Chechnya (Ichkeria)

Summary: Chechnya, located in the North Caucasus, is a republic within the Russian Federation. Chechens, mostly Sunni Muslims, have fought for independence periodically since the early nineteenth century. After the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991, the militant Chechen independence movement escalated. In 1996, Chechen independence fighters forced the Russian government in Moscow to withdraw its troops from the Chechen capital of Grozny, in what was widely viewed as a humiliation for the Russian Army, and to recognize a quasi-autonomous government there. But after 2000, when Russia asserted direct rule over the region, Chechen separatists evolved from an ethnic-centered nationalist movement intent on achieving independence into a religious-oriented movement whose leader in 2007 declared a "Caucasus Emirate" meant to include the entire region of the North Caucasus, though it was not actually in control of any territory.

The tactics of both Chechen independence fighters and Russian security forces have repeatedly brought criticism from international groups alleging human rights violations. For their part, the independence fighters often turned to terrorist tactics, including taking civilian hostages in a Moscow theater and a school in the town of Beslan, which resulted in many deaths. Russian forces have been accused of bombings that resulted in civilian casualties and brutal tactics that violated human rights.

Chechen Independence and Terrorism

The fight for Chechen independence dates from the early nineteenth century, when the expanding Russian Empire sought to bring the region of the Caucasus Mountains under its control. The campaign did not succeed until 1859, when Russian troops overcame resistance led by Imam Shamil. In addition to the nationalist flavor of the campaign, there was also a religious aspect since Chechens were generally Muslims, whereas in Russia, Orthodox Christianity was the official state religion. Then, as now, religious differences played an important role, with most Chechens being Muslims fighting against Russia, where the official religion was Eastern Orthodox Christianity. This included a campaign, defeated by Russia, by the Chechen leader Imam Shamil to establish an Islamic state in 1858. After the 1917 Russian Revolution, Chechens seized upon the resulting chaos to declare independence, only to be reconquered by forces of the Bolshevik government, which established the Chechen-Ingush Autonomous Region in 1924. This later became the autonomous Republic of Chechnya. During World War II, Chechens and Ingush fighters took advantage of the invasion by German troops to declare independence again—denounced as collaborating with Nazis by the government in Moscow—which resulted in a large-scale (estimates range from 400,000 to 800,000 people, of whom an estimated 100,000 died) deportation of Chechens to Central Asia and Siberia in 1944. This collaboration and subsequent deportation—Chechens were only allowed to return in 1956—played a significant role in attitudes on both sides of the conflict.

Chechens seized upon the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991 as another opportunity to declare independence. That year, Dzhokhar Dudayev was elected president of the Republic of Chechnya and declared independence, a move paralleled by other member republics of the USSR. Russian President Boris Yeltsin rejected Dudayev's claim of sovereignty and sent troops to the Chechen border. Dudayev mobilized 60,000 volunteers to resist an invasion, which never came. Three months later, on November 9, 1991, Chechen independence fighters hijacked a Russian plane to Turkey to publicize their movement; the hijacking was resolved peacefully, with passengers freed and hijackers given safe passage back to Chechnya.

Although Yeltsin did not initially invade Chechnya, neither did Russia recognize Chechen independence, considering it a breakaway member of the new Russian Federation. In late 1994, Yeltsin sent troops to quash the Chechen uprising, with disastrous results. Fighting continued until a cease-fire in 1995 and the withdrawal of Russian forces in 1996. The war introduced guerrilla attacks by Chechens inside Russia, including a June 1995 raid on a hospital in the southern Russian town of Budyonnovsk where 1,500 hostages were seized, and 105 civilians and police died. In January 1996, Chechens took several hundred hostages at a hospital in Kizlyar, in neighboring Dagestan, and put them aboard buses to move to Pervomaiskoye, near the Chechen border; many died in a subsequent Russian rescue attempt. In August 1966, Chechen independence fighters attacked Russian troops in the capital of Grozny, resulting in widespread devastation. In all, an estimated 80,000-100,000 Chechens died in the conflict, resulting in a humiliating withdrawal by Russia and Yeltsin recognizing Dudayev's government as a semi-autonomous republic.

Second Chechen War

In August 1999, 2,000 Chechen nationalists entered neighboring Dagestan to aid Islamist fundamentalists seeking to take over the government and unite with Chechnya. Russian President Vladimir Putin vowed to defeat the rebels, who often hid in the area's rugged mountainous regions. Thus began the second Chechen war, which included widespread use of terrorist tactics by the Chechens and often brutal measures by Russian troops—and Chechen allies of Russia—to assert control. The conflict also spread to neighboring Dagestan and Ingushetia, whose populations also are primarily Muslim.

