The widow of late Chechen leader Dzhokhar Dudayev, the Soviet Air Force general who led a separatist war in the 1990s, is seeking Georgian citizenship.
Alla Dudayeva, who hosts a talk show on Georgian state television’s Russian-language channel, and her son Tegi applied for citizenship to Georgia’s Justice Ministry.
President Mikheil Saakashvili must approve the request, the president’s spokeswoman Manana Manjgaladze said by telephone Monday.
“My son and I are seeking Georgian citizenship because I have felt a close tie with the country since my husband’s death,” Dudayeva said in an interview late Sunday in the capital, Tbilisi. “The TV program offers me a chance to express my gratitude to the people of the Caucasus.”
Dudayeva’s television program, "Kavkazsky Portret" (Portrait of the Caucasus), was first aired Jan. 5 on Georgian state television’s First Caucasus station, which broadcasts primarily in Russian.
“Art, poetry, beauty and science are the only ways left to restore the lost links between the people of the Caucasus after frequent wars,” Dudayeva said, adding that she has received positive feedback from viewers, especially since the station began broadcasting via satellite in addition to the Internet.
Dzhokhar Dudayev was killed in 1996 by a federal rocket attack during the first Chechen war between separatist and government troops.
After taking power in Chechnya in 1991, Dudayev developed close relations with then-Georgian leader Zviad Gamsakhurdia. After Gamsakhurdia was overthrown later that year, he fled to Chechnya. He died in 1993 and was buried in Grozny.
Alla Dudayeva’s request comes 17 months after Russia routed Georgia’s U.S.-trained army in a war over the breakaway Georgian region of South Ossetia. In the wake of the conflict, Russia recognized South Ossetia and another rebel region, Abkhazia, as sovereign countries.
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