Since the 1991 Chechen Revolution, Chechnya has had several leaders, representing both pro- and anti-Russian forces. This article lists the heads of state and government of both the nationalist Chechen Republic of Ichkeria and the Russian-backed Chechen Republic, as well as the leaders of the jihadist Caucasus Emirate.
Portrait | Name (lifespan) | Term of office (duration) | Vice President | Party | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Dzhokhar Dudayev (1944–1996) | Zelimkhan Yandarbiyev (1993–1996) | All-National Congress of the Chechen People [1] | |||
Zelimkhan Yandarbiyev (1952–2004) | 21 April 1996 – 12 February 1997 (297 days) | Said-Khasanom Abumuslimov | Dzhokhar's Path [lower-alpha 2] | ||
Aslan Maskhadov (1951–2005) |
| National Independence Party [4] | |||
Abdul-Halim Sadulayev (1966–2006) | Dokka Umarov | Independent | |||
Dokka Umarov (1964–2013) | 17 June 2006 – 31 October 2007 (1 year, 136 days) |
| Independent |
Portrait | Name (lifespan) | Term of office (duration) | Party | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Dzhokhar Dudayev (1944–1996) | All-National Congress of the Chechen People | |||
Aslan Maskhadov (1951–2005) | National Independence Party | |||
Shamil Basayev (1965–2006) | Military [5] /Marşanan Toba [6] | |||
Aslan Maskhadov (1951–2005) | National Independence Party | |||
Abdul-Halim Sadulayev (1966–2006) | Independent | |||
Shamil Basayev (1965–2006) | Military/Marşanan Toba | |||
Dokka Umarov (1964–2013) | Independent | |||
Akhmed Zakayev (born 1959) | 23 November 2007 – present (16 years, 313 days) | Independent |
Portrait | Name (lifespan) | Term of office (duration) | Party | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Marşo [8] | ||||
Doku Zavgayev (born 1940) | Independent |
Portrait | Name (lifespan) | Term of office (duration) | Party | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Ali Alavdinov (born 1940) [11] | Independent | |||
Daymoxk [12] | ||||
Doku Zavgayev [lower-alpha 6] (born 1940) | Independent | |||
Sanaki Arbiyev | Independent | |||
Nikolai Koshman (born 1944) | Independent |
Portrait | Name (lifespan) | Term of office (duration) | Party | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Independent | ||||
Independent | ||||
Sergey Abramov (born 1972) | Independent | |||
Alu Alkhanov (born 1972) | Independent | |||
Ramzan Kadyrov (born 1976) | United Russia |
Portrait | Name (lifespan) | Term of office (duration) | Party | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Stanislav Ilyasov (born 1953) [18] | Independent | |||
Mikhail Babich (born 1969) | Independent | |||
Anatoly Popov (born 1960) | Independent | |||
Sergey Abramov (born 1972) | Independent | |||
Ramzan Kadyrov (born 1976) | United Russia | |||
Odes Baysultanov (born 1965) | United Russia | |||
Ruslan Edelgeriev (born 1974) | United Russia | |||
Muslim Khuchiev (born 1971) | United Russia |
Name (lifespan) | Term of office (duration) |
---|---|
Dokka Umarov (1964–2013) | |
Aliaskhab Kebekov (1972–2015) | |
Magomed Suleimanov (1976–2015) |
Anatoly Alexandrovich Popov is an ethnic Russian who was the Prime Minister of the Chechen Republic, Russia, from February 10, 2003, following the resignation of Mikhail Babich, to March 16, 2004. He was also acting President of the Chechen Republic from August 2003 to October 2003 during the presidential elections.
Ramzan Akhmatovich Kadyrov is a Russian politician and current Head of the Chechen Republic. He was formerly affiliated with the Chechen independence movement, through his father who was the separatist-appointed mufti of Chechnya. He is a colonel general in the Russian military.
Doku Gapurovich Zavgayev is a Soviet and Russian diplomat and politician from Chechnya. He was the leader of the Checheno-Ingush ASSR.
Doku Khamatovich Umarov, also known as Dokka Umarov as well as by his Arabized name of Dokka Abu Umar, was a Chechen mujahid in the North Caucasus. Umarov was a major military figure in both wars in Chechnya during the 1990s and 2000s, before becoming the leader of the greater insurgency in the North Caucasus. He was active mostly in south-western Chechnya, near and across the borders with Ingushetia and Georgia.