Main Players

Russians:

Boris Yeltsin, president of Russia, after the collapse of the USSR. They refused to recognize Chechen independence in 1991. Initially backed off from invading but eventually sent troops into Chechnya in 1994 to quash repeated partisan attacks. They negotiated a truce in 1996 recognizing a quasi-autonomous Republic of Chechnya.

Vladimir Putin, the Russian prime minister named by Yeltsin in 1999 and elected president in 2000, long insisted on a hard-line policy against Chechen independence fighters. His policies resulted in accusations of human rights violations by Russian forces.

Dmitri Medvedev, president of Russia from 2008 to 2012, initially took a different approach, arguing that Chechnya—whose economy was devastated by the prolonged guerrilla campaign for independence—needed investment to create more jobs and a strong economy to make continued ties to Russia more attractive.

Chechens:

Dzhokhar Dudayev, a general in the Red Army, seized power in Grozny in a coup in 1991 and declared independence of the "republic of Ichkeria." Russian President Boris Yeltsin refused. Dudayev died in an April 1996 Russian missile attack.

Aslan Maskhadov, leader of Chechens in the fight against Russia from 1994 to 1996, widely credited with forcing Russians out of Chechnya for three years, was elected president in 1997 and died in a Russian attack in March 2005. Russia blamed Maskhadov for two of the most notorious terrorist attacks attributed to Chechens—the siege of a Moscow theater in 2002 and the hostage-taking of children in a school in Beslan in 2004. He denied responsibility for either attack.

Abdul-Khalim Saydullaye, a Muslim judge and one-time host of a television religious program in Grozny, succeeded Maskhadov in March 2005 as president of the "republic of Ichkeria," credited with expanding the war to neighboring republics in the North Caucasus and also with banning terrorist attacks on civilian targets and killed in a raid by Russian security forces, June 2006.

Doku Umarov, successor to Saydullaye in 2006. "Caucasus Emirate" was proclaimed to cover Chechnya, Ingushetia, and Dagestan in 2007. Reputed to have revived suicide bombing in 2009.

Shamil Basayev, a warlord, was blamed for, among other attacks, the hostage-taking attack on a school in Beslan in September 2004 in which hundreds of children died. Basayev was killed in July 2006.

Akhmad Kadyrov, once a rebel leader who called for jihad, was appointed president of Chechnya by Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2000. Elected president in the controversial 2003 election, he died in a rebel bombing in May 2004.

Alu Alkhanov, a senior police official who had long resisted the independence movement, was elected president of the pro-Russian regime to succeed Kadyrov in August 2004 with nearly 74 percent of the vote. In February 2007, Putin dismissed Alkhanov as president.

Ramzan Kadyrov, son of the former president, was appointed president of Chechnya to replace Alkhanov in 2007 by Vladimir Putin, then president of Russia. Kadyrov's security forces subsequently dealt nearly lethal blows against the independence movement. Those forces have also been accused of human rights abuses by external observers. A former Kadyrov bodyguard, Umar S. Israilov, accused him of kidnappings, torture, and murder. Israilov was later assassinated in Vienna, one of several assassinations of Kadyrov's foes.

Chechnya and Terrorism

The prolonged war for independence in Chechnya has included many terrorist attacks in Chechnya and neighboring Dagestan, Ingushetia, North Ossetia, and Russia, including Moscow. Among the most noteworthy attacks were:

October 23, 2002: Chechen rebels seize about 900 hostages in a Moscow theater during a performance; days later, the drama ends with 129 deaths.

May 14, 2003: Suicide bomb attack on religious festival in Iliskhan-Yurt, east of Grozny, kills eighty, wounds 145.

July 5, 2003: Two female suicide bombers kill fifteen and injure sixty at a Moscow open-air rock festival. A separate bomb attack the same day kills a female suicide bomber and eighteen others on a bus carrying Russian Air Force pilots near Chechnya.

August 1, 2003: Suicide bomber in Mozdok, North Ossetia (major staging area for Chechen operations), kills fifty in a military hospital.

December 5, 2003: A commuter train explosion in Stavropol, north of Chechnya, kills thirty-six and injures over 150.

December 9, 2003: Suicide bomber in central Moscow kills five.

February 6, 2004: Bomb on rush-hour subway in Moscow kills thirty, injures seventy.

May 4, 2004: Pro-Russian Chechen President Akmad Kadyrov dies in a bomb attack. Alu Alkhanov succeeded him.

