In 1997, the newly elected Chechen president Aslan Maskhadov stripped Raduyev of the rank of brigadier general to private. However, further action was blocked by a public opposition from Raduyev-led war veterans, including a prolonged rally in Grozny. This rally ended in a shootout, resulting in the deaths of both the commander of Raduyev's militia, Vakha Dzhafarov, and of the Chechen security forces chief Lechi Khultygov. Meanwhile, Raduyev kept claiming responsibility for every explosion in Russia, including even accidental gas leaks. He claimed that Dudayev, who had died in 1996, was still alive, and issuing orders to him from "a secret NATO base in Turkey" with the goal of the "liberation" of the entire North Caucasus. Raduyev's eccentric behavior, however, was not widely popular in Chechnya. Many openly doubted his sanity: in an interview in 1997, Maskhadov described Raduyev as "mentally ill"; even Basayev, who has been Raduyev's ally in the opposition against Maskhadov, reportedly called him "crazy." In October 1997, Raduyev was again severely injured by a car bomb which killed three other people. Previously, he had survived at least two other assassination attempts, in April and July 1997.