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{{Short description|Chechen brigadier general (1964–2005)}}
{{Infobox military person
|name=Rizvan Chitigov<br />({{langx|ru|Ризван Читигов}})
|birth_date={{birth date|1964|4|22|df=y}}
|death_date={{death date and age|2005|3|23|1964|4|22|df=y}}
|birth_place=Shali, [[Chechnya]]
|death_place=Shali, [[Chechnya]]
|image=
|caption=
|nickname=Amerikanets, Marine
|allegiance=[[File:Flag of the Confederation of Caucasian Mountain People.svg|22px]] [[Confederation of Mountain Peoples of the Caucasus]]
*[[File:Flag of Chechen Republic of Ichkeria.svg|22px]] [[Chechen Republic of Ichkeria]]
|serviceyears=1982-2005
|rank= Brigadier General
|commands= Marine Corps
|unit=
|battles=[[First Chechen War]]<br />[[Second Chechen War]]
|awards=
|laterwork=}}

'''Rizvan Chitigov''' (''Amerikanets'', ''Marine'', 22 April 1964 – 23 March 2005) was a prominent [[Chechen people|Chechen]] rebel field commander in [[Shalinsky District, Chechen Republic|Shalinsky District]] of the [[Chechen Republic]] ([[Russia]]) until his death on 23 March 2005.<ref>[http://eng.kavkaz.memo.ru/newstext/engnews/id/782380.html Chechen resistance crackdown succeeds again]</ref><ref name="globalsecurity"/>

== Biography ==
Chitigov served in the [[Soviet Army]] as a tank commander. Until the late 1980s, Rezvan Chitigov was employed as a firefighter at the local district fire department.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2005-03-24 |title=В Чечне уничтожен террорист номер три |url=https://www.kommersant.ru/doc/557201 |access-date=2023-04-30 |website=Коммерсантъ |language=ru}}</ref>

In the early 1990s, Chitigov lived the [[United States]]. Upon his return to Chechnya, he oversaw [[military intelligence]] in the Chechen separatist government of [[Aslan Maskhadov]]. When he returned to [[Shali, Chechen Republic|Shali]] in 1994, he told compatriots that he had graduated from an elite U.S. sabotage and reconnaissance school and served on a contract basis in a U.S. Marine battalion. This earned him the aliases “Amerikanets” (the American) and “Morpekh” (the Marine). According to [[Kommersant]], the [[Federal Security Service]] of Russia received “operational information” in 2001 that Chitigov planned to use chemical and biological weapons against federal troops, and ricin was later found in an “underground base” of his in [[Gudermes]]. This earned Chitigov his third alias, “Khimik” (the Chemist).<ref>[https://jamestown.org/program/several-major-rebel-commanders-reportedly-killed-2/ The Jamestown Foundation, ''Several major rebel commanders reportedly killed.'' North Caucasus Weekly Volume: 6 Issue: 13]</ref> The Shali district branch of the Interior Ministry claims Chitigov was personally involved in the murder of 50 local inhabitants, while the FSB says that the [[1999 Russian apartment bombings#Manezhnaya Square, Moscow|August 31, 1999 bombing of Moscow’s Manezh shopping mall]], which killed one person, was carried out on his orders. The Russian [[Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation|FSB]] suspected that Chitigov had been maintaining ties with foreign [[intelligence service]]s and was himself a [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] agent.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://jamestown.org/publications_details.php?article_id=2369505&issue_id=3282&volume_id=409 |title=SEVERAL MAJOR REBEL COMMANDERS REPORTEDLY KILLED |access-date=2007-08-18 |archive-date=2007-09-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930155647/http://jamestown.org/publications_details.php?article_id=2369505&issue_id=3282&volume_id=409 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

During the [[First Chechen War]], he became the commander of the only tank unit of the Chechen fighters and gained notoriety for his extreme brutality.<ref>{{Cite web |title=ФСБ убила американского химика |url=https://www.gazeta.ru/2005/03/23/oa_152220.shtml |access-date=2023-04-30 |website=Газета.Ru |date=23 March 2005 |language=ru}}</ref>

Chitigov was killed on 23 March 2005 in Chechnya in the Shali district center. According to the Russian state agency [[RIA Novosti]], Chitigov previously served in the [[Confederation of Mountain Peoples of the Caucasus]] and was "planning to use chemical and bacteriological weapons against federal forces".<ref name="globalsecurity">{{cite web |last1=Novosti |first1=Ria |title=WARLORD KILLED IN CHECHNYA WAS EX-U.S. MARINE |url=https://www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/news/2005/03/mil-050324-rianovosti21.htm |website=globalsecurity.org |access-date=17 February 2021}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chitigov, Rizvan}}
[[Category:2005 deaths]]
[[Category:People of the Central Intelligence Agency]]
[[Category:Chechen field commanders]]
[[Category:Deaths by firearm in Russia]]
[[Category:People of the Chechen wars]]
[[Category:Chechen warlords]]
[[Category:1964 births]]
[[Category:North Caucasian independence activists]]

{{Chechnya-bio-stub}}

Rizvan Chitigov - Revision history

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