| Chechen–Russian conflict | |||||||||
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| Part ofRusso-Caucasian conflict | |||||||||
 Location of the Chechen Republic(red) within the Russian Federation | |||||||||
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| Chechen states, militants and allied groups |
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TheChechen–Russian conflict (Russian:Чеченский конфликт,romanized: Chechensky konflikt;Chechen:Нохчийн-Оьрсийн дов,romanized: Noxçiyn-Örsiyn dov) was the centuries-longethnic andpolitical conflict, often armed, between theRussian,Soviet andImperial Russian governments and variousChechen forces. The recent phase of the conflict started after thedissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 and ended with the oppression of Chechen separatist leaders and crushing of the separatist movement in the republic proper in 2017.[3]
Formal hostilities in Chechnya date back to 1785, though elements of the conflict can be traced back considerably further.[4][3] TheRussian Empire ostensibly had little interest in theNorth Caucasus other than as a communication route to its ally theKingdom of Kartli-Kakheti (easternGeorgia) and its enemies, thePersian andOttoman Empires, but growing tensions triggered by Russian activities in the region resulted in an uprising of Chechens against the Russian presence in 1785, followed by further clashes and the outbreak of theCaucasian War in 1817. Russia officially won against theImamate in 1864 but only succeeded in defeating the Chechen forces in 1877.
During theRussian Civil War, Chechens and otherCaucasian nations lived inindependence for a few years before beingSovietized in 1921. In 1944 on the grounds of dubious allegations of widespread collaboration with the advancingGerman forces, the Chechen nation as a collective weredeported to Central Asia.
The most recent conflicts between the Chechen and Russian governments began in the 1990s. As theSoviet Union disintegrated, the Chechens declared independence in 1991. By late 1994, theFirst Chechen War broke out, and after two years of fighting, the Russian government negotiated a ceasefire in August 1996. In 1999, thefighting restarted, resulting in yet another major armed conflict, with a large number of casualties on both sides. There was vast destruction of the Chechen capital in thebattle of Grozny. The Russian military established control over Chechnya in late April 2000, ending the major combat phase of the war, withinsurgency and hostilities continuing for several years.[5][6][7] The end of the conflict was proclaimed by Russian authorities in 2017, ending a centuries-old struggle, at least in name. However, armed Chechen groups continue to operate in opposition to Russian forces in Ukraine and Syria.[8][9][10]
TheNorth Caucasus, a mountainous region that includesChechnya, spans or lies close to important trade and communication routes betweenRussia and theMiddle East, control of which have been fought over by various powers for millennia.[11] Russia's entry into the region followed TsarIvan the Terrible's conquest of theGolden Horde'sKhanates of Kazan andAstrakhan in 1556, initiating a long struggle for control of the North Caucasus routes with other contemporary powers includingPersia, theOttoman Empire and theCrimean Khanate.[12]
During the 16th century, theRussian Tsardom tried to win influence in the North Caucasus by allying themselves with local princes such as theTemryuk ofKabardia and Shikh-Murza Okotsky of Chechnya. Temryuk controlled the Northwest Caucasus and with Russia's help he managed to stave off Crimean incursions. Northeast Caucasus was largely controlled byShamkhal princes,Avar khans and the powerful lord of Okotsk (a Chechenfeudal entity) Prince Shikh whose influence reached all of Northeast Caucasus. These princes bought weapons and settled RussianCossacks near theTerek river to strengthen their rule and influence. Prince Shikh Okotsky had in his army around 500 Cossacks combined with 1,000 Okocheni (theChechens ofAukh), and often waged anti-Iranian and anti-Ottoman campaigns inDagestan.[13]
Prince Shikh's politics gave the Russian Tsardom more influence in the Northeast Caucasus, several Russian forts were set up along the Terek river (among them the stronghold ofTerki) and Cossack villages.[14] Prior to this the Cossacks had almost no presence in Chechnya and Dagestan. These villages and forts caused Chechens to distrust Prince Shikh since forts were built on Chechen owned pastures. The Michkizi (lowland Chechens) and part of the Okoki (a Chechen tribe of Aukh) that were loyal to the ChechenMullah Mayda joined the outcastKumyk prince Sultan-Mut who for a very long time allied with the Chechens living south of the Terek-Sulak interfluve. Sultan-Mut was at first against the Russian policies in theCaucasus, he along with the Chechens, Kumyks and Avars fought Russian Cossacks and burned down Russian forts. The Russian Tsar countered this by sending military expeditions into Dagestan. Both of these expeditions resulted in Russian defeat and culminated in the Battle of the Karaman Field where a Dagestani-Chechen army under Sultan-Mut defeated the Russian army. These failed expeditions and battles by Russia led to the weakening of Prince Shikh and his assassination in 1596 by one of Sultan-Mut's brothers.[15][16]
