Aslan Maskhadov

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**Aslan Maskhadov**

Order:	3rd President
Took Office:	1997
Predecessor:	Zelimkhan Yandarbiyev
Successor:	Sheikh Abdul Halim
Date of Birth:	September 21, 1951
Place of Birth:	Shakai, Kazakhstan
Date of Death:	March 8, 2005
Place of Death:	Tolstoy-Yurt, Chechnya

Aslan Aliyevich Maskhadov (Russian: Аслан Алиевич Масхадов) (September 21, 1951 – March 8, 2005) was a leader of the separatist movement in the southern Russian republic of Chechnya.

He was credited by many with the Chechen victory in the First Chechen War, which allowed for the establishment of the de facto independent Chechen Republic of Ichkeria. Maskhadov became President of the nation in January of 1997 with heavy backup from Moscow. Following the start of the Second Chechen War, he returned to leading the guerrilla movement against the Russian army. He was killed in a village in northern Chechnya in March 2005.

1 Early life
2 First Chechen War
3 President of Chechnya
4 Second Chechen War
5 Maskhadov's death
6 Unmarked grave
7 See also
8 External links

[edit] Early life

In 1951, Aslan Aliyevich Maskhadov was born in the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic (SSR), in the small village of Shakai, during the mass exile of the Chechen people ordered in 1944 by Joseph Stalin. In 1957, his family was allowed to return to Chechnya. Maskhadov joined the Red Army, training in the neighboring Georgian SSR, and graduating from the Tbilisi Artillery School in 1972. He graduated from Leningrad's Military Academy in 1981, and he was posted to Hungary with a self-propelled artillery regiment. He served from 1990 as the local commander of Soviet rocket forces and artillery in Vilnius, capital of the Lithuanian SSR. Maskhadov retired from the Russian Army in 1992 with the rank of a colonel and returned to his native land.

[edit] First Chechen War

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After the fall of the Soviet Union, Maskhadov became the Chief of Staff for the embryonic Chechen army under the command of former Soviet general Dzhokhar Dudayev. He was the senior military figure on the Chechen side during the First Chechen War (1994-1996) and was widely seen as being instrumental to the Chechen victory over the Russian forces. He led the Chechen delegation in peace talks with Russia which led to a truce ending the war.

[edit] President of Chechnya

Aslan Maskhadov in his presidential office

On October 17, 1996, he was appointed provisional prime minister of Chechnya. With backing from Moscow, where he was seen as the least radical candidate, he stood for President in the January 1997 free democratic presidential and parliamentary elections held in Chechnya under the aegis of the OSCE, running primarily against Shamil Basayev, a radical field commander with a popular following.

The elections were conducted on the basis of the Chechen constitution adopted in March 1992, according to which the Chechen Republic was an independent state. Representatives of more than 20 countries, as well as the United Nations and the OSCE, attended the elections as observers. Running with Vakha Arsanov, who became his Vice-President, Mashkadov won a majority of 60 percent of the votes and was congratulated by Russian President Boris Yeltsin, who pledged to work towards rebuilding relations with Chechnya but still refused to recognise its independent status. Maskhadov then attained the apex of his political career when he signed a peace treaty with Yeltsin at the Kremlin on May 12, 1997.

After this crowning achievement, Maskhadov's political fortunes began to wane. His political standing within Chechnya became increasingly insecure as he lost control to Basayev and other warlords. The years of Chechen independence were notorious for organized crime, including kidnapping and terrorism. Maskhadov introduced Islamic law in August 1997, leading to several public executions of criminals. Although the Sharia demands that persons executed to be buried immediately, Maskhadov did issue a decree that the bodies of those executed should be put on public display with a description of the crime for which they were executed; the executions were reportedly filmed by the authorities.[1][2] Mashkhadov also attempted with only limited success to curb the growth of Wahhabism and other fundamentalist Muslim groups supported by Basayev, producing a split in the Chechen separatist movement between Islamic fundamentalism and secular nationalists. He was the target of several assassination attempts, possibly organized by Arbi Barayev or other notorius organized crime figures and religious extremists, althrough Russian secret services were officially blamed.

[edit] Second Chechen War

Aslan Maskhadov (right), with Shamil Basayev during the holy Muslim month of Ramadan, 2004

An attempt by Basayev's forces to spread war to the neighboring Russian Republic of Dagestan in September 1999 proved to be the final straw for Russian tolerance of an independent Chechnya, which seemed beyond the control of Maskhadov and rapidly becoming a base for Islamic fundamentalists to destabilize other parts of the Russian North Caucasus. Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin sent Russian forces back into Chechnya in October 1999. Putin's promise of a quick and decisive victory in the Second Chechen War propelled him to the Russian Presidency.

