Dzhokhar Dudayev, a former general of the Soviet air force, was elected leader of the Chechen Republic in 1991, and quickly issued a unilateral declaration of independence from Russia. Tensions between Dudayev and the Russian government led to war in 1994. He was killed in 1996 by a Russian air attack. At right, standing behind Dudayev, is Dudayev’s successor, Zelimkhan Yandarbiyev, who in 2004 was assassinated by a car bomb in Qatar, where he was trying to rouse Muslim support for the Chechen cause. CREDIT: AP Photo/Misha Japaridze