Maskhadov Aslan Alievich is one of the most controversial personalities of modern history. Some people consider him a hero of the Chechen people, others - a terrorist. Who was Aslan Maskhadov really? The biography of this historical figure will be the subject of our study.
Childhood and youth
Maskhadov Aslan Alievich was born in the fall of 1951 in a small village in the territory of the Kazakh SSR, where his parents were deported to at one time. His family came from teip Alleroi.
In 1957, with the beginning of the thaw, the deported Chechens were rehabilitated. This allowed Aslan and his parents to return to the Chechen-Ingush Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. There they lived in one of the villages of the Nadterchensky district.
In 1966, Aslan Maskhadov joined the Komsomol, and two years later completed his studies at the secondary school of his village. In 1972 he graduated from a military school in Tbilisi, which specialized in the release of personnel for artillery. After that, for five years he served in the army in the Far East, where he rose to the post of deputy division commander. At the same time, he was accepted into the ranks of the CPSU.
In 1981, having shown excellent results in his studies, he graduated from the Military Artillery Academy, located in Leningrad.
After graduation, he was sent to Hungary, where he rose to the post of commander of an artillery regiment.
At the turn of the eras
In 1986, Aslan Maskhadov was sent to Lithuania as a regiment commander and as a colonel. Over the time of his command, she was repeatedly recognized as the best in the Baltics. He himself was appointed chief of staff of the missile forces.
At that time, processes were taking place in the country that in the near future would lead to the collapse of the USSR and a change in the social system. Before other republics, centrifugal tendencies began to appear in the Baltic states. However, before active protests and the use of armed forces against them began, Maskhadov was recalled, although part of it took part in actions against the rebels.
In 1992, he resigned from the Armed Forces of Russia. Some experts believe that this decision was primarily dictated by his disagreements with the highest military authorities, while others - by the aggravation on the Chechen-Ingush border.
First Chechen
After the resignation, Aslan Maskhadov went to the capital of Chechnya - Grozny. There, at that time, Dzhokhar Dudaev had already come to power, proclaiming independent Ichkeria (CRI). Immediately upon arrival, Maskhadov was appointed by him the chief of the Civil Defense, and then - the chief of staff of the armed forces.
Since 1994, the so-called First Chechen War began. Aslan Maskhadov successfully led the defense of Grozny, for which he received the rank of division general from Dudaev. Later, under his leadership, a number of successful operations were carried out, in particular, the capture of Grozny after the occupation of the city by Russian troops.
In Russia, a criminal case was opened against Maskhadov as the creator of an illegal armed group, which, however, did not prevent him from negotiating with the Russian authorities.
In 1996, during a special operation, Dzhokhar Dudaev was killed, but this did not interfere with the successful actions of Chechen fighters against the Russian army.
In 1996, agreements were reached between the Russian government and representatives of the self-proclaimed Ichkeria. The signing of peace agreements took place in the Dagestan city of Khasavyurt. Maskhadov Aslan Alievich signed the agreement from CRI. The history of the Chechen conflict, it would seem, was over. These agreements included the withdrawal of Russian troops from Chechnya, an agreement on the election of a new president of Ichkeria, as well as a postponement of the issue of deciding the fate of the status of CRI until 2001. Thus ended the First Chechen War.
Presidency
After the signing of the Khasavyurt accords before the presidential election and. about. President of CRI was Zelimkhan Yandarbiev. Aslan Maskhadov became both Prime Minister and Minister of Defense.
In January 1997, a presidential election took place, in which victory was won by Aslan Maskhadov, ahead of Shamil Basayev and Zelimkhan Yandarbiev.
Initially, Maskhadov tried to build an independent Chechen state on the democratic principles of civil society. But his position was too weak. On the contrary, Islamic extremists, field commanders, and leaders of various gangs began to acquire increasing power in Chechnya.
Maskhadov was, by and large, not a politician, but a military man. He was forced to maneuver between these groups, to make concessions to them. This led to further radicalization, Islamization and criminalization of Chechen society. Sharia law was introduced in CRI, the republic was overrun by foreign extremists, field commanders began to show increasing disobedience to the government of Ichkeria.
The second Chechen
The result of this situation was that in 1999 the field commanders Shamil Basayev and Khattab arbitrarily, without the sanctions of the president and government of the CRI, invaded Dagestan. Thus began the Second Chechen War.
Although Maskhadov publicly condemned the actions of Basayev, Khattab and other field commanders, he could not really control them. Therefore, the Russian leadership, after knocking out militants from the territory of Dagestan, decided to conduct an operation to completely destroy them in the territory of Chechnya.
The entry of Russian troops into the territory of the CRI led to a direct confrontation of Maskhadov with the Russian government. He began to lead the resistance. The President of Ichkeria was first declared on the All-Russian, and then on the international wanted list. At first, Maskhadov could directly lead only a relatively small detachment, since most field commanders did not actually obey him, and only since 2002 a general command was formed. Thus, Basayev, Khattab and other leaders of the militants joined Maskhadov.
The actions of Russian troops in Chechnya this time were much more successful than in the first campaign. By the end of 2000, the Russian army controlled most of Chechnya. Militants hid in the mountainous regions, carrying out terrorist attacks and sabotage.
The death of Maskhadov
To permanently destroy the terrorist center in Chechnya, the Russian special services decided to conduct a series of operations to personally liquidate the militant leaders.
In March 2005, a special operation was conducted to detain the former leader of Ichkeria. During it, Aslan Maskhadov was killed. According to one version, he was shot dead by a bodyguard, since Maskhadov did not want to give up alive.
A family
Maskhadov had a wife, a son and a daughter. The wife of Aslan Maskhadov, Kusam Semiev, was a telephone operator until her marriage in 1972. After the death of her husband, she stayed abroad for a long time, until in 2016 she received permission to return to Chechnya.
The son of Aslan Maskhadov - Anzor - was born in 1979. Educated in Malaysia. He currently resides in Finland and sharply criticizes the Russian authorities, in particular Ramzan Kadyrov.
Maskhadov's daughter Fatima was born in 1981. Like his brother, he currently lives in Finland.
general characteristics
It is rather difficult to give an impartial characterization to such an ambiguous figure as Aslan Maskhadov. Some people idealize him too much, others demonize him. It should be noted that the majority of people personally acquainted with him characterize Maskhadov as an excellent officer, a man of honor. At the same time, he showed an inability to lead the state and was unable to subordinate to the central government many different groups in Ichkeria, about which he often had to go.
At present, actions and pickets are being held in memory of Aslan Maskhadov, demanding that the Russian authorities give his body to relatives. But so far they have not led to results.
