Chetchnia

The Republic tchetchene (Russian: ЧеченскаяРеспублика ; Tchétchène: НохчийнРеспублика ) or Chetchnia (Russian: Чечня , tchetchene: Нохчийчоь ), also named Itchkérie by the freedom fighters, is a republic constitutive of the Fédération of Russia. Located on the northern slope of the mountains of the the Caucasus and the valley of Chetchnia, in the federal District of the South, on the steps of old the Soviet Union and old the Empire tsarist, it is bordering on the Krai de Stavropol in the North-West, of the republic of the Daguestan in the North-East and the East, and of the republics of Ingouchie and Ossétie of North in the West, all three of the republics of the Fédération of Russia. It also has, along the watershed of the the Caucasus, an international border with the Georgia, in the South.

The autonomous region of Chetchnia was founded on November 30th 1922. It transformed the January 15th 1934 into Autonomous region of Tchétchénie-Ingouchie, become autonomous République the December 5th 1936 (according to the nomenclature of the Soviet territorial entities referring to the various degrees of autonomy). Stalin dismantled the Republic in 1944, but it was restored by Khrouchtchev in 1957. In November 1991, just a month before the dislocation of the Soviet Union, was formed the Republic of Chetchnia, separated from Ingouchie.

Little time after, the authorities tchetchenes declares the independence of the Republic tchetchene of Itchkérie. This independence was recognized by no State except Afghanistan of the Talibans with which Itchkérie exchanged embassies. Two armed major conflicts burst between the federal government (which use the Russian army, the special forces of the ministry for the interior and the service of espionage of the FSB) and the groups armed tchetchenes in 1994 - 1995 and in 1999 - 2000. According to the data of different ONG, these conflicts would have caused the death of several tens of millers people and the displacement of some: 350000 refugees (majority having returned after the end of the conflict). These data are not confirmed by the organization étatsunienne Human Rights Watch and other independent sources.

In spite of the end of the hostilities, the Russian federal armed forces and the local forces tchetchenes sporadically undergo actions of guerilla and terrorism on behalf of the bunches of separatist combatants related to the islamist networks, cut off in the forest and the mountains.

As of the end of the conflict, and especially in 2006, the new authorities undertook a vast program of rebuilding of the Republic. A series of elections took place with for goal proclaimed the restoration of the constitutional order as Chetchnia, while resting on a “teip” (line or alliance of the clannish type) faithful to the the Kremlin, the clan directed by Akhmad Kadyrov, then by his/her son Ramzan Kadyrov. The majority of the federal forces were replaced by the bodies of maintenance of law and order buildings, and a division of competences took place between the Republic and Moscow. The people tchetchene in addition adopted, with a vast majority, the Russian federal Constitution, making of any action of guerilla an “anticonstitutional” attack.

Territorial division of the Republic of Chetchnia

Subdivisions of the Republic of Chetchnia.

Geography and climate

Chetchnia is located in the power station-north part of the mountainous chain of the Large Caucasus (with the peak highest of Teboulosamt culminating at: 4493 m), in the Valley tchetchene and that of Terek-Koum. The climate is continental, with winters moderated in the valley, cold in the mountains.

Principal rivers (in blue on the chart of the preceding section):

Terek
Sounja
Argoun

The number and the ethnic composition of the population

Tchétchènes :1031647 (93%) (57,8% before the war according to the census of 1989)
Russian: 40645 (3,7%) (23,1% before the war according to the census of 1989).
Ingouches: 2914
Coumykes :8883

According to ONG, between: 100000 with: 300000 civilians perished at the time of the conflicts between 1994 and 2000. However, according to the Russian official censuses of 1989 and 2002, in spite of the devastations of the war, the population tchetchene is currently more numerous than before the beginning of the hostilities. The full number of the citizens of nationality tchetchene Federation of Russia in 2002 was of:
: 1360253 people of which: 1031647 resident as Chetchnia even
contre: 899000 in 1989 in all Russia of which: 734000 as Chetchnia.

Tchétchènes are the people of the Caucasus of North most.

