, who, using his rich Afghan experience, plans operations VKS against Islamists in Syria.

Gathering Russia, building the Eurasian Union with our equal allies, we must remember the lessons of history well and do everything so that the catastrophe that destroyed our country twice, in February 1917 and August-December 1991, never happens again. And people who are ready to give their lives for a common cause would stay with us, and not fight among the sworn and inveterate enemies.

The newspaper "SPETSNAZ RUSSIA" and the magazine "SCOUT"

Dzhokhar Musaevich Dudayev

Detailed biographical information

Biography

Born on February 15, 1944 in the village of Pervomaiskoye (Chech. Yalhori.) Galanchozhsky district of the Chechen-Ingush Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (now Achkhoy-Martanovsky district of the Chechen Republic), the seventh child in the family (had 9 brothers and sisters). A native of the teip Yalkhoroy.

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, together with his family, he returned to his homeland and lived in Grozny.

Education

In 1959 he graduated from secondary school No. 45, then began working as an electrician in SMU-5, at the same time he studied in the 10th grade of 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 one-year course of lectures on specialized training, he entered the Tambov Higher Military Pilot School with a degree in pilot-engineer (1962-1966).

In the Armed Forces of the USSR since 1962, he served in both command and administrative positions.

Since 1966, he served in the 52nd instructor heavy bomber regiment (Shaikovka airfield, Kaluga region), began as an assistant commander of an airship.

In 1971-1974 he studied at the command faculty of the Air Force Academy. Yu. A. Gagarin.

Since 1970, he served in the 1225th heavy bomber aviation regiment (Belaya garrison in the Usolsky district of the Irkutsk region, Zabaikalsky Military District), where in subsequent years he successively served as deputy commander of the aviation regiment (1976-1978), chief of staff (1978-1979), commander detachment (1979-1980), commander of this regiment (1980-1982).

Career

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 (Poltava, 1985-1987).

Participation in the war in Afghanistan

In 1986-1987, he took part in the war in Afghanistan: according to representatives of the Russian command, at first he was involved in the development of a plan of action for strategic aviation in the country, then on board the Tu-22MZ bomber as part of the 132nd heavy bomber aviation regiment of the Long-Range Aviation, he personally made combat sorties in the western regions of Afghanistan, introducing the methodology of the so-called. carpet bombing of enemy positions. Dudayev himself has always denied the fact of his active participation in hostilities against the 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 he served as head of the military garrison.

In the Air Force, he rose to the rank of Major General of Aviation (1989).

On November 23, 1990, at the invitation of Zelimkhan Yandarbiyev and Movladi Udugov, ideologues of the National Congress of the Chechen People (OKChN), Dudayev arrived in Grozny for the First Chechen National Congress (CHNS). On November 25, the congress elected its own governing body - the executive committee, to which, among others, retired Major General Dzhokhar Dudayev was introduced. On November 27, members of the executive committee unanimously adopt 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.

Social activity

In May 1991, the retired general accepts 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, 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 justify confidence" and declaring them "usurpers."

Compromising evidence

In early September 1991, he led a rally in Grozny, demanding the dissolution of the Supreme Council of the Chechen-Ingush ASSR, 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 deposition of the Supreme Soviet of the Chechen-Ingush ASSR. On the same day, the TV center, the House of Radio and the House of Political Education were seized by the OKCHN forces. On September 6, the Supreme Council of the CHIASSR was dispersed by armed supporters of the OKCHN.

The Dudaevites beat 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 died, and more than 40 deputies were injured. On September 8, the Dudaevites captured the airport and CHPP-1, blockaded 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 (without borders).

Presidency

On October 27, 1991, presidential elections were held in Chechnya, which were won by Dzhokhar Dudayev, who received 90.1% of the vote. By his first decree, Dudayev proclaimed the independence of the self-proclaimed Chechen Republic of Ichkeria (CHRI) from the RSFSR, which was not recognized by either the Russian authorities or any foreign states, except for 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 on the introduction of a state of emergency in Chechnya and Ingushetia, but it was never implemented. In response, Dudayev introduced martial law on the territory under his control.

