Chechen–Russian conflict
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The Chechen–Russian conflict (
Formal hostilities in Chechnya date back to 1785, though elements of the conflict can be traced back considerably further.[4][3] The Russian Empire ostensibly had little interest in the North Caucasus other than as a communication route to its ally the Kingdom of Kartli-Kakheti (eastern Georgia) and its enemies, the Persian and Ottoman 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 the Caucasian War in 1817. Russia officially won against the Imamate in 1864 but only succeeded in defeating the Chechen forces in 1877.
During the
The most recent conflicts between the Chechen and Russian governments began in the 1990s. As the Soviet Union disintegrated, the Chechens declared independence in 1991. By late 1994, the First Chechen War broke out, and after two years of fighting, the Russian government negotiated a ceasefire in August 1996. In 1999, the fighting 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 the battle of Grozny. The Russian military established control over Chechnya in late April 2000, ending the major combat phase of the war, with insurgency and hostilities continuing for several years.[5][6][7] The end of the conflict was proclaimed in 2017, ending a centuries-old struggle.[8][9][10]
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.[11] 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.[12]
During the 16th century, the
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 of Terki) 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 Chechen Mullah Mayda joined the outcast Kumyk 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 the Caucasus, 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 of Endirey (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 of
History
Chechen conflict with the Russian Empire
Sheikh Mansur Movement and aftermath, 1785–1794
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 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 the North Caucasus came to join his army. However, he failed to capture the fortresses of Kizlyar twice[a] and Grigoriopolis, after which many of his supporters left him. During his Campaign to Kabardia he suffered a crushing defeat 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 showing indecisivness in his campaigns. He left for Circassia in July of the same year, where he quickly gained the support of the Circassians. However, there he also suffered several heavy defeats, most notably during the battle 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 his final defeat at Anapa in July 1791, where he was captured. Mansur died in captivity in 1794.[21][22]
Caucasian and Crimean Wars, 1817–64
After Russia's
A turning point in the conflict was marked in 1828 when the Muridism movement emerged. It was led by Imam Shamil, a Dagestani Avar. In 1834 he united the Northeast Caucasus nations under Islam and declared "holy war" on Russia.[26] In 1845 Shamil's forces surrounded and killed thousands of Russian soldiers and several generals in Dargo, forcing them to retreat.[26]
During the Crimean War of 1853–1856, the Chechens supported the Ottoman Empire against Russia.[26] However, internal tribal conflicts weakened Shamil and he was captured in 1859.[27] The war formally ended in 1862 when Russia promised autonomy for Chechnya and other Caucasian ethnic groups.[27] However, Chechnya and the surrounding region, including northern Dagestan, were incorporated into the Russian Empire as the Terek 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.
Russian Civil War and Soviet period
After the
Ethnic cleansing of Chechens from their homeland
Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union in June 1941. Soviet historiography falsely accuses Chechens of joining the Wehrmacht en masse, although this notion is not accepted in any other academic instances.[29] Modern Russian historiography itself also admits that there is little merit to these accusations.[32] 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, this was despite the fact Chechens and Ingush served in the Red Army like any other of the nations in the Soviet Union. In February 1944, under the direct command of Lavrentiy Beria, almost half a million Chechens and Ingush were removed from their homes and forcibly settled in Central Asia in an act of ethnic cleansing. They were put in forced labor camps in Kazakhstan and Kirghizia.[33] Estimates on casualties range from 170,000[34] up to 200,000,[35] with some evidence also indicating that 400,000 people perished.[36] 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 the Khaibakh 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.[37] Mikhail Gvishiani, the officer responsible for the massacre was praised and promised a medal by Lavrentiy Beria himself.[37] A 2004 European Parliament resolution states that the deportation was a genocide.[38][39][40]
