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Chechnya is a breakaway republic in Russian North Caucasia seeking independence from Russia.
Geography
- Capital: Grozny
- Population: 1.3 million
- Area: 19.3 thousand square km
- Other Principal Cities: Gudermes, Argun and Shali
- Borders:
Demographics
- Religion: Sunni Muslim since the 16th to the 18th century.
- Chechen and Russian are used.
- The Chechen language is member of the Caucasian languages group.
History
Chechen society has traditionally been organized around many autonomous local clans, called teips. Even today, many Chechens consider themselves loyal to their teip above all, one reason why it has been difficult to forge a united political front against Russia.
Imperial Russian forces began moving into Chechnya in 1830 to secure Russia's borders with the Ottoman Empire. The Chechens resisted fiercely, led by national hero Imam Shamil, but Chechnya was finally incorporated into the Russian Empire in 1859.
Soviet dictator Josef Stalin granted the Chechnya-Ingushetia region status as an autonomous republic within the Soviet Union in 1936. During World War II, the Soviet government accused the Chechens of cooperating with the Nazi invaders. On orders from Stalin, the entire population of the republic was exiled to Kazakhstan. Over a quarter died. The Chechens were allowed to return only in 1957, four years after Stalin's death in 1953.
Recent History
Since Chechnya declared independence in 1991, Russia has attempted to re-take the country twice. Russia refuses to recognize Chechen independence. Many ethnic minorities exist in the Russian Federation alongside a predominately Russian culture, and commentators speculate that if Russia permits Chechen independence, then other groups might also push for independence. The civil wars following the breakup of Yugoslavia serve as a example Russians do not want to follow.
On October 27, 1991, Dzhokhar Dudayev was elected president of Chechnya. He declared independence on November 1, 1991. Under Dudayev's rule, the Chechen economy fell apart as organized criminal gangs acquired progressively more power. In 1992, Dudayev broke ties with Ingushetia. The Russian government supported a failed coup designed to overthrow Dudayev in 1994.
First Chechen War: 1994-1996
Russian forces overran Grozny in November 1995. Although the Russians achieved some initial successes, the Russian military made a number of critical strategic blunders during the Chechnya campaign and was widely perceived as incompetent. Led by Aslan Maskhadov, the Chechens conducted successful guerrilla operations from the mountainous terrain. Russian President Boris Yeltsin declared a unilateral cease-fire in April 1995.
In June, 1995, Chechen guerrillas occupied a hospital in southern Russian town of Budyonnovsk, taking over 1,000 hostages. Russian forces attempted to storm the hospital twice and failed. The Chechens were allowed to leave after freeing their hostages.
This incident, televised accounts of Chechen soldiers torturing and executing captured Russian soldiers and Chechen collaborators, and the resulting widespread demoralization of the Russian army, led to a Russian withdrawal and the beginning of negotiations on March 21, 1996.
President Dudayev was killed in a rocket attack on April 21, 1996. Negotations on Chechen independence were repeatedly postponed by the Russians due to alleged terrorist attacks, and finally tabled in August, 1996.
Maskhadov was elected President in 1997, but was unable to consolidate control as the country devolved into regional bickering among local teip leaders and organized criminal factions.
Second Chechen War: 1999-Present
Renegade Chechen army commanders reportedly financed by Osama bin Laden led a band of soldiers into Dagestan in August, 1999. On September 9, 1999, Chechens were blamed for the bombing of an apartment complex in Moscow and several other unexplained explosions in Russia. Despite a lack of evidence, Russia's new prime minister, Vladimir Putin, ordered forces back into Chechen territory on these pretexts. Currently, most of Chechnya is occupied by the Russian military, who have installed a puppet government of Chechen collaborators into local government offices.
Many Chechen rebels have retreated into Kerigo Gorge in Georgia. Russia accuses the Georgian government of willingly harboring terrorists and demands that the Georgian government take action against the Chechens. Several Chechens have been detained by Georgian authorities, but Russia claims that these are empty gestures, and has repeatedly warned Georgia that if real measures are not taken soon to control the Chechen rebels, it will invade and control them itself. Many analysts believe that Russia is waiting for the United States to invade Iraq first, so that it can label the Chechens as terrorists, and justify an invasion of Georgia on the same grounds as the United States claim in Iraq.
Putin announced that the Chechen war had ended in early 2002, but Chechen forces still effectively control a large portion of the mountainous southern regions of the country and regularly skirmish with Russian troops. Collaborators are also regular targets. Russian withdrawl is unlikely, due both to widespread outrage over the Moscow theater siege and to the notorious corruption of the Russian army. The war budget for Chechnya is a tremendous source of personal revenue for various officials who skim money designated for equipment and soldiers' salaries, and most of the Chechen soldiers' weapons are Russian made and rumored to have been purchased from Russian soldiers. For their part, the Chechen rebels control a lucrative illegal drug and oil smuggling trade.
Both the Russian and Chechen armies have been widely criticized by human rights groups such as Amnesty International for alleged war crimes committed during the two Chechen wars, including well-documented accusations on both sides of rape, torture, looting, and the murder of civilians.
The Moscow Theatre Siege
On October 23, 2002, a group of Chechen guerrillas seized the House of Culture for the State Ball-Bearing Plant Number 1 in Moscow, taking over 700 theatergoers and performers hostage. They indicated that the hostages would be killed if Russian forces did not immediately withdraw from Chechnya, and that the building would be blown up if authorities attempted to enter the building. Russian commandos pumped sleeping gas into the building several days later, entered the building, and shot the unconscious terrorists. The gas, which the Russian government refused to identify to doctors, also killed at least 115 of the hostages. The incident triggered a shift in Russian policy towards Chechnya, with Russian President Vladimir Putin indicating the beginnings of a new, hard line approach and a United States style war on terrorism.
See related article.
Politics
Chechnya is a republic. The president, Aslan Maskhadov, was elected in an internationally monitored election in 1997. However, President Maskhadov has been unable to influence a number of warlords who retain effective control over Chechen territory. Russia refuses to recognize the Chechen government. Most other countries do not officially recognize Chechen independence, in order to avoid jeopardizing their diplomatic relationships with Russia.
The Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister is Akhmed Zakayev, appointed by President Maskhadov shortly after the 1997 election. Zakayev was involved in negotiations with Russian representatives before and after the September 1999 Russian offensive. He was involved in organizing an October 2002 World Chechen Congress in Copenhagen, Denmark, which brought together Chechens and Russian human rights activists. After the Moscow theater siege, Zakayev was detained in Copenhagen at the request of Russian authorities. The Russians are requesting his extradition, though Danish courts usually do not extradite persons when they face the death penalty.