Aslan Aliyevich Maskhadov (; ; 21 September 1951 – 8 March 2005) was a Soviet and Chechen politician and military commander who also served as the third president of the unrecognized Chechen Republic of Ichkeria.
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 was elected President of Chechnya in January 1997. Following the start of the Second Chechen War in August 1999, he returned to leading the guerrilla resistance against the Russian army. De facto Ichkeria ceased to exist at the beginning of 2000. Until his death, Maskhadov was President in exile. He was killed in Tolstoy-Yurt, a village in northern Chechnya, in March 2005.
Biography
Early life
On 21 September 1951, Aslan Aliyevich Maskhadov was born in Karaganda Region of the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic (SSR) of the Soviet Union, in the small village of Shakai, during the mass deportation of the Chechen people ordered in 1944 by Joseph Stalin. His family was from the Alaroy teip (of the Alkhan nek'e branch). In 1957, his family returned to Chechnya, where they settled in Zebir-Yurt, Nadterechny District.
Maskhadov joined the Soviet Army, trained in the neighbouring Georgian SSR and graduated from the Tbilisi Artillery School in 1972. He then graduated with honours from the Leningrad Kalinin Higher Artillery in 1981. He was posted to Hungary with a self-propelled artillery regiment until 1986 and then from 1986 in the Baltic Military District. He served from 1990 as the chief of staff of Soviet missile and artillery forces in Vilnius, capital of the Lithuanian SSR. In January 1991, Maskhadov participated in the January Events, the seizure of the television tower by Soviet troops (which he regretted later), but didn't participate in the assault itself.
By the end of 1996, when Maskhadov assumed his office, nearly half a million people (40% of Chechya prewar population) had been internally displaced and lived in refugee camps or overcrowded villages. The economy was destroyed and the warlords had no intention to disband their militias. Under such circumstances, Maskhadov's political fortunes began to wane. His political standing within Chechnya became increasingly insecure as he lost control to Basayev and other warlords. Even his Vice-President Arsanov became his political enemy. Just like in the years before the First Chechen War under Dudayev, the years of Chechen independence were notorious for organized crime, including kidnapping, leading to several public executions of criminals.
Maskhadov attempted with only limited success to curb the growth of Wahhabism and other Islamist groups supported by Basayev, producing a split in the Chechen separatist movement between Islamist and secular Chechen nationalists. In February 1999, as a concession to radical Islamists, Maskhadov introduced Islamic Sharia law. The Sharia courts that were established sentenced people to death, flogging, executing people for crimes such as adultery.
Maskhadov survived assassination attempts on his life three times, on 23 July 1998 and 21 March and 10 April in 1999, in which the attackers used anti-tank missiles and bombs. Russian secret services were officially blamed.
Second Chechen War
In the summer of 1999, Maskhadov condemned an attempt by Basayev and Ibn Al-Khattab to spread war to the neighboring republic of Dagestan
On 11 October 1999, Maskhadov outlined a peace plan offering a crackdown on renegade warlords, the offer was rejected by the Russian side. In response, President Maskhadov declared a gazavat (holy war) to confront the approaching Russian army.
Maskhadov was one of the main commanders in the Battle of Grozny (1999–2000) along with Shamil Basayev, Ruslan Gelayev, Ibn Al-Khattab, Aslambek Ismailov, and Khunkarpasha Israpilov. Maskhadov along with his men launched daring counter-attacks against the Russian troops while fighting in Grozny and also effectively used the sewer systems to attack Russian troops from behind. After a meeting with top rebel commanders, Maskhadov and others agreed to withdraw from Grozny and continue to attack Russian forces in the cities and towns surrounding the city. Maskhadov was the first to withdraw because of his importance to the rebel cause and because he was the official President of Chechnya. As Maskhadov and his men retreated, they set up a vast amount of booby traps and landmines to hinder Russian forces and make most of Grozny impassable.
After Chechen forces' withdrawal from Grozny following another battle for the city, Maskhadov returned to a life of 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 official political leader of the separatist forces during the war, but it is unclear what kind of a military role he played. Maskhadov offered his readiness for unconditional peace talks with Moscow several times in 2000 alone, continuing in the following years, but his appeals for a political solution were always ignored by the Russian side.
Maskhadov advocated armed resistance to what he saw as a Russian occupation of Chechnya but condemned attacks on civilians. He allegedly supported the assassination of pro-Russian Chechen President Akhmad Kadyrov in Chechnya, whilst condemning the Russian assassination of Chechen separatist ex-President Zelimkhan Yandarbiyev in Qatar in 2004. Maskhadov often 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, on 24 October 2002, radio communications were intercepted from Maskhadov's messages wherein he called for intensification of terrorist activities and sabotage in Russian territory.
On 15 January 2005, Maskhadov issued a special order to stop all military operations except those in self-defense, both inside and outside Chechnya, until the end of February (the date marking the anniversary of the Stalin's Vainakh deportations of 1944) as a gesture of good will, and again called for a negotiated end to the Chechen conflict. Umar Khambiev, his designated negotiator, said that the separatists were no longer seeking independence, but only "guarantees for the existence of the Chechen nation". This surprise, unilateral ceasefire was supported by Basayev but flatly rejected by the Russian and pro-Russian leaders who, once again, refused to negotiate. Maskhadov's order to temporarily cease all offensive actions was largely followed by the rebel movement, except in Dagestan.
Death
As of 2005, different versions of Maskhadov’s death existed. According to an official one announced on 8 March 2005 by the head of the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation (FSB) Nikolai Patrushev, less than a month after Maskhadov announced the cease-fire, a special forces unit of FSB had:<blockquote>"… carried out an operation in the settlement of Tolstoy-Yurt, as a result of which the international jihadist and leader of armed groups Maskhadov was killed, and his closest comrades-in-arms detained."</blockquote>He said the special operations unit had intended to capture Maskhadov alive for interrogation but killed him accidentally with a grenade thrown into a bunker where Maskhadov was hiding.
Four Chechens, Vakhit Murdashev, Viskhan Hadzhimuradov, Skanarbek Yusupov, and Ilias Iriskhanov, were captured in the raid. According to ballistic evidence at their trial in the Supreme Court of the Chechen Republic, Maskhadov was allegedly killed by a shot from the pistol of Viskhan Hadzhimuradov, his nephew and bodyguard. Hadzhimuradov, however, had testified that he does not remember whether he shot Maskhadov or not since he was stunned by an explosion but after the capture, Hadzhimuradov reportedly said: "My uncle always told me to shoot him if he is wounded and his capture is imminent. He said that if he is taken prisoner, he would be mistreated like Saddam Hussein had been". In 2006, they lodged a complaint to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe on "illegal" refusal by Russian authorities at the time to return Maskhadov's body back to the family.