Ethnic clashes (1958–65)
In 1957, Chechens were allowed to return to their homes. The
Post-Soviet era
Chechen Wars
In 1991, following the
In 1999, the Russian government forces started an anti-terrorist campaign in Chechnya, in response to the
Chechen insurgency
Since the end of the Second Chechen War in May 2000, low-level insurgency has continued, particularly in Chechnya, Ingushetia and Dagestan. Russian security forces have succeeded in eliminating some of their leaders, such as Shamil Basayev, who was killed on July 10, 2006.[51] After Basayev's death, Dokka Umarov took the leadership of the rebel forces in North Caucasus until his death, owing to poisoning, in 2013.[52]
Islamists from Chechnya and other North Caucasian republics have been blamed for a number of terrorist attacks throughout Russia,
Currently, Chechnya is now under the rule of its
Sociologist Georgi Derluguian described the situation in Chechnya as follows:[59]
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.[60][61][62][63]
Outside Russia
The conflict between
In 2014, many anti-Russian Chechens volunteered to fight in the
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 a Berlin park, by a Russian FSB agent who was subsequently sentenced to life imprisonment by a German court.[67]
Chechnya had significant involvement with the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, pro-Russian Kadyrovites from Chechnya were deployed in Ukraine as a boost to the Russian forces.[68] Western sources described the deployment of Chechen Kadyrovites as "leveraging the very presence of Chechen soldiers in Ukraine as a psychological weapon against Ukrainians".[69] While the Ukrainian Chechen volunteer battalions resumed their fight against the Russian forces.[70]
Casualties
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 60,000 Chechens were killed in the First and Second Chechen War in the 1990s and 2000s alone. [71] 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.[72]
See also
- Chechen involvement in the Russian invasion of Ukraine
- Islamic State insurgency in the North Caucasus
References
Notes
Citations
- ^ "Eurasia Overview". Patterns of Global Terrorism: 1999. Federation of American Scientists. Archived from the original on 26 April 2009.
Georgia also faced spillover violence from the Chechen conflict...
- ^ Gordon, Michael R. (November 17, 1999). "Georgia Trying Anxiously to Stay Out of Chechen War". The New York Times.
- ^ a b "Chechnya – Narrative" (PDF). University of Southern California. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-09-02. Retrieved 12 July 2013.
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.
- University of Maryland. Archived from the originalon 2013-12-20. Retrieved 12 July 2013.
- ^ "The Dormant Stage of the Chechen Insurgency and the Challenges It Poses to the Pro-Russian Chechen Regime".
- ^ "Insurgency in the North Caucasus: Lessons of the First Chechen War | Small Wars Journal".
- ^ "Ramzan Kadyrov claims the Chechen insurgency is over. Is it?". 18 February 2021.
- ^ "Глава ФСБ объявил о ликвидации бандподполья на Северном Кавказе". vz.ru (in Russian). 2017-12-19.
- ^ "Россия выиграла еще одну важнейшую битву". vz.ru (in Russian). 2017-12-19.
- ^ Mark Youngman (June 27, 2017). "Lessons From The Decline Of The North Caucasus Insurgency". crestresearch.ac.uk. Centre For Research and Evidence on Security Threats. Retrieved 2021-01-12.
- ^ Schaefer 2010, pp. 49–50.
- ^ Schaefer 2010, pp. 51–54.
- ISBN 5766605404.
- . Retrieved 2020-08-04.
- ^ "Религиозная борьба на территории Чечни и Дагестана (Амин Тесаев) / Проза.ру". proza.ru. Retrieved 2020-08-04.
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- ^ "Neue Seite 39". www.vostlit.info. Retrieved 2020-08-04.
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- ^ Schaefer 2010, pp. 54–55.
- ^ Schaefer 2010, pp. 55–57.
- ^ Schaefer 2010, pp. 55–58.
- ^ Dunlop 1998, pp. 10–13.
- ^ Shultz 2006, p. 115.
- ^ Daniel, pp. 13–18.
- ^ Schaefer 2010, pp. 58–61.
- ^ a b c Shultz 2006, p. 116.
- ^ a b Shultz 2006, p. 117.
- ^ Shultz 2006, p. 118.
- ^ a b Shultz 2006, p. 119.
- ^ "Почему в Грозном дважды сносили памятник Ермолову?". Яндекс Дзен | Платформа для авторов, издателей и брендов. Retrieved 2020-08-02.
- ^ Узел, Кавказский. "Историки констатировали попытки властей России героизировать генерала Ермолова". Кавказский Узел. Retrieved 2020-08-02.
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- ^ Shultz 2006, pp. 120–121.
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- OCLC 56907941.
- ^ "After 73 years, the memory of Stalin's deportation of Chechens and Ingush still haunts the survivors". OC Media. Retrieved 2020-08-03.
