Movladi Udugov
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Movladi Udugov | |
 |
|
|
First Deputy Prime Minister of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria
|
|
| In office August 1996 – February 2, 1997 |
|
|
|
|
| Born | 9 February 1962 Grozny, Chechen-Ingush ASSR, Soviet Union |
|---|---|
| Nationality | Chechen |
| Political party | National Congress of Chechen People, Islamic Umma, Congress of the Peoples of Ichkeria and Dagestan |
| Alma mater | Grozny State University |
| Religion | Fundamentalist Sunni Islam |
Movladi Saidarbievich Udugov (Chechen: Мовлади Саидарбиевич Удугов) (born February 9, 1962 in Grozny, Chechnya) was the First Deputy Prime Minister of the separatist Chechen Republic of Ichkeria (ChRI). He is credited by many for the rebels' victory in the "information war" during the First Chechen War.
Contents |
[edit] First Chechen War
Udugov joined the ruling structures of Ichkeria (Chechnya) in the early 1990s, serving as press secretary and propaganda chief in Dzhokhar Dudayev's government.[1]
During the 1994-1996 war, the ways in which he distributed information about the conflict were more professional than those of the Kremlin, so the victory of the Chechens in the information war is attributed to him. A mark of the high esteem in which the Russian leaders held him is their name "the Chechen Goebbels" for him. For the victory in the information war, he was awarded ChRI's highest medal, Honor of the Nation.
[edit] Between the wars
Following the end of the First Chechen War, Udugov became a Deputy Prime Minister in the government of Aslan Maskhadov, and travelled to Moscow on a number of occasions for talks with members of the Security Council and Russian government in 1996-1997.[1]
He unsuccessfully ran for the post of President of Ichkeria in the election campaign, representing an unpopular radical Islamist platform supported by the Islamic Order political union, and got less than 1% percent of the votes in the January 1997 election.
In August 1997, Udugov founded Islamic Umma (Islamic Nation) party, uniting 35 political movememnts in Chechnya and Dagestan. In 1998, together with Shamil Basayev and several other Chechen and Dagestani figures, Udugov organized Congress of the Peoples of Ichkeria and Dagestan. In March 1999, Udugov helped to create Kavkaz Center, a Chechen international Islamic Internet agency; he also sponsors several other wbsites, among them Russian language The Chechen Times. Vasily Likhachev, Anti-Defamation League investigator, stated in report "Political antisemitism in modern Russia (Russian muslims and antisemitism)" Udugov propagated antisemitic ideas in his media[2].
[edit] Second Chechen War to present
At the start of the Second Chechen War in autumn 1999, Udugov left Chechnya, resulting in a rapid decline of his influence on the Chechen rebel movement. Russian authorities accused him of being one of the main organizers of the Chechen rebel-led attack on Dagestan in August 1999, and Udugov is wanted by the Russian federal government since March 20, 2000, accused of having violated Article 279 of Russia's Criminal Code, which outlaws "armed uprisings."[1] His current whereabouts are unknown, but he is believed to live in an Arab country.
Since February 2006, following his victory in a dispute with exiled moderate Chechen leader Akhmed Zakayev, he once again became an official rebel spokesman, heading National Information Service (NIS) of the State Defense Council.[3] In October 2007, Udugov was said to be the author of the proclamation of the Caucasus Emirate.[4] During the following constitutional crisis the Ichkeria's parliament dismissed Udugov from the post of the head of NIS and abolished the service.[5]
[edit] Religious-political beliefs
Udugov follows a particularly fundamentalist strain of Islam that is not shared by most Chechens. He rejects the idea of a merely independent Chechen state in favor of an Islamic state encompassing the entire North Caucasus.[6]
[edit] References
- ^ a b c Turkey says it will help catch Movladi Udugov. Monitor, Volume 7, Issue 8 (January 11, 2002)
- ^ Политический антисемитизм в современной России (Глава 2. Российские мусульмане и антисемитизм), sova-center.ru, August 6, 2003
- ^ Chechen underground government reshuffle, Prague Watchdog, February 08, 2006
- ^ Who is to gain from the provocation under the name of ‘The Caucasus Emirate’, Chechenpress, October 31, 2007
- ^ CHECHENPRESS || Постановление Парламента ЧРИ № 2-B
- ^ Elisabeth Smick. Russia's Chechen Resistance. Council on Foreign Relations. July 18, 2006
