Chechnya - Salman Raduyev

Raduyev is the poster boy for "Chechen extreme" and the son-in-law of the late Dudayev. In January 1996, he led a Lone Wolf team in taking 3,000 hostages at a hospital in the Dagestan town of Kizlyar. Russian forces surrounded the village and pounded the rebels and hostages for several days before suffering the ultimate humiliation. Raduyev broke through the Russian perimeter with his fighters and 100 of the hostages and made a successful run for the Chechen town of Pervomaiskaya. Although the Russians claimed one of its snipers killed him in March 1996, Raduyev returned to Chechnya in July and claimed responsibility for a series of trolley blasts in Moscow. Reporters noticed that Raduyev had lost his left eye in the March attack and had gotten his mug rearranged by plastic surgeons in Europe after recuperating in the Middle East. He had been shot in the cheek and the bullet came out his eye. Ouch.

He also escaped another assassination attempt in April 1997, when he was badly wounded when his car was blown up. Stallone and Schwarzenegger should take notes. Raduyev and his boys are the most radical of the Chechen separatists and don't recognize the legitimacy of Maskhadov's government. Attempts on his life have been courtesy of Russian intelligence (could there be such a thing?). In July 1997, they did it again when a van filled with explosives blew up as Raduyev's car was supposed to pass by.

Raduyev continues to stir up trouble in the Chechen countryside and just like DP believes that Dudayev (and Elvis) is still alive. Raduyev can be found in his headquarters in Grozny. My favorite Raduyev quote: "Russia needs the pipeline, but we'll explode it." He was described to DP by his Chechen commanders as not being "quite right in the head" after the bullet went through it.