Movladi Udugov

Movladi Udugov
Мовлади Саидарбиевич Удугов

First Deputy Prime Minister of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria
In office August 1996 – February 2, 1997
Personal details
Born	Movladi Saidarbievich Udugov (1962-02-09) 9 February 1962 Germenchuk, Chechen-Ingush ASSR of the Soviet Union
Nationality	Chechen
Political party	NCCP, IU, CPID (currently none)
Alma mater	Grozny State University
Religion	Sunni Islam

Movladi Saidarbievich Udugov (Russian: Мовлади Саидарбиевич Удугов; born February 9, 1962 in Germenchuk, Shalinsky District, Chechnya into the Shirdi teip) was the First Deputy Prime Minister of the separatist Chechen Republic of Ichkeria (ChRI). As a Chechen propaganda chief, he was credited for the Chechen separatists' victory on the information front during the First Chechen War.

A highly-controversial figure, following a particularly fundamentalist strain of Islam that is not shared by most Chechens, he is currently one of the ideologues and the main propagandist behind the Caucasus Emirate (a Pan-Islamic militant movement that is rejecting the idea of a merely independent Chechen state in favor of an Islamic state encompassing most of the Russia's North Caucasus and based on Islamic Sharia law).^[1]

Biography

1962-1992

From 1983 to 1988, Udugov studied in Checheno-Ingushetia State University. Since 1988, was editor in chief of the newspaper Orientir, which was banned by the regional committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in 1989. Soon, he became a member of the Presidium of the Executive Committee of the National Congress of Chechen People (NCCP). In NCCP, Movladi Udugov became the chairman of the Information Committee and simultaneously an employee of the local television station; during the 1991 revolution in Grozny, Udugov used this position to broadcast Dzhokhar Dudayev's address to the people.

1992-1999

After the Chechen declaration of independence by Dudayev, Udugov joined the ruling structures of the Chechen separatist government, serving as press secretary. During the 1994-1996 war, the ways in which he distributed information about the conflict, although crude by the Western standards, were still more professional than those of the Kremlin and the Russian federal forces. In August 1996, Movladi Udugov was appointed the First Deputy Prime Minister of Chechen Republic for state policy and information in the war-time cabinet of Zelimkhan Yandarbiyev who became an acting president after the death of Dudayev. For his role in the Chechen victory in information warfare (and the whole war) Udugov was awarded the Ichkeria's highest medal, Honor of the Nation. Among his Russian enemies, he became known as "the Chechen Goebbels".

Following the end of the First Chechen War, Udugov unsuccessfully ran for the post of President of Ichkeria in the January 1997 election, but got less than 1% percent of the votes (in his election campaign he was representing an unpopular radical Islamist platform). Udugov again became a Deputy Prime Minister and of the Minister of Information in the government of Aslan Maskhadov. In 1996-1997 he travelled to Moscow on a number of occasions for talks with members of the Security Council of Russia and Russian government, including as a part of Chechen delegation for the signing of peace treaty at the Kremlin.^[2] In August 1997, Udugov founded Islamic Umma party, uniting a number of political movements in Chechnya and neighbouring Dagestan. In 1998, together with Shamil Basayev and several other radical Chechen and Dagestani figures, Udugov organized the association called 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 websites, among them Russian language The Chechen Times. According to an Anti-Defamation League investigator, Udugov propagated antisemitic ideas in his media.^[3]

Since 1999

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."^[2] At the start of the Second Chechen War in September 1999, Udugov left Chechnya abroad, resulting in a rapid decline of his influence on the Chechen separatist movement at the time. There is information about his stay in Afghanistan, Scandinavia, Turkey, Persian Gulf countries and possibly United States; although it should be noted no evidence has been offered to support any of these claims. His current whereabouts are unknown. 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.^[4] In October 2007, Udugov was said to be the author of the proclamation of the Caucasus Emirate;^[5] during the following constitutional crisis, the ChRI government in exile led by Zakayev dismissed Udugov from the post of the head of NIS and abolished the service.^[6] Since 2007, Udugov runs the Informational-Analytical Service of the Caucasus Emirate.