Sultan-Mut continued to pursue an anti-Russian policy into the early 17th century and was known to sometimes live among the Chechens and with them raid the Russian Cossacks.[17] However, this started to change as Sultan-Mut several times tried to join the Russians and asked for a citizenship. This switch of policy angered many Chechens and led to them distancing from Sultan-Mut. This caused a mistrust in Aukh between the people ofEndirey (Chechen-Kumyk city controlled by the Sultan-Mut family and his Chechen Sala-Uzden allies) and the Aukh Chechens.[18]
In 1774, Russia gained control ofOssetia, and with it the strategically importantDarial Pass, from the Ottomans. A few years later, in 1783, Russia signed theTreaty of Georgievsk withHeraclius II of theKingdom of Kartli-Kakheti, making the easternGeorgian kingdom—a Christianenclave surrounded by hostileMuslim states—a Russianprotectorate. To fulfill her obligations under the treaty,Catherine the Great, Empress of Russia, began construction of theGeorgian Military Road through the Darial Pass, along with a series of military forts to protect the route.[19] These activities, however, antagonized the Chechens, who saw the forts both as an encroachment on the traditional territories of the mountaineers and as a potential threat.[20]
The first significant conflict between the Chechens (and otherNorth Caucasian peoples) and the Russians broke out in 1708. This conflict was primarily driven by the actions of corrupt governors, local princes, and the imposition of discriminatory policies and taxes on the North Caucasian population. Tensions were further fueled byMurat Kuchukov, aBashkir religious and military leader allied with theTurlov prince,Amirkhamza Turlov.[21] As a result of Kuchukov's teachings, Kuchukov rallied over 1,600 fighters from across the North Caucasus, including 700 from the Chechen plain.[22] Notably, a large portion of Kuchukov's forces wereAukhs.[23]
In February 1708, these forces launched an assault on theTerki Fortress. However, the arrival of Russian and Kalmyk reinforcements turned the tide against the rebels. Ultimately, Murat Kuchukov was captured and subsequently executed, marking a decisive defeat for the North Caucasian insurgents.[24]
Around this time,Sheikh Mansur, a Chechenimam, began preaching a purified version ofIslam and encouraging the various mountain peoples of theNorth Caucasus to unite under the banner of Islam in order to protect themselves from further foreign encroachments. His activities were seen by theRussians as a threat to their own interests in the region, and in 1785, a 3,000 strong was sent to capture him. Failing to do so, it burned his unoccupied home village instead, but the force was ambushed by Mansur's followers on its return journey and annihilated, beginning the first Chechen–Russian war. Mansur grew in popularity and soon several thousand people from across theNorth Caucasus came to join his army. However, he failed to capture the fortresses ofKizlyar twice[a] and Grigoriopolis, after which many of his supporters left him. During hisCampaign to Kabardia he suffered a crushingdefeat at Tatartup. From there on began the decline of the insurgency, although Mansur continued mobilizing fighters, but in June 1787, he only managed to gather 1,000 men, who also soon left him after showingindecisivness in his campaigns. He left forCircassia in July of the same year, where he quickly gained the support of theCircassians. However, there he also suffered several heavy defeats, most notably during thebattle of the Urup River, where he was almost hit by an arrow and barely managed to escape through the mountains. The insurgency was eventually put down after hisfinal defeat at Anapa in July 1791, where he was captured. Mansur died in captivity in 1794.[25][26]
After Russia'sdefeat of French Napoleonic forces in the 1812 war, TsarAlexander I turned his attentions once more to theNorth Caucasus, assigning one of his most celebrated generals,Aleksey Petrovich Yermolov, to the conquest of the region. In 1817, Russian forces under Yermolov's command embarked upon theconquest of the Caucasus.[27] Yermolov's brutal tactics, which included economic warfare, collective punishment and forcible deportations, were initially successful, but have been described as counterproductive since they effectively ended Russian influence on Chechen society and culture and ensured the Chechens' enduring enmity.[citation needed] Yermolov was not relieved of command until 1827.[28][29]
A turning point in the conflict was marked in 1828 when theMuridism movement emerged. It was led byImam Shamil, a DagestaniAvar. In 1834 he united the Northeast Caucasus nations under Islam and declared "holy war" on Russia.[30] In 1845 Shamil's forces surrounded and killed thousands of Russian soldiers and several generals inDargo, forcing them to retreat.[30]
During theCrimean War of 1853–1856, the Chechens supported theOttoman Empire against Russia.[30] However, internal tribal conflicts weakened Shamil and he was captured in 1859.[31] The war formally ended in 1862 when Russia promised autonomy for Chechnya and other Caucasian ethnic groups.[31] However, Chechnya and the surrounding region, including northernDagestan, were incorporated into theRussian Empire as theTerek Oblast. Some Chechens have perceived Shamil's surrender as a betrayal, thus creating friction between Dagestanis and Chechens in this conflict, with the Dagestanis being frequently accused by Chechens as Russian collaborators.
