Chechnya

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Chechnya

• Marc Gerst

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Discussion Questions 1 2

• Where is Chechnya?

• What Is Chechnya?

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(No Transcript)
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History

• Surrounded by vastly different ethnic groups
  Chechens have long sought their own national
  identity.
• In the 15th Century the inhabitants were mostly
  converted to Islam, by Invading Turks from the
  Ottoman Empire.
• In the 1700s Russian influence began to seep
  into Chechnya, this was heavily resisted.
• Conflict against Russian occupation was sporadic,
  but lasting for over 20 years.

Chechnya in 1912
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Soviet Rule

• During the Russian Revolutions, resistance in
  Chechnya swelled once again.
• These were crushed by the Red Guards under
  Trotsky.
• After the Civil War, Chechnya was combined with
  Ingushetia to form an Autonomous Republic.

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World War II

• When Germany invaded Russia Chechens fought on
  both sides.
• Some joined a pro German Russian army.
• 40,000 joined the Red Army, 40 of which earned
  Hero of the Soviet Union.
• Nevertheless the Chechen population was rounded
  up and exiled to Kazakhstan.
• They were not allowed to return until 1956 during
  De-Stalinization.

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1960s-1980s

• Russification policies towards Chechens continued
  after the war. Only Russian speakers would be
  allowed into government or other positions.
• This was met with success. Several Chechens
  achieved high government positions.
• Chechnya remained peaceful and loyal until
  Glasnost in the 1980s.

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Yeltsins Three Points

• When the Soviet Union broke up in the early 1990s
  several Republics gained their independence. An
  independence movement started in Chechnya but was
  opposed by Boris Yeltsin who argued
• (1) Chechnya had not been an independent entity
  within the Soviet Union as the Baltic, Central
  Asian, and other Caucasian States had but was a
  part of the Russian Soviet Federal Socialist
  Republic and hence did not have a right under the
  Soviet constitution to secede
• (2) Other ethnic groups inside Russia, such as
  the Tatars, would join the Chechens and secede
  from the Russian Federation if they were granted
  that right and
• (3) Chechnya was at a major chokepoint in the
  oil-infrastructure of the country and hence would
  hurt the country's economy and control of oil
  resources

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Independence

• Dzhokhar Dudayev declares Chechnya independent.
• Chechnya turns to chaos, new government unable to
  govern efficiently amidst corruption.
• Slave trade, widespread murder, and terrorism run
  rampet.
• Boris Yeltsin orders 40,000 troops to retake
  Chechnya. Advisers tell him it will be a short
  victorious war that will help him in the 1996
  elections.

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First Chechen War

• Russian troops enter Gorzny in 1994 with little
  preparation.
• Russian forces suffer grave losses but push back
  the majority of Chechen resistance to the
  surrounding mountains.
• Several terrorist attacks take place in both
  Chechnya and Southern Russia against civilians.

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First Chechen War - Continued

• Weary of the war, Yeltsin attempts a ceasefire,
  and pulls out all but 3000 troops.
• These 3000 troops are caught unprepared in Grozy
  and attacked by militants.
• Yeltsin is forced to sign a peace treaty on the
  Chechens terms, with the fate of the country to
  be decided in 2001. But gave it independence in
  the meantime.

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The Second Chechen War

• More terrorists attacks and bombings on Civilian
  targets occur in Russia.
• November 16, 1996 - Dagestani terrorists blew up
  an apartment building in Kaspiysk (Dagestan) 69
  persons, mostly relatives of border guards, died.
  
• April 23, 1997 - A bomb exploded in the Russian
  railway station of Armavir 3 people died.
• May 28, 1997 - Explosion in the Russian railway
  station of Pyatigorsk 2 people died.
• December 22, 1997 - "Dagestani Central Liberation
  Front" and the Arab warlord Ibn al-Khattab raided
  the base of the 136th Armoured Brigade of the
  Russian Army in Buinaksk (Dagestan), destroying
  its motor pool of some 300 vehicles, including 50
  T-72 tanks, and killing scores of soldiers.
• April 16, 1998 - A Russian army convoy was
  ambushed in Ingushetia near the Chechnya border
  a general, two colonels and 3 soldiers were
  killed and Ingush militants were blamed.
• March 19, 1999 - An explosion in the Central
  market of Vladikavkaz (North Ossetia) 64 people
  died.
• April 7, 1999 - Chechen gunmen killed 4 Russian
  policemen patrolling the border near Stavropol.

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The Second Chechen War Continued

• Russian troops again enter Chechnya, this time
  with coordinated artillery and air strikes.
• Vladimir Putin, (the new president) at first only
  orders a limited advance, to cut off
  communications. However, the Russian army soon
  moves to take Grozny.
• After weeks of intence fighting, Grozny, after
  being flattened by air strikes and artillery, is
  taken.

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Grozny Before
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Grozny After
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War on Terror

• After the September 11 Attacks Vladimir Putin,
  began to associate the Chechen conflict with the
  War on Terror.
• This has had some degree of success, as of 2006
  no country, nor the United Nations has accepted
  Chechnyas claim to independence.

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Moscow Theater Hostage Crisis

• The seizure on October 23, 2002 of a crowded
  Moscow theatre by armed Chechen men and women who
  claimed allegiance to the separatist movement in
  Chechnya. They took over 900 hostages and
  demanded the withdrawal of Russian forces from
  Chechnya.
• Russian Spetsnatz stormed the building after
  unleashing an unknown gas. In the ensuing battle
  33 militants and 128 hostages died. Most from the
  deadly gas.
• Putin defended the raid saying Russian troops
  achieved the near impossible, saving hundreds,
  hundreds of people

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Discussion Question 3

• Does Chechnya have the right to secede?

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Discussion Question 4

• Are the Chechen militants Terrorists attacking
  innocent civilians? Or freedom fighters attacking
  a brutal regime?

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Discussion Question 5

• Are the Russians justified in indiscriminately
  bombarding cities when separatists hide amoung
  them?