Doku Zavgayev

Doku Gapurovich Zavgayev (Доку Гапурович Завгаев; Завгаев Доку; born 22 December 1940) is a Soviet and Russian diplomat and politician from Chechnya. He was the leader of the Checheno-Ingush ASSR.

Communist leadership
In 1989, Zavgayev, a former collective farm manager and senior Communist Party official, was elected as the first Chechen First Secretary of the Checheno-Ingush ASSR since the Chechens' return in 1957.

In August 1991 Zavgayev, then communist leader of the Checheno-Ingush ASSR, supported the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt against Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev.

On 6 September 1991, supporters of the All-National Congress of the Chechen People (NCChP) led by Dzhokhar Dudayev, stormed a session of the Chechen-Ingush ASSR Supreme Soviet, killing the Soviet Communist Party chief for Grozny, Vitaly Kutsenko, severely injuring several other Soviet members, and establishing the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria. Zavgayev, the Chairman of the Soviet, was not present. Trying to avoid further bloodshed he was compelled to leave the republic, publicly announcing that he would return.

First Chechen War
By 1994, both the president of Russia, Boris Yeltsin and the heads of the "force ministries" were convinced by Zavgayev that Russia should actively intervene in Chechnya. Zavgayev was appointed a pro-Moscow head of state on 24 October 1995, and was elected in December the same year with 96% of the votes.

On 8 December 1995, Zavgayev and Viktor Chernomyrdin signed an agreement as a basis for a Russian-Chechen federation treaty which would give Chechnya broad autonomy akin to that of Tatarstan.

Postwar career
After the 1996 withdrawal of the Russian forces from Chechnya, Zavgayev was appointed Russia's ambassador in Tanzania. From February 2004 he was Deputy Foreign Minister and he was Director General of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs from August 2004 to September 2009. From September 2009 to November 2019 he was Russia's ambassador in Slovenia.