YOU VOTE - I MAKE A THREAD.
And today we are going to dive into one of the most spectacular topics in most recent Estonian history.
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DZHOKHAR DUDAYEV IN ESTONIA
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How is this man connected to Estonia, so far away from his native Ichkeria? From 1987 through March 1990, he commanded nuclear-armed long-range strategic bombers of the 326th Heavy Bomber Aviation Division of the Soviet Long Range Aviation at Raadi, Tartu, Estonia.
Dudayev learned the Estonian language and was very supportive of the Estonian freedom movement. Estonians take pride, too, in the fact that Dudayev was inspired by the way in which the Baltic States regained their independence, and tried to copy the process in Chechnya.
Dudayev refused to order the 4,000 forces under his command to crush Estonia's drive for independence during his posting in Tartu. "Estonia can't forget what Dudayev did," said Ants Veetousme, former mayor of Tartu. "It was largely thanks to him there was no bloodshed here."
When Chechnya declared itself independent from the Russian Federation, Estonia was one of the first countries to express its support. It was also one of the first to condemn the brutal way in which Russia sought to crush the rebellion.
Is that all? Oh no, we are talking about a person who predicted all current aggressions of russia and its downfall after "the Ukrainian sun rises."
He had no crystal ball, he just knew russia too well.
In 1991, Boris Yeltsin, then chairman of the presidium of the RSFSR Supreme Soviet, flew to Tallinn to sign the documents with Estonia and Latvia that became the basis of bilateral relations between Moscow, on the one hand, and Tallinn and Riga, on the other.
But while in Tallinn, Yeltsin issued an appeal to Russian officers and soldiers in the Soviet army not to fire on peaceful demonstrators and freely elected governments. Yet it didn't stop OMON in Riga. KGB was very unhappy about Yeltsin statement.
Yeltsin received a warning that the aircraft due to fly him back from Tallinn to Moscow would meet with an accident. He already had strange accidents. The team decided that Yeltsin would not catch the flight but would take a car to go from Tallinn to Leningrad.
Yeltsin had no car at his disposal. Dudayev sent his generalβs car to drive Boris Nikolayevich from Tallinn to Leningradβ and thus to safety. eesti.ca/when-dudayev-sβ¦
April 21, 1996, Dudaev was assassinated by russian missile attack in southwestern Chechnya.
Dudaev is considered a terrorist in russia and praised as a hero in the free world.
In Tartu, where he lived and worked for 4 years, a marble tablet was placed on the wall. In the same building now there is a Barklay hotel where you can stay in Dudaev suite - a room where he worked while in Tartu.
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