A.Kadyrov's statement that D.Dudaev may be alive; the likelihood of an invasion of Chechen fighters into Abkhazia. Typical Soviet officer Dzhokhar Dudayev Who is Dzhokhar Dudayev

There were many unsuccessful assassination attempts on the president of the self-proclaimed Republic of Ichkeria, which gave rise to rumors that Dudayev was a conspirator

Liquidation order Dzhokhar Dudayev secret services received at the beginning of the first Chechen campaign. However, the rebel leader seemed to be invulnerable - all attempts on his life ended in failure. The “rebellious general,” as Dudayev, who was the only Chechen general in the Soviet Army in the USSR, was also called, remained alive.

Wolf hunting

There were three major attempts to destroy Dudayev. At first they wanted to "remove" him with the help of a sniper. From the entourage of the rebellious president, people were recruited who, for a reward, gave out information about his movement. They set up an ambush, but the sniper missed.

The second attempt was in May 1994. Then it was decided to simply blow up Dudayev's car. A VAZ-2109 stuffed with explosives was abandoned on the side of the road 20 kilometers from Grozny. When the motorcade of Dzhokhar Dudayev caught up with the "nine", a strong explosion thundered. The Volga, in which the Ichkerian "Minister of the Interior" was traveling, was torn to shreds. "Mercedes" with Dudayev was thrown a few meters by the shock wave and turned over. Despite the fact that the windshield was shattered and the car was badly damaged, Dzhokhar Dudayev and his guards were not injured.

The third assassination attempt, which is known, is an attempt to destroy the house where the leader of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria was, with the help of aircraft. The agent planted a radio beacon, but Dudayev was not in vain famous for his animal instincts. He left the house, along with his guards, literally five minutes before an aircraft missile was fired at it.

last conversation

A new large-scale operation to eliminate Dudayev was planned for the spring of 1996. The Russian secret services were well aware that Dudayev was using an American Inmarsat satellite phone. This was enough to develop a technique that would locate a satellite station and transmit aviation data. Initially, the cost of all equipment was called - 1 million 200 thousand dollars. A group of scientists coped, saving the budget by half.

In parallel, work was carried out with agents. From among those close to Dudayev, people were recruited who, for a decent "fee", said that he was in the village of Gekhi-Chu, where he visited the so-called military prosecutor of the republic Magomed Dzhaniev. They said that not far from the village, the leader of the Chechen separatists stopped in a wasteland to negotiate via satellite.

On the evening of April 21, 1996, the A-50 early warning aircraft was lifted into the air. On board was equipment for detecting the signal of Dudayev's satellite phone. The secret services knew the approximate time when he would get in touch. Two SU-24 bombers also circled over Chechnya. At this time, Dudayev decided to talk with Konstantin Borov. The conversation went longer than usual, about 10 minutes, interrupted several times. This was enough for the equipment to transmit target designation to the Air Force.

During the communication session, the guards were in the car, Dudayev himself walked away with the pipe to the side, and the general's wife with another bodyguard went down to the ravine. Two missiles rushed to the target - one, stuck in the ground, did not explode, the other - hit Dudayev's Niva. The agents, who were not aware of the time of the operation, later reported that Dudayev "had blown off half of his skull." The widow immediately realized that her husband was not a tenant. Together with the "Generalissimo of Ichkeria", as he was called in the republic, two bodyguards were killed.

Rumors about the "live" Dudayev

The first to announce that the operation of the Russian security forces had failed was the Salman Raduev in June 1996. This man, who himself had been declared killed earlier, called a press conference and swore on the Koran that he had met with General Dudayev in Europe, that he promised to return "when necessary." Later, while in custody at Lefortovo, Raduev will refuse these words.

The State Duma deputy from the Liberal Democratic Party spoke about the fact that Dudayev is alive and in Istanbul Alexey Mitrofanov in front of Turkish media cameras in October 1998. There were other stories about the "living" Dudayev.

The final point in the story was put by the journalists of Vesti in the early 2000s. They showed the public a documentary film on which Dudayev was dead and burned. The footage is dated April 23, 1996.

So, Alla Dudaeva(nee Alevtina Fedorovna Kulikova). Daughter of a Soviet officer, former commandant of Wrangel Island. She graduated from the art and graphic faculty of the Smolensk Pedagogical Institute. In 1967, she became the wife of Air Force officer Dzhokhar Dudayev. She gave birth to two sons and a daughter. She left Chechnya with her children in 1999. Lived in Baku, Istanbul. Now he lives with his family in Vilnius. According to the latest information, he is preparing to obtain citizenship of Estonia, a country where Dzhokhar Dudayev is remembered from Soviet times, when he led an air division near Tartu.

The Sobesednik correspondent Rimma Akhmirova first asked Dudayeva a question about Litvinenko. Still, before his death, he closely communicated with the Chechens, called Akhmed Zakayev his friend. Here is what Alla Dudayeva answered: “I think that Alexander converted to Islam before his death in order to be next to his friends in the next world. In recent years, he walked along and managed to tell the world a lot of truth about the KGB, FSK, FSB. And we met like that. Dzhokhar had just been killed, and we were going to fly to Turkey with the whole family, but we were arrested in Nalchik. I was interrogated by a specially arrived young officer who introduced himself as "Colonel Alexander Volkov." He also joked that this was not an accidental surname "...

