[1] Georgi Derluguian has described him as a "wonderfully opportunistic journalist" and an "autodidactic master of Chechen war propaganda" who, outside Islamic sources, also quotes Western authors such as Gramsci and Huntington.
In August 1996, Udugov was appointed First Deputy Prime Minister of Chechen Republic for state policy and information in the war-time cabinet of Zelimkhan Yandarbiyev who became acting president after Dudayev was killed by a Russian missile strike.
In 1996-1997 he travelled to Moscow on a number of occasions for talks with members of the Security Council of Russia and Russian government, including as part of the Chechen delegation sent for the signing of peace treaty at the Kremlin.
Reports soon emerged about his stay in Afghanistan, Scandinavia, Turkey, Persian Gulf countries and, possibly, the United States; although no evidence has been offered to support any of these claims.
Since February 2006, following his victory in a dispute with exiled moderate Chechen leader Akhmed Zakayev, he once again became an official rebel spokesman, heading the National Information Service (NIS) of the State Defense Council.