After theRussian Revolution, the peoples of theNorth Caucasus came to establish theMountainous Republic of the Northern Caucasus. It existed until 1921, when they were forced to acceptSoviet rule.Joseph Stalin personally held negotiations with the Caucasian leaders in 1921 and promised a wide autonomy inside the Soviet state. TheMountain Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic was created that year, but only lasted until 1924 when it was abolished and six republics were created.[32] TheChecheno–Ingush Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic was established in 1934. Confrontations between the Chechens and the Soviet government arose in the late 1920s duringcollectivization. It declined by the mid-1930s after local leaders were arrested or killed.[33] TheChechen uprising of 1932 [ru] broke out in early 1932 and was defeated in March.
Nazi Germany invaded theSoviet Union in June 1941. Soviet historiography falsely accuses Chechens of joining theWehrmacht en masse, although this notion is not accepted in any other academic instances.[33] Modern Russian historiography itself also admits that there is little merit to these accusations.[36] By January 1943, the German retreat started, while the Soviet government began discussing the deportation ofChechen andIngush people far from the North Caucasus, this was despite the fact Chechens and Ingush served in theRed Army like any other of the nations in the Soviet Union. In February 1944, under the direct command ofLavrentiy Beria, almost half a million Chechens and Ingush were removed from their homes and forcibly settled inCentral Asia in an act ofethnic cleansing. They were put in forced labor camps inKazakhstan andKirghizia.[37] Estimates on casualties range from 170,000[38] up to 200,000,[39] with some evidence also indicating that 400,000 people perished.[40] The victims perished mostly due to hypothermia (freezing to death) and starvation, although massacres were not uncommon. The most notable of the massacres during the deportation was theKhaibakh massacre, in which an estimated 700 Chechen children, elderly and women were locked in a barn and burned alive, reportedly due to problems with their transportation.[41]Mikhail Gvishiani, the officer responsible for the massacre was praised and promised a medal byLavrentiy Beria himself.[41] A 2004European Parliament resolution states that the deportation was a genocide.[42][43][44]
In 1957, Chechens were allowed to return to their homes. TheChecheno–Ingush Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic was reestablished.[45] The violence began in 1958, upon a conflict between aRussian sailor and anIngush youngster over a girl, in which the Russian was fatally injured. The incident quickly deteriorated into mass ethnic riots, as Slavic mobs attacked Chechens and Ingushes and looted their property throughout the region for four days.[46] Ethnic clashes continued through the 1960s, and in 1965 some 16 clashes were reported, with 185 severe injuries, 19 of them fatal.[46] By the late 1960s, the region calmed down and the Chechen–Russian conflict came to its lowest point until thedissolution of the Soviet Union and the eruption of Chechen Wars in 1990.