History

Old story

The territory of Chetchnia current was populated in Antiquity by the Scythes then by the Sarmates having invaded the Caucasus towards without exterminating or assimilating the local populations. The ancestors of Tchétchènes and Ingouches, the Dzourdzouks (or Dourdzouks), related to the Géorgiens, fought Sarmates but ended up yielding. They were then partially assimilated by Géorgiens. People of the Gargares, on which Pompée did not manage to impose its domination in 66 av. J. - C. , could be the other current ancestors of Tchétchènes.

The old story of the people tchetchene is closely related to that of the Ingouches with which they formed since the 7th century a single tribe of “Vaïnakh” (what wants to say “our people”). The ancestors of the Vaïnakhs are Khourites ancient, themselves downward of the Choumères. The word “nakh” (“people”) is probably at the origin of the name Nokhtchiin (Noxçiin) or Nokhtcho, which wants to say “Tchétchène” in Tchétchène.

At the 5th century and 6th centuries, the mountain dwellers of the Caucasus of North took share with the wars which the Perse against the Eastern Roman Empire carried out. At that time, the emperor Justinien tried to christianize them, without success. The Arab introduirent in their turn the Islam as of the 7th century, but the Islamisation of the area will be really completed only at the 13th century - a Islam sunnite influenced by the Soufisme.

At the beginning of the the Middle Ages, on the territory of Chetchnia current, a multilingual union of the wandering and sedentary people was formed (of which the Alains), Alanie. The tribe of Nakhs quickly took importance within Alanie until the invasion of the Tatars-Mongols at the 13th century (particularly wandering troops of the commanders Djebé and Subötai (Soubdé) of Gengis Khan in 1238) who devastated this kingdom. A few decades later, the troops of the khan Batyi completed the destruction of the remainders of the territorial entities of this part of the Caucasus. Economic development, policy and social of Tchétchènes were appreciably slowed down by it during several centuries.

On the debris of Alanie gradually set up the Moslem State of Simsim, in its turn destroyed in 1395 by the large conqueror come from Central Asia, Tamerlan (Timour).

Russian imperial domination

The Cosaques (Russian free colonists) were installed on the plain tchetchene at the edge of the rivers Terek and Sunja (in the north of the country) as from the 16th century. The Cossacks of Terek, originally of the migrants of central Russia, established militarily in 1577 in the Caucasus, mixed gradually with the Caucasian groups. In 1801, the Georgia, badgered by the intrusions devastators with the Mountain dwellers, the Turks and Persians, voluntarily integrated Russia (after the dying king géorgien Georges XII had signed Proclamation of unification). The Russians, decided to accelerate their territorial expansion towards South-east, and to ensure the connections with Georgia, decided that the Caucasus of North would enter henceforth their zone of influence. In 1818, the Ermolov general, to ensure the military base of the Russian Empire in the Caucasus of North, built there some fortresses, of which Grozny (“Terrible” in Russian).

To the beginning of the Russian, the people tchetchene, famous occupation for his mountain character rejecting any external domination and in particular Christian woman, carried out a wild resistance against the Russian forces. The chiefs of the national liberation struggle, Ouchourma, more known under the name of Sheik Mansour (with the head of the insurrections in 1785-1791), Beïboulat Taïmiev (1819-1830) and especially the large war leader Chamil (1834-1859), quickly became emblematic figures of this armed struggle which showed a bloody failure. Paradoxically, the Russian opinion progressist of the time, seeking a voluntarist inspiration against the ostracism tsarist which had followed the repression of the Décembristes, was rather impressed by the strength of character of the Caucasian combatants, whom they compared with the majestic landscapes these regions. Works of the romantic poet Mikhaïl Lermontov testify to this fascination.

The savage resistance of the mountain tribes ended only with rendering, in 1859, of the Moslem chief Chamil. Chetchnia, like any conquered area, undergoes an accelerated Russianization, the Russian colonists being attracted by fertile grounds of the valleys of the Caucasus of North. The expansionist policies of the empires Othoman, British and Persian on the Caucasus of North ran up against the control which Russia henceforth exerted on all the extent of the Caucasus, of North in the South.