An armed seizure of buildings of power ministries and departments was carried out, military units were disarmed, military camps of the Ministry of Defense were blocked, rail and air transportation was stopped. The OKCHN called on Chechens living in Moscow to "turn the Russian capital into a disaster zone."

On November 11, the Supreme Soviet of Russia, where most of the seats were held by Yeltsin's opponents, did not approve the presidential decree, in fact supporting the self-proclaimed republic.

In November-December the Parliament of the CRI adopted a decision to abolish the existing authorities in the republic and to recall the People's Deputies of the USSR and the RSFSR from the CRI. Dudayev's decree introduced the right of citizens to acquire and store firearms.

[In December-February, the seizure of abandoned weapons continued. In early February, the 556th regiment of internal troops was defeated, attacks were made on military units. More than 4,000 small arms, approximately 3 million ammunition, etc. were stolen.

In January 1992, as a result of an armed coup, Georgian President Zviad Gamsakhurdia was overthrown. Dudayev sent a plane and a special group led by personal bodyguard Abu Arsanukaev to Yerevan for the Gamsakhurdia family. Dudayev placed the Gamsakhurdia family in his residence in Grozny. In February, Dudayev and Gamsakhurdia unveiled a project to create a "Union of the Military Forces of Transcaucasia" - the unification of all the Transcaucasian and North Caucasian states into a league of republics independent of Russia.

On March 3, Dudayev announced 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, meeting almost no organized resistance, seized the weapons of the Russian military units stationed on the territory of Chechnya. By May, the Dudayevites captured 80% of military equipment and 75% of small arms from the total amount available to the military on the territory of Chechnya. At the same time, after the coup d'etat in Azerbaijan, when the Popular Front of Azerbaijan, headed by its leader Abulfaz Elchibey, came to power in the country, Dudayev established contact with the new leadership of this South Caucasian republic. In one exclusive interview given in 2005, former Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze said the following:

“After Abulfaz Elchibey became the president of Azerbaijan, I called him to establish relations and offered to meet. He told me that he didn't have time yet and would let me know when needed. Exactly 6 months later we met in Baku. At the beginning of the conversation, Elchibey asked me: “Would you like to meet with Chechen President Dzhokhar Dudayev?” I said that I had come to Baku to meet with Elchibey, not Dudayev. He said: "Dudaev is waiting for you on the floor below, I ask you to meet him." It was at a time when the Chechens were fighting against us in Abkhazia ....

Elchibey and I went downstairs. I greeted Dudayev warmly in the Caucasian custom. He offered me to create an anti-Russian union and make a statement about it. I knew the strength of Russia and therefore calmly stated that Georgia would not be able to lead against Russia. Dudayev listened to me and said that if I refused, he would make a similar request to Elchibey. There was no longer a topic to continue the conversation and I returned to my homeland. Then I did not hear anything about this union.

On July 25, Dudayev spoke at an extraordinary congress of the Karachay people and condemned Russia for trying to prevent the highlanders from gaining independence, promising the Karachays to provide any assistance "in the struggle 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 in his capacity 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 said they would be ready to recognize Chechnya's independence 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 an unofficial level, the monarchs demonstrated their disposition to Dudayev in every possible way. King Fahd visited with him the Muslim holy city of Medina and the main shrine of Islam, the al-Kaaba temple in Mecca, thereby making a small 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 Albanian President Sali Berisha and Foreign Minister of Bosnia and Herzegovina Haris Silajdzic, who were there.

After that, Dudayev makes visits to the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus and Turkey. At the end of September, Dzhokhar Dudayev visited Bosnia, where a civil war was going on at that time. 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 that, Dzhokhar Dudayev went to the United States, accompanied by Deputy Prime Minister Mairbek Mugadaev and Grozny Mayor 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 (1993)

By the beginning of 1993, the economic and military situation in Chechnya worsened, Dudayev lost his former 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 claimed by the Dudayevites, 117 thousand people took part, of which 112 thousand approved the project.