“After some time,” Dudayeva continues, “I saw him on TV next to Berezovsky, and I recognized his real name - Litvinenko. And that time the TV reporters did an interview with me, from which they only aired a piece taken out of context “Yeltsin - our president", and played him throughout the election campaign. I wanted to make a refutation, but Volkov-Litvinenko then told me: "Think about it: anything can happen to your bodyguard, Musa Idigov." Musa was then kept in an isolation cell. Litvinenko was interested in the truth about Dzhokhar's death. The secret services were afraid that he could survive and escape abroad."

The journalist also asked about what Alla Dudayeva thinks about the rumors and versions, according to which Dzhokhar Dudayev is alive. There are even those who claim that Dudayev had twins, and Alla Dudayeva married one of these twins. It is clear that the widow denies all these rumors. She spoke in some detail about how, in her opinion, the leader of the Chechen separatists was killed.

"The Turkish Prime Minister Arbakan presented Dzhokhar with a satellite telephone installation. Turkish "leftists", connected with the Russian special services, through their spy installed a special microsensor in it during the assembly of the phone in Turkey, which regularly monitors this device. In addition, at the Singnet Super Computer center located in the Maryland region, USA, a 24-hour surveillance system was installed to monitor Dzhokhar Dudayev's phone.The US National Securitu Agency transmitted daily information about the whereabouts and telephone conversations of Dzhokhar Dudayev to the CIA.Turkey received these dossiers.And Turkish "leftist" officers passed this dossier to the Russian FSB. Dzhokhar knew that a hunt had begun for him. When the connection was interrupted for a minute, he always joked: “Well, are you already connected?” But he was still sure that his phone would not be detected.

Alla Dudayeva also reported that the place of Dudayev's burial is still kept secret. According to her, she believes that someday the former general and former leader of the anti-constitutional regime in Grozny will be buried in the ancestral valley of Yalhara. The widow accuses the Russian authorities that the war is still going on because of control over oil flows, since the Chechen land is very rich in non-oil reserves. Here is a very remarkable excerpt from her interview, which talks about how Dudayev offered the Americans the right to 50 years of Chechen oil production.

"... The Americans offered to take oil in concession for 50 years for $ 25 billion. Dzhokhar called the figure $ 50 billion and managed to insist on his own. For a small country, this was a huge amount. Then, in one of Dzhokhar's speeches on television, his famous phrase "about camel milk that will flow from the golden faucets in every Chechen home. "And then, according to Dudayeva, there was a leak of information, supposedly the Kremlin's henchmen, the former Minister of the Oil Industry Salambek Khadzhiev and the head of the government of the Chechen Republic Doku Zavgaev, themselves offered the Americans for those the same fifty years, but only for $23 billion.Because of this, said the widow of the former general, the first Chechen campaign began.

In the process of preparing the material for publication, the author turned to Utra's military observer Yuri Kotenok for a comment.

He noted, after reading the interview, that this is a classic female look at the political and military events of those years. And the first thing he drew attention to was who Dudaeva calls "her own". Especially in light of recent events with former FSB officer Litvinenko. "His friends", "in recent years he followed a straight path", etc. - even then Litvinenko was his own for the Chechen fighters.

It is also important to note that Alla Dudayeva again says that her husband is dead. As Yuri Kotenok said, many people in Chechnya believe that Dudayev has not been liquidated, that he is alive and hiding in a safe place. Actually, the same thing is now being written in the press, which cannot be convicted of love for Russia, they are also talking about Basayev. Say, Shamil did his job, he was undercover.

It's not, and here's why. Such eccentric and narcissistic people as Dudayev and Basaev were cannot lead a quiet secret life, hiding in some quiet place. People who developed grandiose in concept (we are not talking about the possibility of implementation) military-terrorist operations against Russia, who claimed the role of the leaders of the nation, cannot vegetate in some Turkey, for them it is tantamount to physical death.

And one more remark was made by our military observer. We must never forget that Dudayev openly opposed Russia, it was with his knowledge that genocide was committed in Chechnya against the Russian, Armenian, Jewish and other peoples, it was under his leadership that the multinational Grozny turned into the capital of one nation. He placed himself outside the Constitution of the Russian Federation, in fact, outside the law. And Dudayev was going to hand over oil to the Americans not for the notorious "milk taps", in the head of the former general of the Soviet army grandiose military plans for the fight against the Russian Federation were ripening. He is an enemy, and they treated him like an enemy.

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 Dudaev’s corpse was being prepared for burial ... A coded message was transmitted to the headquarters - something like “The owner fell asleep soundly” ... Everything.

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, 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 expulsion 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 Yandarbiev, 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 slogan 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." 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 CPSU city committee, out of the third floor window. The head of the city died, and more than forty deputies were injured. Two days later, the Dudayevites captured the Severny airport and CHPP-1, blockading the center of Grozny.

