Did Dzhokhar Dudayev say: “The biggest mistake is to neglect the Ukrainians”?

For years, a statement by a Chechen politician has been circulating on the Internet with praise for the Ukrainian people and a warning for everyone else. We have verified the authenticity of this quote.

The full statement looks like this: “The biggest mistake is to neglect the Ukrainians. Consider Ukrainians weak. Offend Ukrainians. Never offend Ukrainians. Ukrainians are never as weak as you think. Almighty Allah forbid that he expel the Ukrainians or take something away from the Ukrainians. Ukrainians always come back. Ukrainians will return and give back theirs. But when the Ukrainians return, they do not know how to calculate force and use it proportionately. They destroy everything in their path. Don't offend Ukrainians. Otherwise, when Ukrainians return to the land where their ancestors are buried, those living on this land will envy the dead.”

In 2023, a quote was posted on Instagram by the former President of Ukraine Victor Yushchenko. A video from a Ukrainian news resource posted shortly before on YouTube in time Ukraine with this phrase received more than 600,000 views. Popular publications where the statement is attributed to Dudayev also appeared in Facebook And Telegram.

Ukraine was not a stranger to the first president of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria. In the 1980s, Dudayev spent several years served chief of staff of the air division in the Poltava region, and today in the regional center installed memorial plaque dedicated to him. In several cities Ukraine the streets are named after Dudayev. This is due to his support of national movements in the former Soviet republics, which sought to minimize their dependence on Russia. Soon after the start of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, a fragment of an interview that Dudayev gave to the Vzglyad program in 1995 became popular on the Internet and in which predicted conflict over Crimea and war: “Ukraine will still clash with Russia. <…> As long as Russianism exists, it will never give up its ambitions. Now the Slavic, under this brand, they want to crush, as in former times, Ukraine and Belarus again, to grow stronger. <…> Russia, in essence, is a racketeer. She beats herself out of money with threats, tanks, and armadas.”

However, neither in this interview nor in other authoritative sources “Verified” found a statement that it is a mistake to neglect the Ukrainians. On social networks, the book “Attack of the Ichkerian wolf"(with the subtitle "Essays on the political history of Ukraine"). But Dudayev did not write such a text; his biographies with that title also do not exist.

As the analysis shows publications V social networks, signed by Dudayev, a statement that Ukrainians should not be neglected appeared on the Internet on August 11, 2014, several months after the start of hostilities in eastern Ukraine. The rise in popularity that day was ensured by her publication on the page of the Ukrainian battalion “Polesie” in Facebook, although she was not the first chronologically.

In 2012, Russian writer and journalist of Chechen origin German Sadulaev published collection of essays “Wolf Leap. Essays on the political history of Chechnya from the Khazar Kaganate to the present day.” In one of the texts, the author writes about the importance of building correct relations between the Chechen and Russian peoples and notices: “The biggest mistake is to neglect the Russians. Consider Russians weak. Offend the Russians. Never offend Russians. Russians are never as weak as you think. God forbid you expel the Russians or take something away from the Russians. Russians always come back. The Russians will come back and get theirs back. But when the Russians return, they do not know how to calculate force and use it proportionately. They destroy everything in their path. Don't offend the Russians. Otherwise, when the Russians return to the land with the graves of their ancestors, those living on this land will envy their dead ancestors.”

Thus, the statement about Ukrainians attributed to Dudayev is a reworked quote about Russians by Sadulaev, who actively supports Russian invasion of Ukraine. The title of the book from which this fragment was allegedly taken was also changed - “Wolf Leap. Essays on the political history of Chechnya from the Khazar Kaganate to the present day" on "Attack of the Ichkerian wolf. Essays on the political history of Ukraine.”

Cover photo: Wikimedia Commons

Fake

What do our verdicts mean?

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