Dzhokhar Dudayev Dzhokhar Musayevich Dudaev ( ; ; 15 April 1944 – 21 April 1996 ) was a Soviet Air Force general and Chechen leader , the first President of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria , a breakaway state in the North Caucasus . Early life and military career . Dudaev was born in Yalkhoroy in the abolished Chechen - Ingush Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic ( ASSR ) , just days before the forced deportation of his family together with the entire Chechen and Ingush population on the orders of Joseph Stalin . His family was of the Yalhoroy Teip . He was the thirteenth youngest child of veterinarian Musa ana Rabiat Dudaevs . He spent the first 13 years of his life in internal exile in the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic . His family was only able to return to Chechnya in 1957 . Following the 1957 repatriation of the Chechens and Ingush , he studied at evening school in Checheno - Ingushetia and qualified as an electrician . In 1962 , after two years studying electronics in Vladikavkaz , he entered the Tambov Higher Military Aviation School for Pilots from which he graduated in 1966 . Dudaev joined the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in 1968 and in 1971 - 1974 studied at the prestigious Gagarin Air Force Academy . He married Alla , a Russian poet and the daughter of a Soviet officer with whom he had three children ( a daughter and two sons ) . In 1962 , Dudaev began serving in the Soviet Air Force where he rose to the rank of Major - General , becoming their first Chechen general . Dudaev served in a strategic bombing unit of the Soviet Air Force in Siberia and Ukraine . He participated in the Soviet war in Afghanistan against the Mujahideen for which he was awarded the Order of the Red Star and the Order of the Red Banner . Reportedly from 1986 - 87 Dudaev had participated in bombing raids in western - Afghanistan . Many of his military and political opponents who questioned his Muslim faith often made reference to his actions against the Mujahideen forces . For example Sergei Stepashin asserted Dudaev participated in Carpet bombing ( a statement probably motivated by spite ) . These allegations were denied by Dudaev himself . Dudaev rose steadily in the Air Force , assuming command of the 326th Heavy Bomber Aviation Division of the Soviet Long Range Aviation at Tartu , Estonia , in 1987 gaining the rank of Major - General . From 1987 through March 1990 commanded nuclear weapon s armed long range strategic bomber s during his post there . Dudaev learned Estonian and showed great tolerance for Estonian nationalism when he ignored the orders to shut down the Estonian television and parliament . In 1990 , his air division was withdrawn from Estonia and Dudaev resigned from the Soviet military . Chechen politics . In May 1990 , Dudaev returned to Grozny , the Chechen capital , to devote himself to local politics . He was elected head of the Executive Committee of the unofficial opposition All - National Congress of the Chechen People ( NCChP ) , which advocated sovereignty for Chechnya as a separate republic of the Soviet Union ( the Chechen - Ingush ASSR had the status of an autonomous republic of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic ) . In August 1991 , Doku Zavgayev , the Communist leader of the Chechen - Ingush ASSR , did not publicly condemn the Soviet coup attempt of 1991 against Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev . Following the failure of the coup d ' état , the Soviet Union began to disintegrate rapidly as the constituent republics took moves to leave the beleaguered Soviet Union . Taking advantage of the Soviet Union ' s implosion , Dudaev and his supporters acted against the Zavgayev administration . On 6 September 1991 , the militants of the NCChP invaded a session of the local Supreme Soviet , effectively dissolving the government of the Chechen - Ingush ASSR . Grozny television station and other key government buildings were also taken over . President of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria . After a controversial referendum in October 1991 confirmed Dudaev in his new position as president of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria , he unilaterally declared the republic ' s sovereignty and its independence from Soviet Union . In November 1991 , the then Russian President Boris Yeltsin dispatched troops to Grozny , but they were withdrawn when Dudaev ' s forces prevented them from leaving the airport . Russia refused to recognize the republic ' s independence , but hesitated to use further force against the separatists . From this point the Chechen - Ingush Republic had become a " de facto " independent state . Initially , Dudaev ' s government held diplomatic relations