Dzhokhar Musayevich Dudaev (Джоха́р Муса́евич Дуда́ев, 15 February 1944 – 21 April 1996) was a Chechen leader, the first (separatist) president of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria, a generally unrecognized breakaway state in the Caucasus. Having risen through the ranks of the Soviet air force by officially mis-representing his ethnicity as Ossetian to sidestep discrimination against Chechen people, he became a general of the Soviet army air force based in Estonia, then returned to Chechnya in 1991 as the Soviet Union disintegrated, becoming the leader of the Chechens. He was killed in 1996 by a Russian air attack—they located him via the signal from his satphone—and was succeeded by Zelimkhan Yandarbiyev (as acting President) then by Aslan Maskhadov, following elections...

See also

• First Chechen War
• Post-Soviet Chechnya