On October 1, 1999 Putin declared the authority of President Maskhadov and his parliament illegitimate. Ten days later Maskhadov outlined a peace plan offering a crackdown on renegade warlords, [3] the offer was rejected by the Russian side. In response, President Maskhadov declared a gazavat (holy war) to confront the approaching Russian army. Martial law was declared in Ichkeria and reservists were called.

After Chechen forces' withdrawal from Grozny in February 2000, Maskhadov returned to life as a guerrilla leader, living in hiding as Russia's second most wanted man after Basayev, with Russia placing a $10 million bounty on his capture. He was seen as the political leader of the separatist forces during the war, but it is unclear what kind of a military role he played.

Maskhadov advocated armed resistance to what he saw as a Russian occupation but condemned attacks on civilians, although he apparently supported the separatist assassination of pro-Russian Chechen President Akhmad Kadyrov whilst condemning the Russian assassination of Chechen separatist ex-President Yandarbiyev in Qatar in 2004. Maskhadov consistently denied responsibility for the increasingly brutal terrorist acts against Russian civilians by Basayev's followers, continually issuing denunciations of such incidents through spokesmen abroad, such as Akhmed Zakayev in London. However, Russian officials have always accused both Basayev and Maskhadov of colluding to perpetrate terrorism.

[edit] Maskhadov's death

On March 8, 2005, FSB head Nikolay Patrushev announced that special forces attached to the FSB had "today carried out an operation in the settlement of Tolstoy-Yurt, as a result of which the international terrorist and leader of armed groups Maskhadov was killed, and his closest comrades-in-arms detained". He said the special operations unit had wanted to take Maskhadov alive for interrogation, but apparently killed him accidentally with a grenade thrown into a bunker where Maskhadov was hiding. Maskhadov had apparently ordered his bodyguards to leave before engaging the Russian special forces on his own. A body was shown on Russian television that looked very much like Maskhadov. Akhmed Zakayev, one of his closest allies who acted as his spokesman and foreign minister, told a Russian radio station that it was probable that Maskhadov had indeed been killed; he indicated later that a new Chechen leader could be chosen within days. Shortly following Maskhadov's death, the Chechen rebel council announced that Abdul-Khalim Sadulayev had assumed the leadership.

Although the circumstances of Maskhadov's death remain unclear, Russian media has reported that Maskhadov's own bodyguards had accidentally killed him in the panic of the fire fight. Another version has Maskhadov killed by forces loyal to Chechnya's Deputy Prime Minister Ramzan Kadyrov. Kadyrov had vowed to avenge the assassination of his father, Akhmad Kadyrov, but did not publicly take credit for Maskhadov's death, possibly for fear of continuing the vendetta cycle. According to one unconfirmed report, the Chechen President was deliberately killed after being lured into talks with the Russian side which were to take place with the mediation of a number of foreign countries.

Four Chechens: Vakhit Murdashev, Viskhan Hadzhimuradov, Skanarbek Yusupov and Ilias Iriskhanov were captured by the special operation. Since October 10, 2005 their case is in the High Court of Chechen republic. According to their evidence [4] Maskhadov was caught during preparation of a peace settlement with Russian Federal authorities but this has been disputed by the latter ones. Maskhadov's willingness to negotiate with hostage-takers during Beslan school hostage crisis has been referred to in independent Russian media as one of the possible reasons for shooting started by Russian security forces on the third day of the crisis. [5] [6] Western leaders have not given much public reaction to his death, in marked contrast to the death of Palestinian President Yasser Arafat.

[edit] Unmarked grave

On April 24, 2006, the General Procurator's Office of Russia officially refused to turn the remains of Aslan Maskhadov over to his relatives for burial. The refusal was described as legal:

Maskhadov A.A., in connection with terrorism, was criminally responsible for many separate serious crimes on the territory of the Russian Federation. Taking this into account, it was decided to suppress Maskhadov's activities and Maskhadov was being pursued for our protection. The burial of such persons is carried out in accordance with the rules concerning the burial of those whose death was a result of the suppression of their terrorist actions, affirmed by the government of the Russian Federation on 20 March 2003, in Order No. 164. In this case, the body is not handed over for burial, and the location of the burial is not communicated.

Maskhadov's family is since campaigning to release his remains or disclose what happened to the body.