June 22, 2004: Militants seize an interior ministry (police) building in Ingushetia; ninety-two people die, including a regional police minister.

August 24, 2004: Two Russian passenger planes explode in the air, killing eighty-nine. Authorities blame Chechen terrorists after finding traces of explosives in the wreckage.

August 31, 2004: Chechen female suicide bomber detonates bombs outside a Moscow subway station, killing nine people (plus herself), wounding fifty-one.

September 1-3, 2004: Chechen guerrillas seize several hundred hostages at a school in the southern Russian town of Beslan in North Ossetia. A shootout between hostage takers and Russian forces left 340 people dead, including 185 children (see separate Background Information Summary in this database.) The killing of children causes widespread revulsion among Chechens and causes a prolonged hiatus in suicide attacks.

August 21, 2006: An explosion blamed on Chechens kills ten in a suburban Moscow market.

August 13, 2007: A bomb on the Nevsky Express train between Moscow and St. Petersburg derails the train, injuring sixty.

August 31, 2007: A bus in Togliatti, southern Russia, is bombed during rush hour, killing eight and injuring fifty.

June 22, 2009: Ingushetia President Yunus-Bek Yevkurov is injured by a suicide bomb attack on his car.

August 17, 2009: A suicide bomber drives into the gates of the police station in Nazran, the largest city in Ingushetia. Twenty people died and 128 injured.

January 6, 2010: A suicide bombing in Dagestan kills seven police officers and injures twenty others at a traffic police station.

March 29, 2010: Two suicide bomb blasts within forty-five minutes of each other at two Moscow subway stations kill thirty-four and wound eighteen (see separate Background Information Summary in this database).

During the Chechen wars for independence, Russia tried to defeat rebels by bombing, resulting in allegations of significant civilian deaths of civilians and the dislocation of as many as one-third to one-half of Chechnya's population of about 1.3 million. In April 2001, the UN Commission on Human Rights adopted a resolution condemning human rights violations by Russian forces, including allegations of torture, summary executions, and "forced disappearances." The Russian government rejected the allegations.

Internal political issues

Some consider Chechnya a federal republic within the Russian Federation and an independent republic by others. Although the pro-Russian government claims to have been elected by over 80 percent of the voters, outside observers have disputed elections.

Economy

The independence movement since 1991 destroyed up to 80 percent of Chechnya's economy, in which oil production was a key element (reduced to 40 percent of pre-war levels). Unemployment is estimated as high as 60 to 70 percent.

Government

Chechnya is a semi-autonomous federal republic within the Russian Federation (separatists regard it as an independent republic). Since 2007, the government has been led by President Ramzan Kadyrov, named to the post by Russian President Vladimir Putin to replace Alu Alkhanov.

Head of government: Ramzan Kadyrov, named by Vladimir Putin to replace Alu Alkhanov as president in February 2007.

Other Key Officials:

Prime Minister: Anatoly Popov

Head of Security Council: Rudnik Dudayev

Key opposition and/or non-government organizations:

Separatist government. Independence forces recognize a government in exile that no foreign state recognizes. (The separatist government was recognized by the Taliban regime in Afghanistan and, briefly, by the independent state of Georgia.) The independence government is headed by Muslim cleric and former television host Abdul-Khalim Saydullayev, chosen by other exiles to succeed Aslan Maskhadov, who was killed by Russian special forces in March 2005. Saydullayev, in turn, was reported killed by Russian security forces on June 17, 2006.

Shamil Basayev, killed in a July 2006 raid conducted by personnel from Russia's FSB, was the best-known and, for a time, most potent Chechen separatist leader. He was responsible for vicious terrorist attacks in which civilians, including children, were taken hostage and later killed.

Doku Umarov, leader of the Chechen independence government following the deaths of Saydullayev and Basayev. Self-proclaimed "Emir of the Caucasus Emirate," Umarov has worked to revive Chechen use of suicide attacks, including "black widow" attacks.

Teips, or tribal clans, are highly influential in Chechnya. About 130 such Teips (some sources say up to 300) operate in Chechnya, especially in rural areas.

Economy

Oil: In the 1970s, Chechen produced twenty million tons of oil yearly, but by the mid-2010s, production decreased to less than one million tons. Petroleum is a critical element of the Chechen economy. Ongoing fighting has severely hurt production.

Vital Statistics

Population: 1.5 million (2021 census). About two-thirds of Chechens live outside cities, and over 80 percent are Sunni Muslims. The population of ethnic Russians, once about 23 percent of the people, dropped sharply during the post-1991 drive for independence. The average age was seventy for males and seventy-five for females, with one of the youngest populations within the Russian Federation.