with Georgia where he received much moral support from the first Georgian President Zviad Gamsakhurdia . When Gamsakhurdia was overthrown in late 1991 , he was given asylum in Chechnya and attended Dudaev ' s inauguration as President . While he resided in Grozny he also helped to organise the first " All - Caucasian Conference " which was attended by independentist groups from across the region . Ichkeria never received diplomatic recognition from any internationally recognised state other than Georgia in 1991 . The Chechen - Ingush Republic split in two in June 1992 , amidst the increasing Ossetian - Ingush conflict . After Chechnya had announced its initial declaration of sovereignty in 1991 , its former entity Ingushetia opted to join the Russian Federation as a federal subject ( Republic of Ingushetia ) . The remaining rump state of Ichkeria ( Chechnya ) declared full independence in 1993 . That same year the Russian language stopped being taught in Chechen schools and it was also announced that the Chechen language would start to be written using the Latin alphabet ( with some additional special Chechen characters ) rather than Cyrillic in use since the 1930s . The state also began to print its own money and stamps . One of Dudaev ' s first decrees gave every man the right to bear arms . Dudaev ' s inexperienced and poorly - guided economic policies soon began to undermine Chechnya ' s economy and , Russian observers claimed , allegedly transformed the region into a criminal paradise . The non - Chechen population of Ichkeria left the republic due to criminal elements and faced with indifferent government . In 1993 , the Chechen parliament attempted to organize a referendum on public confidence in Dudaev on the grounds that he had failed to consolidate Chechnya ' s independence . He retaliated by dissolving parliament and other organs of power . Beginning in early summer of 1994 , armed Chechen opposition groups with Russian military and financial backing tried repeatedly but without success to depose Dudaev by force . There is a memorial plaque made of granite attached to the house on 8 Ülikooli street , Tartu , Estonia in which Dudaev used to work . The house now hosts Hotel Barclay , and the former cabinet of Dudaev has been converted into Dudaev ' s Room . First Chechen War . On 1 December 1994 , the Russians began bombing Grozny airport and destroyed the Chechen Air Force ( former Soviet training aircraft requisitioned by the republic in 1991 ) . In response Ichkeria declared war on Russia and mobilised its armed forces . On 11 December 1994 , five days after Dudaev and Minister of Defense Pavel Grachev of Russia had agreed to avoid the further use of force , Russian troops invaded Chechnya . It was mistakenly reported that one of Dudaev ' s two sons was killed in action early in the war ; both of them are alive as of 2009 . Before the fall of Grozny , Dudaev abandoned the presidential palace , moved south with his forces and continued leading the war throughout 1995 , reportedly from a missile silo close to the historic Chechen capital of Vedeno . He continued to insist that his forces would prevail after the conventional warfare had finished , and the Chechen guerrilla fighters continued to operate across the entire country picking off Russian units and demoralising their soldiers . A " jihad " was declared on Russia by the Dudaev - appointed Mufti of Ichkeria , Akhmad Kadyrov , and foreign volunteers began pouring into the republic , mostly from neighbouring North Caucasian Muslim republics such as Dagestan . Death and legacy . Dudaev was killed on 21 April 1996 , by two laser - guided missile s when he was using a satellite phone , after his location was detected by a Russian reconnaissance aircraft , which intercepted his phone call . At the time Dudaev was reportedly talking to a liberal deputy of the Duma in Moscow , reportedly Konstantin Borovoy . Additional aircraft were dispatched ( a Su - 24MR and a Su - 25 ) to locate Dudaev and fire a guided missile . Exact details of this operation were never released by the Russian government . Russian reconnaissance planes in the area had been monitoring satellite communications for quite some time trying to match Dudaev ' s voice signature to the existing samples of his speech . It was claimed Dudaev was killed by a combination of a rocket attack and a booby trap . He was 52 years old . The death of Dudaev was announced on the interrupted television broadcast by Shamil Basayev , the Chechen guerrilla commander . Dudaev was succeeded by his Vice - President Zelimkhan Yandarbiyev ( as acting President ) and then , after the 1997 popular elections , by his wartime Chief of Staff , Aslan Maskhadov . Dzhokhar Dudaev was survived by his wife , Alla , and their sons , Tegi and Avlur .