Special Battalions Vostok and Zapad were two Spetsnaz units of the GRU, the military intelligence agency of Russia, based in Chechnya. The overwhelming majority of the personnel were ethnic Chechens, while the command personnel were mixed ethnic Russians and Chechens. The Special Battalions were formed during the Second Chechen War as a force of Chechen volunteers under the direct control of the Russian government to perform operations in the mountain-forests of Chechnya. The two units operated independently from each other, with Zapad covering the western half of Chechnya and Vostok covering the eastern half, and their own commanders subordinate to the GRU but under the command network of the 42nd Guards Motor Rifle Division.
The insurgency in the North Caucasus was a low-level armed conflict between Russia and militants associated with the Caucasus Emirate and, from June 2015, the Islamic State, in the North Caucasus. It followed the (Russian-proclaimed) official end of the decade-long Second Chechen War on 16 April 2009. It attracted volunteers from the MENA region, Western Europe, and Central Asia. The Russian legislation considers the Second Chechen War and the insurgency described in this article as the same "counter-terrorist operations on the territory of the North Caucasus region".
The Parliament of the Chechen Republic is the regional parliament of Chechnya, a federal subject of Russia. A total of 41 deputies are elected for five-year terms.
The Chechen–Russian conflict was the centuries-long ethnic and political conflict, often armed, between the Russian, Soviet and Imperial Russian governments and various Chechen forces. The recent phase of the conflict started after the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 and ended with the oppression of Chechen separatist leaders and crushing of the separatist movement in the republic proper in 2017.
Magomed Hozhakhmedovich Daudov is a Russian statesman, politician and military commander, who is currently serving as the Prime Minister of the Chechen Republic since May 2024.
Ramzan Adlanovich Akhmadov was a Chechen Salafi leader and a brigadier general in the Chechen Armed Forces who commanded the Southwestern Front during the Second Chechen War. He was also the founder of the Islamist organisations Islamic brigade and Urus-Martan Jamaat, which sought to establish Sharia law throughout Chechnya. Ramzan was of the Ghendargnoy teip and Appaz-Nek'e.
Chechen mujahideen in Syria are ethnic Chechen members of Sunni Islamist armed groups. They are organized into military factions, and take part in the civil war in Syria to fight against the government of Bashar al-Assad on the side of the Syrian opposition and Tahrir al-Sham, also on the side of the Islamic State.
Fight Club Akhmat(FCA) is a professional sports club from the Chechen Republic and has training bases in the regions of Russia. It was founded in 2014 and named after the first president of the Chechen Republic in Russia — Akhmat Kadyrov.
Khas-Magomed Shakhmometovich Kadyrov, is a Russian politician of Chechen origin, who is the mayor of Grozny since 31 March 2021.
Muslim Magomedovich Khuchiev is a Russian politician, who served as the Prime Minister of the Chechen Republic from June 2018 until his resignation in May 2024.
The Islamic State insurgency in the North Caucasus is ongoing terror activity of the Islamic State branch in the North Caucasus after the insurgency of the Caucasus Emirate.
Ziyad Mukhamedovich Sabsabi, is a Syrian-Russian politician who served as a Member of the Federation Council from the legislative authority of the Chechen Republic from 2008 to 2019.
Ruslan Shakhayevich Alkhanov, is a Russian politician and Police Colonel General as of 2022 who is currently the Minister of Internal Affairs of the Chechen Republic since 27 December 2004.
Urus-Martanovsky Jamaat was the largest Chechen Salafist paramilitary organization formed by Ramzan Akhmadov at the end of the First Chechen War. The organization controlled the Urus-Martanovsky District and attempted to establish an Islamic state with a Sharia form of government throughout Chechnya. During the Second Chechen War this organisation was the strongest military force in Chechnya, which took part in major military actions against the Russian Armed Forces. Most of the members of this organization were representatives of the Ghendarganoy teip.
The National Independence Party was a political party in the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria led by human rights activist and businessman Ruslan Kutayev. Initially opposed to the government of Dzhokhar Dudayev, the party later shifted in support of him following the beginning of the First Chechen War, and later achieved landslide victories during the 1997 Chechen presidential election.
Isa Abubakarovich Tumkhadzhiev is a Russian politician, who is currently serving as the First Deputy Prime Minister of the Chechen Republic since June 2018. He also served as the acting Prime Minister in May 2024 and Minister of the Car Roads of Chechnya from 2023 to 2024.