On April 15, an indefinite opposition rally began on Theater Square in Grozny. The parliament accepted the appeal to the citizens to restore legitimate power in the republic and scheduled for June 5 a referendum on confidence in the parliament and the president. In response to this, on April 17, 1993, Dudayev dissolved the CRI government, parliament, the constitutional court and the Grozny city assembly, introducing direct presidential rule and a curfew throughout Chechnya, and also appointed Zelimkhan Yandarbiyev as vice president.

Shortly before the referendum, armed Dudayevites arrange a rout of the Central Election Commission. On June 4, an opposition rally was shot, the buildings of the Grozny city hall and the police department were stormed, as a result of which about 50 people were killed.

At 3:30 am on August 8, several unidentified people broke into Dudayev's office, located on the 9th floor of the presidential palace, and opened fire, but the guards returned fire at the shots, and the attackers fled. During the assassination attempt, Dudayev was not injured.

In the summer of 1993, constant armed clashes took place on the territory of Chechnya. The opposition is forced out to the north of the republic, where alternative authorities were formed. At the end of the year, Chechnya refuses to take part in the elections of the State Duma and the referendum on the constitution, the parliament opposes the inclusion in the new Constitution of the Russian Federation of the 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 the collapse of government. The opposition forms the Supreme Council of Chechnya headed by Umar Avturkhanov. In response, Dudayev unfolds new repressions against the opposition. In particular, in August, more than 200 oppositionists were killed in the Urus-Martan district. 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" against Russia.

On September 20, Umar Avturkhanov declared that all peaceful means of solving the Chechen problem had been exhausted. On September 30, helicopters of the Provisional Council raided the Grozny airfield, destroying part of Dudayev's aviation.

On October 15, the forces of the Provisional Council entered Grozny, encountering practically no resistance, but then withdrew from the city, as if having received some kind of 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, opposition troops shelled and stormed Grozny. Three armed columns entered Grozny in three directions. Without a fight, the television center was occupied, near which three tanks remained. 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 side of the opposition. The tankers, who took up positions near the television center, were soon attacked by Shamil Basayev's "Abkhaz battalion" and surrendered to the 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 by 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 servicemen 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 Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia entered the territory of Chechnya on the basis of the decree of the President of the Russian Federation 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 the instructions of Dzhokhar Dudayev, camps for prisoners of war and civilians were created in Chechnya.

From the very beginning of the first Chechen war, Russian special services hunted Dudayev. Three attempts ended in failure. On April 21, 1996, Russian special services located the signal from Dudayev's satellite phone 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 right during a telephone conversation with Russian 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 Borovoy. 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 - behind my back a rocket strike. About twelve meters away I stood from Dzhokhar, I was thrown into a ravine. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a yellow flame. I wanted 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 close me. When it calmed down, he got up, and I heard the crying of Viskhan, Dzhokhar's nephew. 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 stumbled over Dzhokhar. He was already dying. I did not hear his last words, but he managed to say to our guard, Musa Idigov: "Bring it to the end." We picked it up, carried it to the second UAZ, because a pile of metal remained from the first one. Khamad Kurbanov and Magomed Zhaniev died, Vakha was wounded. They put Dzhokhar in the back seat of the UAZ, Viskhan sat next to the driver, and I huddled behind the window. They were supposed to come for Vakha later. They still thought that Dzhokhar could be saved. Although I already then realized that it was impossible, I felt in his head, on the right, such a hole ... "

The place where Dudayev was buried is unknown.

Reports that Dudayev might be alive appeared immediately after his death. 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 in a 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 noisy response in the press, but at the appointed "hour X" Dudayev did not appear. Once in Lefortovo, Raduev repented that he had said this "for the sake of politics."

In October 1998, LDPR Duma deputy Alexei Mitrofanov told the Turkish media that Dzhokhar Dudayev was alive and in Istanbul.