- ^ OCLC 56450364.
- ^ "Texts adopted - Thursday, 26 February 2004 - EU-Russia relations - P5_TA(2004)0121". www.europarl.europa.eu. Retrieved 2020-08-09.
- ^ "UNPO: Chechnya: European Parliament recognises the genocide of the Chechen People in 1944". 2012-06-04. Archived from the original on 2012-06-04. Retrieved 2020-08-09.
- ^ Узел, Кавказский. "European Parliament recognizes deportation of Chechens and Ingushetians ordered by Stalin as genocide". Caucasian Knot. Retrieved 2020-08-09.
- ^ Shultz 2006, p. 121.
- ^ a b Seely, R. Russo-Chechen conflict, 1800–2000: A Deadly Embrace. Frank Cass Publishers. 2001.
- ^ O.P. Orlov; V.P. Cherkassov. "Russia–Chechnya: A chain of mistakes and crimes" Россия — Чечня: Цепь ошибок и преступлений (in Russian). Memorial. Archived from the original on 2017-02-09. Retrieved 2013-09-27.
- ^ Kempton & Clark 2001, p. 122.
- ^ Smith 2005, p. 134.
- ^ King 2008, pp. 234–237.
- ^ Ware 2005, pp. 79–87.
- ^ Kumar 2006, p. 61.
- ^ Kumar 2006, p. 65.
- ^ a b c James & Goetze 2001, p. 169.
- ^ Parsons, Robert (8 July 2006). "Basayev's Death Confirmed". Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. Retrieved 8 July 2013.
- Long War Journal. Retrieved 10 July 2013.
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.
- ^ Williams, Carol J. (19 April 2013). "A history of terrorism out of Chechnya". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 13 July 2013.
- ^ Feifer, Gregory (9 September 2009). "Ten Years On, Troubling Questions Linger Over Russian Apartment Bombings". Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. Retrieved 13 July 2013.
- ^ Krechetnikov, Artem (24 October 2012). "Moscow theatre siege: Questions remain unanswered". BBC News. Retrieved 13 July 2013.
- ^ "Chechen rebel claims Moscow attacks". Al Jazeera. 31 March 2010. Retrieved 13 July 2013.
- ^ "Chechen warlord Doku Umarov admits Moscow airport bomb". BBC News. 8 February 2011. Retrieved 13 July 2013.
- ^ "Chechnya profile". BBC News. 17 January 2018.
- ^ Harris, Kevan (13 October 2005). "Interview with Georgi Derluguian". NoDoctors.com. Archived from the original on 14 October 2006. Retrieved 24 June 2015.
- ^ "Page doesn't exist".[permanent dead link]
- ^ "Page doesn't exist".[permanent dead link]
- ^ "Page doesn't exist".[permanent dead link]
- ^ Nechepurenko, Ivan; Specia, Megan (19 May 2018). "Gunmen Attack Church in Russia's Chechnya Region, Killing 3". The New York Times.
- ^ Refugees, United Nations High Commissioner for. "Refworld | Chechens Are Among Foreigners Fighting to Overthrow Bashar al-Assad". Refworld.
- ^ "Ali ash-Shishani: "Like all Chechens in Syria, I miss Chechnya" | NewСaucasus".
- ^ a b c "'We like partisan warfare.' Chechens fighting in Ukraine - on both sides". the Guardian. 2015-07-24. Archived from the original on 21 March 2022. Retrieved 2022-03-19.
- ^ "Berlin Chechen shooting: Russian assassination suspected". BBC News. 27 August 2019. Retrieved 17 September 2019.
- ^ "Chechen leader, a Putin ally, says his forces deployed to Ukraine". www.aljazeera.com. Retrieved 2022-03-24.
- ^ Justin Ling. "Russia Tries to Terrorize Ukraine With Images of Chechen Soldiers." Foreign Policy. 26 February 2022. Retrieved 26 February 2022.
- ^ Hauer, Neil (2022-03-03). "Chechens Fighting Chechens in Ukraine". New Lines Magazine. Retrieved 2022-03-27.
- ^ Crawford & Rossiter 2006, p. 99.
- ^ "Russia: Chechen Official Puts War Death Toll At 160,000". Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. August 16, 2005. Retrieved 4 October 2017.
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