References

↑ Elisabeth Smick. Russia's Chechen Resistance, Council on Foreign Relations, July 18, 2006 Archived July 22, 2006, at the Wayback Machine.
1 2 Turkey says it will help catch Movladi Udugov, The Jamestown Foundation, January 11, 2002 Archived July 18, 2006, at the Wayback Machine.
↑ (Russian) Политический антисемитизм в современной России (Глава 2. Российские мусульмане и антисемитизм), SOVA Center, 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
↑ Постановление Парламента ЧРИ № 2-B, Chechenpress, 10.11.2007

External links

Biographical information on Caucasian Knot
We have taken up arms to establish laws (interview with Movladi Udugov), Prague Watchdog, July 24, 2008

Chechen–Russian conflict

Key events	Conflict	Federalists	Separatists	Mujahideen

Wars First Chechen War War of Dagestan Second Chechen War War in Ingushetia First Chechen War (1994–96) 1994 Grozny battle 1994 Khankala battle 1994–95 Grozny battle 1996 Shatoy ambush 1996 Grozny battle 1996 Khasavyurt accord Second Chechen War (1999–2009) 1999 Chechnya bombing 1999–2000 Grozny battle 2000 Height 776 battle 2000 Komsomolskoye battle 2000 Zhani ambush 2002 Khankala Mi-26 crash 2004 Nazran raid 2004 Grozny raid 2005 Nalchik raid Counter-insurgency operations Guerrilla phase Insurgency (2009–present) Insurgency in the North Caucasus	Major attacks 1995 Budyonnovsk hostage crisis 1996 Black Sea hostage crisis 1996 Kizlyar hostage crisis 1999 Apartment bombings 2002 Moscow hostage crisis 2002 Grozny truck bombing 2004 Aircraft bombings 2004 Beslan school siege Related topics Censorship of Chechnya coverage Crimes and terrorism Mass graves Suicide attacks Assassinations Casualties (Second Chechen War) Aircraft losses International response Politics of Chechnya Chechenpress Kavkaz Center In culture Alexandra Angel of Grozny Ant in a Glass Jar Polina Zherebtsova's Journal The 3 Rooms of Melancholia The Pathologies The Search War	Combatants Russian Federation Armed Forces Ground Forces Ministry of Internal Affairs OMON ODON Internal Troops Federal Security Service Main Intelligence Directorate Special Forces (Spetsnaz) Republic of Chechnya Militia (Kadyrovtsy) Leaders Russian Federation Boris Yeltsin Dmitry Medvedev Vladimir Putin Chechnya † Akhmad Kadyrov Alu Alkhanov Ramzan Kadyrov † Dzhabrail Yamadayev † Ruslan Yamadayev † Sulim Yamadayev	Combatants Ichkeria Caucasian Front Leaders † Dzhokhar Dudayev † Zelimkhan Yandarbiyev † Aslan Maskhadov † Abdul-Halim Sadulayev † Ruslan Gelayev † Shamil Basayev † Arbi Barayev † Salman Raduyev Akhmed Zakayev † Turpal-Ali Atgeriyev † Vakha Arsanov Ilyas Akhmadov † Movsar Barayev † Muslim Atayev † Rasul Makasharipov † Ilias Gorchkhanov † Rappani Khalilov	Combatants Caucasus Emirate Arab Mujahideen Islamic International Brigade Riyad-us Saliheen Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant – Caucasus Province Leaders † Magomed Suleimanov † Aliaskhab Kebekov † Dokka Umarov (POW) Aslambek Vadalov (POW) Ali Taziev † Anzor Astemirov † Supyan Abdullayev Aslan Byutukayev Movladi Udugov † Khuseyn Gakayev (POW) Tarkhan Gaziyev † Said Buryatsky † Magomed Vagabov † Rustam Asildarov † Asker Dzhappuyev † Arthur Getagazhev † Ibn al-Khattab † Abu al-Walid † Abu Hafs al-Urduni † Muhannad † Abdulla Kurd

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