For the Russian Air Force, it was the stuff of instant legend. The elusive rebel in crisp combat fatigues drives into an open field under a starry Chechen sky to speak on his satellite phone. As he talks, an unseen Russian plane far above is hunting him. It locks in on his satellite signal, launches its missiles and blasts the field. Jokhar Dudayev, the flamboyant and impassioned leader of Chechnya's rebellion against Russia, is dead.
Of course, it might not really have happened that way. This was the version put out on Russian television, but Dudayev has used his satellite phone...
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