I don’t think the Chechens thought they were part of Russia. Let’s not forget that the Soviet special forces commander who refused Gorbachev’s order to open fire on civilians in the baltic was a Chechen. Gorbachev fired him for that. He then went back to Chechnya, got himself elected, and promptly seceded. As far as the Chechens were concerned, they weren’t doing anything any different from what the Baltic states were doing. Let’s also remember that the Chechens initially won their independence from Russia. They would still be independent today if they hadn’t foolishly tried to pick off Ingushetia and Daghestan, prompting Putin to re-invade.
You are slightly mistaken here. The event happened during the 1991 August Putsch and “Gang of Eight” had Gorbachev locked away somewhere. Dudayev was ordered to send his men against civilians and take the Tallinn TV tower, but he demanded that this kind of order must be confirmed by Gorbachev. Of course there was no Gorbachev to confirm and that is why the Gang had to find some other commander who would obey.
Pskov airborne obeyed, but it was farther from Tallinn and it took longer for them to get there. That delay proved very luckily and no one died in Tallinn although it got very tense (In January same year Soviet forces had killed 14 civilians defending Vilnius TV tower). The Tallinn defenders were up in the tower with light weapons and grenades. They had disabled the elevator and threatened that when they can no longer defend the stairs they will turn on the anti-fire system that fills the whole tower with some anti-fire gas and kills everyone inside it. That held the airborne troops back long enough so that the Putchists lost.
This picture is from in front of Tallinn TV tower that day with people blocking the airborne troops.