In August 2001, the President of Chechnya, Akhmat Kadyrov, announced that Dudayev might be alive. According to him, there are no grounds to assert that Dudayev was not killed, but there are also no grounds to confidently state the opposite, and suggested that, as part of the 1996 presidential campaign, Boris Yeltsin's campaign headquarters advised him to end the conflict in Chechnya as soon as possible and hold 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 give any details of the operation to leave Dudayev "in the shadows." Kadyrov's statement was later refuted.

In September 2003, the representative office of the Regional Operational Headquarters for the management of the counter-terrorist operation in the North Caucasus, citing the Internet resources of the separatists, reported that they had information about the possible appearance of his double in the Pankisi Gorge in Georgia. It was stated that "they are 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.

The first memorial plaque in memory of Dzhokhar Dudayev was opened on July 20, 1997 in the city of Tartu (Estonia) on the wall of the Barclay Hotel. The inscription on it reads:

The first president of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria, General Dzhokhar Dudayev, worked in this house in 1987-1991.

In addition to the installation of memorial plaques, there are at least 19 streets and squares in the world named after Dzhokhar Dudayev. For example, they can be seen in Lithuania (a square in Vilnius, statements that such streets also exist in Kaunas and Druskininkai are not true, in a number of cities in Ukraine (Lviv and Ivano-Frankivsk) and in Bosnia and Herzegovina (Gorazde). Spring 1996 According to the decision of the Lviv City Council, the former Lermontov Street was renamed Dzhokhar Dudayev Street. In April of the same year, at the suggestion of a number of deputies of the Riga City Duma, Cosmonautics Alley (Latvian: Kosmonautikas gatve) in the Purvciems microdistrict changed its name to Dzhokhar Dudayev Alley. there are Dzhokhar Dudaev streets in other cities of Latvia and Estonia.According to Izvestia, in Istanbul, Ankara and Bursa there are six streets and two parks named after Dudayev.In Chechnya itself, until the early 2000s, Dudayev Street existed at least in two cities - Argun and Grozny.

On March 17, 2005, the Warsaw City Council decided to name one of the squares of the Polish capital after the first president of the CRI. The decision was made at the suggestion of members of the City Council from the Law and Justice party. Dzhokhar Dudayev Square is located in the Vlokha district, at the intersection of Yerozolimskaya Alley and st. Popular.

[Dzhokhar Dudayev was married (since 1967) to the daughter of an officer Alevtina (Alla) Dudayeva, nee Kulikova, with whom there are three children: two sons (Avlur (Ovlur, "first-born lamb") born on 12/24/1969 and Degi 1983 . R.) and daughter (Dana).

In the early 1990s, Dzhokhar Dudayev forbade the showing of the animated series Nu, Pogodi! on Chechen television. According to the general, he offended the image of the wolf - the state symbol of independent Ichkeria.

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 combat general made defending the independence of Chechnya the meaning of his life. When this goal could not be achieved peacefully, Dudayev took part in the military conflict between Chechnya and Russia.

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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 taip (genus) Tsechoy.

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 of the unfair accusation of them in connection 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 the documents. Among them was the metric of the youngest son. And later, his parents, due to the large number of children, could not accurately remember 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 psyche of the child and he had to grow up ahead of time. Almost all of Dzhokhar's sisters and brothers studied poorly at school, often skipped classes and did not attach much importance to the lessons. But Dzhokhar, on the contrary, understood from the first grade 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 Dudaev 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 in the fifth SMU. At the same time, the teenager had a precise goal and he knew that he was obliged to receive a diploma of 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 applied 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 secretly left Grozny from his family and entered the Tambov Higher Military Aviation School.

True, he had to go to the trick and lie to the selection committee that he was Ossetian. At that time, the Chechens were equated with enemies of the people, and Dzhokhar was well aware that by making public his personal data, he simply would not enter the chosen university.

During the training, the young man did not change his principles and threw all his strength into mastering the chosen specialty to perfection. As a result, cadet Dudayev received a diploma with honors. At the same time, 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 handing him a document on the higher education he had received, he insisted that it must be indicated in his personal file that he was 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 looking up from 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 upon.

