Chechen–Russian conflict

Submitted by
MUHAMMAD HUSNAIN
Roll No. 06
M.PHIL International Relation
Semester 2nd

Submitted To
MADAM AMMARA

DEPARTMENT OF POLITICAL SCIENCE AND IR

MINHAJ UNIVERSITY
LAHORE
Chechen–Russian conflict
The Chechen–Russian conflict is the centuries-long conflict, often armed, between the Russian
(formerly Soviet) government and various Chechen nationalist and Islamist forces. Formal
hostilities date back to 1785, though elements of the conflict can be traced back considerably
further. Even at this official date, the conflict is the longest active war in the world.
The Russian Empire initially had little interest in the North Caucasus itself other than as a
communication route to its ally Georgia and its enemies, the Persian and Ottoman Empires, but
growing tensions triggered by Russian activities in the region resulted in an uprising of Chech
peeps vs Russians plus Old Vlady´s army. 3 Guesses who won.
During the Russian Civil War, Chechens and other Caucasian nations lived in independence for a
few years before being Sovietized in 1921. During the Second World War, the Chechens saw the
German invasion as an opportunity to revolt against the Soviet regime. In response, they were
deported en masse to Central Asia where they were forced to stay until 1957.
The most recent conflict between Chechen and the Russian government took place in the 1990s.
As the Soviet Union disintegrated, the Chechen separatists declared independence in 1991. By
late 1994 the First Chechen War broke out and after two years of fighting the Russian forces
withdrew from the region. In 1999, the fighting restarted and concluded the next year with the
Russian security forces establishing control over Chechnya.

Origins
The North Caucasus, a mountainous region that includes Chechnya, spans or lies close to
important trade and communication routes between Russia and the Middle East, control of which
have been fought over by various powers for millennia. Russia's entry into the region followed
Tsar Ivan the Terrible's conquest of the Golden Horde's Khanates of Kazan and Astrakhan in
1556, initiating a long struggle for control of the North Caucasus routes with other contemporary
powers including Persia, the Ottoman Empire and the Crimean Khanate. Internal divisions
prevented Russia from effectively projecting its power into the region until the 18th century;
however, Russian-allied Cossacks began settling the North Caucasus lowlands following Ivan's
conquests, sparking tensions and occasional clashes with Chechens, who at this time were
themselves increasingly settling the lowlands due to adverse climatic changesin their traditional
mountain strongholds.
In 1774, Russia gained control of Ossetia, and with it the strategically important Darial Pass,
from the Ottomans. A few years later, in 1783, Russia signed the Treaty of Georgievskwith
Georgia, making Georgia—a Christian enclave surrounded by hostile Muslim states—a
Russian protectorate. To fulfill her obligations under the treaty, Catherine the Great, Empress of
Russia, began construction of the Georgian Military Road through the Darial Pass, along with a
series of military forts to protect the route. 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.
Chechen conflict with the Russian Empire
Sheikh Mansur uprising and aftermath, 1785–1894

Sheikh Mansur

Around this time, Sheikh Mansur, a Chechen imam, began preaching a purified version

of Islam and encouraging the various mountain peoples of the North Caucasus to unite under the
banner of Islam in order to protect themselves from further foreign encroachments. His activities
were seen by the Russians as a threat to their own interests in the region, and in 1785, a force
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. The war lasted several years, with Mansur employing mostly guerilla
tactics and the Russians conducting further punitive raids on Chechen villages, until Mansur's
capture in 1791. Mansur died in captivity in 1794.
In 1801, Russia formally annexed Georgia, deepening Russia's commitment to the region. In
subsequent years, a growing number of small-scale raids and ambushes by Chechen fighters on
Russian forces moving through the Caucasus prompted the Russians to mount two substantial
military expeditions into Chechen territory, both of which were defeated, and Russian leaders
began considering more drastic measures. These were postponed however by Napoleon's
1812 invasion of Russia.
Caucasian and Crimean Wars, 1817–64
General Yermolov (left) and Imam Shamil (right)
Main article: Caucasian War
After Russia's defeat of French Napoleonic forces in the 1812 war, Tsar Alexander I turned his
attentions once more to the North Caucasus, assigning one of his most celebrated
generals, Aleksey PetrovichYermolov, to the pacification of the region. In 1817, Russian forces
under Yermolov's command embarked upon the conquest of the Caucasus. 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.
Yermolov was not relieved of command until 1827.
A turning point in the conflict was marked in 1828 when the Muridism movement emerged. It
was led by Imam Shamil. In 1834 he united the North Caucasus nations under Islam and
declared "holy war" on Russia. In 1845 Shamil's forces surrounded and killed thousands of
Russian soldiers and several generals in Dargo, forcing them to retreat.
During the Crimean War of 1853–6, the Chechens supported the Ottoman Empire against
Russia. However, internal tribal conflicts weakened Shamil and he was captured in 1859.The war
formally ended in 1862 when Russia promised autonomy for Chechnya and other Caucasian
ethnic groups.However, Chechnya and the surrounding region, including northern Dagestan,
were incorporated into Russia as the Terek Oblast.