Musa Muradov, 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 Rabochiy 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, in which Dudayev won with 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 had the opportunity to be the first Moscow journalists who spoke with Dzhokhar Dudayev immediately after the victory of the rebels. It happened like this. Our editor-in-chief Gennady Ni-Li called me in 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 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. 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. Here you go. 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.”

Dudayev 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 the bandits would not 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... What can not 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 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 rather poorly at school, often skipped classes and did not attach much importance to 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 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 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 confirming 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.

In the meantime, 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 the rule 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 either in the referendum or in 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 half way 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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Take with you:

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

Dzhokhar Dudayev was born on February 15, 1944 in the village of Yalkhoroy, Chechen Republic. Eight days after his birth, the Dudayev family was deported to the Pavlodar region of the Republic of Kazakhstan during a mass deportation in February 1944.

After some time, the Dudaevs, along with other deported Caucasians, were transferred to the city of Shymkent, the Republic of Kazakhstan. Dzhokhar studied there until the sixth grade, after which in 1957 the family returned to their homeland and settled in the city of Grozny. In 1959 he graduated from secondary school No. 45, then began working as an electrician in the Construction and Installation Department-5, at the same time he studied in the tenth 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. However, after the first course, he left for the city of Tambov, after listening to a year-long course of lectures on profile training, he entered the Tambov Higher Military Aviation School for Pilots named after M.M. Raskova. He graduated from it in 1966. Later he received a diploma from the Air Force Academy named after Yu.A. Gagarin.

Since 1962, he served in the military in command positions in combat units of the Air Force. After graduation in 1966, he was sent to the 52nd Guards Instructor Heavy Bomber Aviation Regiment, to the Shaikovka airfield in the Kaluga Region, as an assistant commander of an airship. In 1968 he joined the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.

Since 1970, he served in the 1225th heavy bomber aviation regiment, the Belaya garrison in the Irkutsk region, the Trans-Baikal Military District, later renamed the 200th Guards Heavy Bomber Aviation Regiment. In subsequent years, he successively held the positions of Deputy Air Regiment Commander, Chief of Staff, Detachment Commander, Regiment Commander.

In 1982, Dudayev was appointed Chief of Staff of the 31st Heavy Bomber Division of the 30th Air Army. From 1985 to 1989, he served as Chief of Staff of the 13th Guards Heavy Bomber Aviation Division.

From the beginning of 1989 to 1991 he commanded the strategic 326th Ternopil Heavy Bomber Division of the 46th Strategic Air Army in the city of Tartu, Republic of Estonia. At the same time, he served as the Chief of the military garrison. In 1989 he received the rank of Major General of Aviation.

From November 23 to 25, 1990, the Chechen National Congress was held in the city of Grozny, which elected an Executive Committee headed by Chairman Dzhokhar Dudayev. In March of the following year, Dudayev demanded the self-dissolution of the Supreme Council of the republic. In May, the retired General accepted the offer to return to the Chechen Republic and headed the social movement. In June 1991, at the second session of the Chechen National Congress, Dudayev headed the Executive Committee of the National Congress of the Chechen People.

In October 1991, presidential elections were held, which were won by Dzhokhar Dudayev. By his first decree, Dudayev proclaimed the independence of the self-proclaimed Chechen Republic of Ichkeria from Russia, which was not recognized by other states. On November 7, the President of Russia issued a decree on the introduction of a state of emergency in the republic, but it was never implemented, since the Soviet Union still existed. In response to this decision, Dudayev introduced martial law on the territory subject to him.

On July 25, 1992, Dudayev spoke at an extraordinary congress of the Karachay people and condemned Russia for trying to prevent the highlanders from gaining independence. 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. After that, Dudayev made visits to the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus and Turkey.

By the beginning of 1993, the economic and military situation on the territory of the Chechen Republic had worsened. In the summer, there were constant armed clashes. The opposition formed the Provisional Council of the Republic headed by U.D. Avturkhanov. On the morning of November 26, 1994, the city of Grozny was shelled and stormed by Russian special services and opposition groups. By the end of the day, the council forces had left the city. After the unsuccessful assault on the city, the opposition could only count on the military assistance of the center. Subdivisions of the Ministry of Defense and Internal Affairs of Russia entered the territory of the republic on December 11, 1994. The First Chechen War began.

In 1995, on June 14, a raid by a detachment of militants under the command of Sh. Basayev took place on the city of Budennovsk, Stavropol Territory, accompanied by a massive hostage-taking in the city. After the events in the city, Dudayev awarded orders to the personnel of the Basaev detachment and awarded Basaev the rank of brigadier general.

On April 21, 1996, Russian special services located the signal from Dudayev's satellite phone near the village of Gekhi-Chu. 2 Su-25 attack aircraft with homing missiles were lifted into the air. Presumably, was destroyed by a rocket strike while talking on the phone. The place where Dudayev was buried is unknown.

In 1997, on June 20, in the city of Tartu, a memorial plaque was installed on the building of the Barclay Hotel in memory of the General. Later, a board was opened on house number 6 on Nikitchenko Street in the city of Poltava, Ukraine.