Political career of Dzhokhar Dudayev

In November 1990, within the framework of the national Chechen congress, held in Grozny, Dzhokhar Dudayev was elected chairman of the executive committee. Already in March of the following year, Dudayev made a demand: the Supreme Council of the Chechen-Ingush Republic should voluntarily resign.

In May, Dudayev was transferred to the reserve with the rank of general, after which he returned to Chechnya and stood at 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 authorities of the republic. At the same time, the official Supreme Soviet continued to work in parallel in Chechnya. However, this did not stop Dudayev, and he openly declared that the deputies of the council were usurping power and did not justify 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 seized the television center in Grozny by force, and Dzhokhar addressed the residents of the republic with a message. The essence of his statement boiled down to the fact that the official government did not justify the trust, therefore, 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 headed by Dudayev and other political all-democratic organizations.

A day later, on September 6, Dzhokhar Dudayev and his comrades-in-arms entered the building of the Supreme Council by force. More than 40 deputies were beaten by militants and received injuries of varying severity, and the mayor, Vitaliy Kutsenko, was thrown out the window, the man died. On September 8, Dudayev's militants blocked the center of Grozny, captured the local airport and CHP-1.

At the end of October of the same 1991, elections were held. Chechens almost unanimously (more than 90% of the vote) 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 becomes an independent republic, and also separates from Ingushetia.

Meanwhile, the independence of Chechnya was not recognized either by other states or by the RSFSR. Wanting to take control of the situation, Boris Yeltsin planned to introduce a special position 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 developed 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 to acquire weapons. At the same time, ammunition was often stolen from the defeated 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 law 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 that, 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 men burst into his office and opened fire to kill. However, the personal guards of the Chechen leader arrived in time to help and tried to shoot the attackers, as a result, they fled, and Dudayev himself did not receive any injuries.

After this incident, armed clashes with the opposition become the norm, and for several years Dudayev has to defend his power by force: with weapons in his hands.

Culmination of military conflict with Russia

In 1993, Russia holds a referendum on the constitution, and this further inflames an 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 declares that the Chechen population will not take part in either the referendum or the elections. Moreover, he demanded that the constitution should not refer to Ichkeria, since it had seceded from Russia.

Accordingly, on the basis of all these events, the situation in the republic is even more tense. And in 1994, Dudayev's opposition creates a parallel temporary council of the Chechen Republic. The leader of the Chechen Republic reacted very harshly to this, and in the near future 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 tracked 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. The man was seriously wounded in the head, he was taken home, where he died from his injuries.

The burial place of Dzhokhar Dudayev is still unknown to this day, and rumors periodically appear that the Chechen leader may be alive.

In fact, the only evidence of Dudayev's death is 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 at the same time, it is possible that these frames can be staged. They depict 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 frame can be made with a living person.

It is also doubtful that on the day of his death Dudayev took his wife with him to the forest. The fact is that, according to Alla, her husband was well aware that the special services could track his location by phone. Therefore, he 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 a communication session?”

Moreover, many were amazed at how calmly and impartially Alla Dudayeva behaved after the death of her husband. Given the emotionality of the woman, this behavior looked very strange. Even more surprising was the fact that, having arrived in the Russian capital in May 1996, she was very loyal to Boris Yeltsin in her statements, and almost called on the Russians to support his candidacy in the presidential election. Later, the woman explained her statements by saying that the victory of the politician would ensure a peaceful life for the Chechen people and that she acted solely in the interests of her fellow citizens. However, even taking into account these nuances, the words expressed in support of the person who ordered the liquidation of her husband looks very strange.

In any case, rumors that Dzhokhar Dudayev might be alive have never been confirmed. And what's more, even if the Chechen leader had survived, he would not have left the work he had begun, since he never stopped halfway and always went to 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 combat general made defending the independence of Chechnya the meaning of his life. 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 taip (genus) Tsechoy. The confusion with the date of birth of the Chechen leader is explained quite simply. The point is that in…

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The general left three children: two sons, Avlur and Degi, and a daughter, Dana.