Russian Civil War and Soviet period

After the Russian Revolution, the mountain people of the North Caucasus came to establish
the Mountainous Republic of the Northern Caucasus. It existed until 1921, when they were
forced to accept Soviet rule. Joseph Stalin personally held negotiations with the Caucasian
leaders in 1921 and promised a wide autonomy inside the Soviet state. The Mountain
Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic was created that year, but only lasted until 1924 when it
was abolished and six republics were created.[18] The Chechen–Ingush Autonomous Soviet
Socialist Republic was established in 1934. Confrontations between the Chechens and the Soviet
government arose in the late 1920s during collectivization. It declined by the mid-1930s after
local leaders were arrested or killed.
World War II
Main articles: 1940–44 insurgency in Chechnya and Operation Lentil (Caucasus)

Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union in June 1941. According to Soviet sources, Chechens
joined the Wehrmacht, although this claim is disputed as little evidence exists. By January 1943,
the German retreat started, while the Soviet government began discussing the deportation of
Chechen and Ingush people far from the North Caucasus. In February 1944, under the direct
command of Lavrentiy Beria, almost half million Chechens and Ingush were removed from their
homes and forcibly settled in Central Asia. They were put in forced labor camps
in Kazakhstan and Kirgiziya. After Stalin's death in 1953, Nikita Khrushchev came to power and
soon denounced his predecessor. In 1957, Chechens were allowed to return to their homes. The
Chechen–Ingush Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic was reestablished.
Ethnic clashes (1958-65)
Main articles: Chechen-Slav ethnic clashes (1958–65) and 1958 Grozny riots

In 1957, Chechens were allowed to return to their homes. The Chechen–Ingush Autonomous
Soviet Socialist Republic was reestablished. The violence began in 1958, upon a conflict
between a Russian sailor and an Ingush 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 property throughout the region for 4 days. Ethnic clashes
continued through 1960s, and in 1965 some 16 clashes were reported, taking tall of 185 severe
injuries, 19 of them fatal.[22] By late 1960, the region calmed down and the Chechen-Russian
conflict came to its lowest point until the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the eruption of
Chechen Wars in 1990.

Post-Soviet era
Chechen Wars
Main articles: First Chechen War and Second Chechen War

A Chechen fighter with a Borz submachine gun, 1995

In 1991, Chechnya declared independence and was named the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria.
According to some sources, from 1991 to 1994, tens of thousands of people of non-Chechen
ethnicity (mostly Russians, Ukrainians and Armenians) left the republic amidst reports of
violence and discrimination against the non-Chechen population. Other sources do not identify
displacement as a significant factor in the events of the period, instead focussing on the
deteriorating domestic situation within Chechnya, the aggressive politics of the Chechyen
President, DzhokharDudayev, and the domestic political ambitions of Russian President Boris
Yeltsin. Russian army forces invaded Grozny in 1994 but, after two years of intense fighting, the
Russian troops eventually withdrew from Chechnya under the Khasavyurt Accord. Chechnya
preserved its de factoindependence until the second war broke out in 1999.

Current Conflict
Following the Chechen defeat in Dagestan, Moscow and other Russian cities suffered bomb
blasts killing more than 300 people. Chechens were blamed for the attacks, though it was never
proven. This has also led to a rise in racist sentimentsagainst people mainly from the Caucasus
regions. The response by the new Russian President, Vladimir Putin was brutal. Some
analysts believe that Putin had calculated this response would help his 2000 election.

Russia' full scale war with Chechnya led to many bombing raids by Russian forces. Some one
third to half of the 1.3 million Chechen people are said to have fled from Chechnya. Slowly
Grozny and other parts of Chechnya were being pounded and destroyed, while civilian
population were caught in the middle of the conflict. Civilian casualties were high and there was
an international outcry at the brutal Russian crackdown and indiscriminate bombing and
targeting of civilians.

Human Rights groups raised concern at the rampage that the Russian forces were on after having
issued what appeared to be an ultimatum for citizens in Grozny to evacuate. (The previous link is
to a report that admits that the Russian government tried to give an opportunity for citizens to
leave but criticized how Russia would assume that those left behind would be considered
terrorists.) The Russian troops were accused of looting and burning homes and buildings, even
executing those who resisted. The rest of the G8 and the European Union had even threatened to
isolate Moscow if they continued their campaign.

On April 20, 2000 there was an offer of a cease-fire by the Chechen President,
AshlanMashkadov. But it was not clear at the time if it could have been maintained. Russian
demands were stern and it was not certain if all factions would abide given the increasing
number of criminal gangs and factions of warlords. And by June 2000, there was more rebel
fighting, suicide attacks and increased guerilla warfare by Chechen combatants, indicating that
the conflict was far from over.

As Human Rights Watch further reported, in April 2001, the U.N. Commission on Human Rights
adopted a resolution on Chechnya that condemned serious human rights violations by Russia's
forces, and raised concern about forced disappearances, torture, and summary executions.
Sponsored by the E.U., and with strong U.S. backing, the resolution called for U.N. special
rapporteurs to investigate these abuses in the war-torn republic and for credible criminal
investigations by domestic agencies into all human rights and humanitarian law violations.
Russia rejected a similar resolution adopted by the commission last year, and refused to comply
with its requirements. It has vowed to do the same this year.