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Chechnya


Hey if anyone knows about the Chechnyan conflict, please fill me in, I always hear about it, but never get the full story. Why does Russia feel the need to keep Chechnya, are there resources there? Why wasn't it liberated in the 90s like many of the other former Soviet-held areas?
 

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Login to find out (April 30, 2005 at 12:49pm)
oh, hey!...most of my information is from either books or online.
 
Login to find out (April 30, 2005 at 12:47pm)
Russia want to do what they can to control the spoils, while the West do the same, leaving Chechnya in the middle being fought for by the two. There are accusations that external (Western) forces have been used to promote and help destabilize the region, to promote succession to ensure a split from Russia. This would allow them to benefit from a smaller, weaker nation (if Chechnya is successful) that will also make it easier for the West to ensure the resources they want can be further controlled.
 
Login to find out (April 30, 2005 at 12:46pm)
Hey, thanks for the history, where do you get your information?
 
Login to find out (April 30, 2005 at 12:44pm)
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.
 
Login to find out (April 30, 2005 at 12:43pm)
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.
 
Login to find out (April 30, 2005 at 12:42pm)
Dudayev, killed in a 1995 Russian rocket attack was replaced by Aslan Maskhadov, elected in 1997. Around the same time Vladimir Putin started his drive to power in Russia. Around 1999 there the Russian policy towards Chechnya hardened even further. Blaming them for supporting rebels in Degastan, Russia, started a new campaign against the Chechens. 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. A Sept 21, 1999 Moscow Times editorial concluded, what so many other honest observers have, that Putin's FSB were behind the bombings of six apartment buildings which Putin blamed on Chechnyan "bandits."
 
Login to find out (April 30, 2005 at 12:34pm)
Tensions between the Russian government and that of Chechen president Dzhokhar Dudayev escalated into warfare in late 1994. When Russia invaded Chechnya, a bloody war ensued. Intending to crush separatist forces, this was Yeltsin's first major confrontation. However, the supposed awesome Russian military strength inherited from the Soviet Union, turned into a humiliating disaster. Grozny was devastated. Some 70-80,000 people died, mostly Chechen civilians, and in 1996, Russia withdrew defeated.
 
Login to find out (April 30, 2005 at 12:33pm)
oil is a significant factor in this region.
A major oil pipeline carries oil from fields in Baku on the Caspian Sea and Chechnya toward the Ukraine;
Grozny's major oil refinery along this pipeline and Russia's interest to ensure their oil needs are also met has led them to be more concerned that pipeline discussions by major western oil companies have not involved them;
As long as Chechnya is a part of Russia, Moscow would have a say in the oil flowing through it.
 
Login to find out (April 30, 2005 at 12:33pm)
With the Soviet Union's collapse in 1991, a number of regions managed to break away and gain independence. General Dzhokhar Dudayev, seizing power in the capital Grozny in 1991, led Chechnya's drive for independence. Boris Yeltsin, refused Chechnya's declaration of independence, sending in troops instead, only to withdraw when confronted by armed Chechens.
 
Login to find out (April 30, 2005 at 12:32pm)
This legacy helps explain why Chechen nationalism has been more radical and anti-Russian than that of Russia's other Muslim ethnic minorities.
 
Login to find out (April 30, 2005 at 12:31pm)
With the death of Stalin in 1953, deportees were repatriated in 1956, and the republic was reestablished in 1957.
 
Login to find out (April 30, 2005 at 12:31pm)
The mass deportation of Chechen people, among others, is estimated in the range of 400,000 to 800,000 with perhaps 100,000 or more of these people dying due to the extreme conditions.
 
Login to find out (April 30, 2005 at 12:31pm)
During World War II, Chechen and Ingush units collaborated with the invading German Nazis. As a result, in 1944 Stalin deported many residents to Central Asia and Siberia.
 
Login to find out (April 30, 2005 at 12:29pm)
Recognized as a distinct people since the 17th century, Chechens were active opponents of the Russian conquest of the Caucasus during the period 1818-1917. In 1858 Russia defeated leader Imam Shamil and his fighters who were aiming to establish an Islamic state. After the 1917 Russian Revolution, a declaration of independence by the Chechens was met with occupation from the Bolsheviks who later established the Chechen-Ingush Autonomous Region in 1924.
 
Login to find out (April 28, 2005 at 7:13pm)
Oil - I will write more about it when I get a chance.