In 1991, following theChechen Revolution,Chechnya declared independence as theChechen Republic of Ichkeria. According to some sources, from 1991 to 1994, tens of thousands of people of non-Chechen ethnicity (mostlyRussians,Ukrainians andArmenians) left the republic amidst reports of violence and discrimination against the non-Chechen population.[47][48][49] Other sources do not identify displacement as a significant factor in the events of the period, instead focusing on the deteriorating domestic situation within Chechnya, the aggressive politics of the Chechen President,Dzhokhar Dudayev, and the domestic political ambitions of Russian PresidentBoris Yeltsin.[50][51]Russian Army forces were commanded intoGrozny in 1994[52] but, after two years of intense fighting, the Russian troops eventually withdrew from Chechnya under theKhasavyurt Accord.[53] Chechnya preserved itsde facto independence until the second war broke out in 1999.[54]
In 1999, the Russian government forces started an anti-terrorist campaign in Chechnya, in response to theinvasion of Dagestan by Chechen-basedIslamic forces.[54] By early 2000 Russia almost completelydestroyed the city of Grozny and succeeded in putting Chechnya under direct control ofMoscow by late April.[54]
Since the end of theSecond Chechen War in May 2000, low-level insurgency has continued, particularly inChechnya,Ingushetia andDagestan. Russian security forces have succeeded in eliminating some of their leaders, such asShamil Basayev, who was killed on 10 July 2006.[55] After Basayev's death,Dokka Umarov took the leadership of the rebel forces inNorth Caucasus until his death, owing to poisoning, in 2013.[56]
Islamists from Chechnya and other North Caucasian republics have been blamed for a number of terrorist attacks throughout Russia,[57] most notably theRussian apartment bombings in 1999,[58] theMoscow theater hostage crisis in 2002,[59] theBeslan school hostage crisis in 2004, the2010 Moscow Metro bombings[60] and theDomodedovo International Airport bombing in 2011.[61]
Currently, Chechnya is now under the rule of itsRussian-appointed leaderRamzan Kadyrov. Though the oil-rich region has maintained relative stability under Kadyrov, he has been accused by critics and citizens of suppressing freedom of the press and violating other political and human rights. Because of this continued Russian rule, there were minor guerilla attacks by separatist groups in the area. Further adding to the tension,jihadist groups aligned with theIslamic State andAl-Qaeda existed in the region.[62]
SociologistGeorgi Derluguian described the situation in Chechnya as follows:[63]
And during the second war, after 1999, the Russians adopted a strategy which they thought was very smart – using elements of the Chechen resistance, who previously fought against the Russians but were lured to the Russian side, as death squads. But when you use, basically, pirates and rogues as death squads and you entrust local power to them as the occupational authority, the result is that you destroy whatever is left of regular governance structures.
Although insurgency between the Russian government and the Chechen militants ended in 2017, elimination of militants continued afterwards.[64][65][66][67]
The conflict betweenChechens andRussians is also seen outside the Russian border. During theSyrian Civil War, Chechen fighters that remain loyal to the collapsedChechen Republic of Ichkeria and radical ChechenIslamists had also fought against Russian Army and its allyBashar al-Assad inSyria, with desire to overthrow the Assad Government and replace it by a more Chechen-sympathized government.[68][69]
In 2014, many anti-Russian Chechens volunteered to fight in thewar in Donbas against Russia and theRussian separatist forces in Donbas as part of theUkrainian volunteer battalions, forming theSheikh Mansur andDzhokhar Dudayev Battalions.[70] The pro-Ukrainian Chechens see theRusso-Ukrainian War as a contribution to the larger anti-Russian struggle.[70] While Chechen forces under Kadyrov have been present both during theannexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation and the subsequent War in Donbas.[70]
On 23 August 2019,Zelimkhan Khangoshvili, a former military platoon commander for the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria during the Second Chechen War, was assassinated in aBerlin park, by a RussianFSB agent who was subsequently sentenced to life imprisonment by a German court.[71]
Chechnya had significant involvement with the 2022Russian invasion of Ukraine, pro-RussianKadyrovites from Chechnya were deployed in Ukraine as a boost to the Russian forces.[72] Western sources described the deployment of Chechen Kadyrovites as "leveraging the very presence of Chechen soldiers in Ukraine as a psychological weapon against Ukrainians".[73] While the Ukrainian Chechen volunteer battalions resumed their fight against the Russian forces.[74]
The exact number of Chechen casualties of this conflict are difficult to ascertain due to lack of records and the long time period of the clashes. One source indicates that at least 60,000Chechens were killed in theFirst andSecond Chechen War in the 1990s and 2000s alone.[75] High estimates of these two wars range of up to 150,000 or 160,000 killed, as put by Taus Djabrailov, the head of Chechnya's interim Parliament.[76]
According to the Russian Ministry of Ethnic Affairs, more than 21,000 Russians were killed in Chechnya from 1991 to 1999 (not counting those killed in military operations).[77]
Georgia also faced spillover violence from the Chechen conflict...
Russian military involvement into the Caucasus started early in the 18th century and in 1785–1791 the first major rebellion in Chechnya against the imperial rule took place.
After Basayev's death in 2006, the Chechen and Caucasus jihadists united under the command of Doku Umarov, one of the last remaining original leaders of the Chechen rebellion and a close associate of al Qaeda.
