Shamil Basayev
On 17 October 1996, Maskhadov was appointed Prime Minister of Ichkeria, while he also remained Chief of Staff and Defence Minister. Maskhadov nominated himself for President of Ichkeria on 3 December 1996, for the January 1997 free democratic presidential and parliamentary elections held in Chechnya under the aegis of the OSCE, running primarily against Shamil Basayev and Zelimkhan Yandarbiyev.