Geography, Topography, Climate: Chechnya is an inland republic encompassing about 6,000 square miles in the Caucus region of southeast Russia. The Republic of Dagestan borders it on its east and north, Georgia on the south, and Ingushetia on the west.

Largest cities: Grozny (capital), population ~80,000.

Political Timeline

A condensed timeline of main political developments during the Chechen wars for independence:

1991: With the collapse of the USSR, fourteen regions achieved independence. Dzhokhar Dudayev was elected president of Chechnya and also declared independence. Still, Russia's President Boris Yeltsin refused to recognize Chechnya as an independent state and sent Russian troops to the border. Chechens muster resistance forces, and Russian troops pull back.

1994: Chechen independence fighters pursue kidnappings, prompting Russia to invade Chechnya at the start of the first Chechen war.

1995: Russian troops occupy Grozny, the Chechen capital. Dudayev was killed by a Russian rocket (March), succeeded by Army Chief of Staff Aslan Maskhadov.

1996: Chechens launch a counteroffensive. Chechen troops invaded Grozny. Russia agreed to a ceasefire, and Yeltsin ordered troop withdrawal in a significant humiliation for the Russian army. Casualties on both sides total about 70,000.

1997: Chechens elect army chief of staff Aslan Maskhadov president, defeating Shamil Basayev, who later became one of the most notorious Chechens associated with terrorist attacks.

1999: President Maskhadov declares (January) that Sharia (Islamic law) will be phased in over the next three years. Conflict spreads to neighboring Dagestan, where Russian troops suffer significant casualties battling Chechen guerrillas; Russia bombs Chechnya in retaliation. Government of Vladimir Putin refuses to negotiate with the Maskhadov government, instead recognizing the "state council of the Republic of Chechnya," based in Moscow, having been established by former members of Chechnya's parliament (October), a precursor to establishing direct control over Chechnya the following year.

2000: United Nations calls for investigations of human rights abuses by Russian troops and Chechen rebels. Russia established direct rule over Chechnya and appointed Akhmad Kadyrov as president.

2003: Chechens vote in a referendum to approve a constitution that leaves Chechnya part of the Russian Federation but with greater autonomy; militant separatists are barred from voting. Terrorist attacks occur throughout the year, challenging Russian claims of control. Kadyrov, named president by Russia in 2000, claims victory in presidential elections (September).

2004: Kadyrov killed in bombing (May); rebel warlord Shamil Basayev claims responsibility. Alu Alkhanov, like Kadyrov, a supporter of continued ties to Russia, elected president (August) with over 73 percent of the vote, followed by some of the most dramatic terrorist attacks of the Chechen war.

2005: Separatist leader Aslan Maskhadov—nominal president of the "independent" Chechen government—is killed by a Russian rocket; succeeded by Abdul-Khalim Saydullayev (March). Pro-Russia United Russia Party won a majority in the Chechen parliament (November).

2006: Separatist leader Saydullayev was killed in a raid by Russian security forces (June) and succeeded by Doku Umarov.

2007: President Vladimir Putin of Russia names Ramzan Kadyrov president of the pro-Moscow Chechen government (March). Separatist leader Umarov declared the "Caucasus Empire" (November), including territories of Chechnya, Dagestan, and Ingushetia, in an apparent effort to link the Chechen nationalist cause to global jihad.

2009: Russia announces official end to anti-insurgency campaign (April). Rebel leader Umarov revives dormant battalion of suicide bombers, including "black widow" female suicide bombers; resumes practice of suicide bombing attacks.

2017: Kadryov is sanctioned by the US for the systematic repression of his people.

2022: Chechnya supports the Russian invasion of Ukraine and aids in some fighting.

Bibliography

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Bowers, Stephen R. (2004). Suicide terrorism in the former USSR. Journal of Social, Political, & Economic Studies, 29(3), 261.

Moore C. (2014). Contemporary violence: Postmodern war in Kosovo and Chechnya. Manchester University Press.

Kuczyński, Grzegorz. (2022, Nov. 1). Ukrainian lawmakers recognize independence Of Chechen Republic Of Ichkeria. Warsaw War Institute. Retrieved Sept. 28, 2023, from https://warsawinstitute.org/ukrainian-lawmakers-recognize-independence-of-chechen-republic-of-ichkeria

Ratelle, Jean-François. (2019). Mairbek Vatchagaev, Chechnya: The Inside Story. From Independence to War. The Journal of Power Institutions in Post-Soviet Societies, 20(21). https://doi.org/10.4000/pipss.5824