Dear Friend!
Yes, Maskhadov was the elected Chechen president! He was killed by Russians, but he was same way betrayed by the Chechen commanders who didn't wan't peace and pressed always on him.
He was one of very few people in this conflict with a human face, that is why I respect him a lot.
Basayev and some others were beasts. have an Armenian friend who was fighting on one side with Basayev in Abkhazia war, and he always told me about how dishuman he was to his enemies, playing football with their heads. Such people destroyed Chechnya and their independance. It is difficult to keep independence in Caucasus as we are all small nations. So we have to be most strong , most moral and most previewing - if somebody misses it - he looses his right for a free life. As every power, may it be Russia, Turkey , USA, Europe or Irn will use that. And me personally prefer Iran or RUssia in this case, as they are at least in our region and are more interested in peace than the others.