See also: the Caucasus and War of the Caucasus

Soviet era

The advent of the mode Bolshevik in Russia in 1917 temporarily stopped the Russian expansion in this area. The border between the failing Ottoman Empire (then the new republic of Turkey created in 1923) and the young person Soviet Union was done on the Caucasus, including the small Soviet republic of Arménie. Just like the small people of the area still present, the company tchetchene still had its feudal structure, a classless society where everyone was noble . The day before the disappearance of the Empire of the Tsars, the country tchetchene, with the remainder of the Caucasus of North, “was pacified” and partially colonized by the Russians and the Ukrainians attracted by the oil layer of Grozny, and thus formed part of the Soviet Caucasus. In same time, many Cossacks, who had massively collaborated with the troops of the white Army of the old mode, were expelled of their Caucasian grounds, which involved an increase the proportion of the indigenous population.

In 1922, Tchétchènes constituted for the first time a distinct administrative structure, the Autonomous region of Chetchnia, with a certain degree of car-governorship. In 1936, the area was built-in the autonomous Soviet socialist Republic of Tchétchénie-Ingouchie (RSSA of Tchétchénie-Ingouchie). Under Stalin, Tchétchènes resisted the forced collectivization of the grounds. In 1944, following the insurrections directed by Magomed Chéripov, collectively shown to have collaborated with the Nazis, approximately: 387229 Tchétchènes and: 91250 Ingouches (according to the reports/ratios of the chief of the political police Lavrenti Beria) were off-set with the Kazakhstan. In 1957, on the initiative of Khrouchtchev which worked with the Déstalinisation of the USSR, Tchétchènes and Ingouches were authorized to return on their grounds, and the “autonomous Soviet socialist Republic (RSSA) of Tchétchènes-Ingouches” was restored. As Chetchnia, the population counted with the beginning of the year 1990 approximately 30% Russians, divided especially in the oil-bearing area of the plain around Grozny.

Little time before the dislocation of the Soviet Union in 1991, a movement of independence was formed as Chetchnia, whereas the Russia was opposed to any secession.

Review of the conflicts tchetchenes

Genesis of the last wars

The general Djohar Doudaev, old driver of hunting of the Soviet Armed and holder with the supreme medal Hero of the Soviet Union, seized the power following a coup d'etat carried out on September 5th 1991 by a “Executive committee of the National congress tchetchene”. A few weeks before, this organization had supported Eltsine in its confrontation with communist putschists, which had ensured to him a support measured on behalf of Moscow during a certain time. The speech democratic, nationalist and social of Doudaev rather quickly became a praise of the release national and religious equipped with a strong reference historical, which ignited the masses. Independence was declared on November 2nd 1991, and Doudaev legitimated president of the Republic by the new Parliament. It quickly became the symbol of the fight for the emancipation aimed by the insurrections of Chamil to the 19th century. The Ingouchie separated from Chetchnia rebels on June 4th 1992 by affirming its attachment in the federal Center. June 10th 1992, the authorities tchetchenes dismantled the structures of the ministry for Russian defense on its territory and took possession of their military arsenal. Certain analysts speak even about a pecuniary complicity of the senior officials and Russian generals, without the downstream of which such a quantity of weapons, including doors, would never have been found in the hands of the mode of Doudaev.

Between 1991-1994. the nationalists tchetchenes drive out: 250000 Russians, Jews, Armenians and other nationalities non-Vaïnakh of Chetchnia. Several thousands of them are assassinated or taken as an hostage, in particular in Grozny where two thirds of the population was Russian speaker.

During three years of laxism on behalf of the central government of Eltsine, marked by massive diversions of federal funds (started with the famous business of the false opinions of transfer of funds operated via the tchetchene subsidiary company of Russian Central Bank still before the beginning of confrontation), estimated at 5 billion dollars, Chetchnia benefitted from her statute of independence de facto to form her own civil and military infrastructures. The militia tchetchenes established more or less close links with islamist movements extremists of Jordan, of Saudi Arabia, of Afghanistan and other countries. At this point in time the tone went up between Moscow and Grozny.

Moscow understood that the groupings rebellious tchetchenes and extremists, escaping any control, putting into practice the Charia (proclaimed official law in January 1999), of removals of men and the diversion of oil, represented an important danger to the Intégrité of the Russian territory and for its areas bordering. Paradoxically, in spite of its rhetoric of force, Russia tried to buy honesty tchetchene while continuing to pay important money sums to the republic, inter alia paying the retirements, and to dispatch oil with the refineries tchetchenes, and this until in autumn 1994. Many monetary and oil funds federal were thus diverted with an aim of financing the armed struggle (purchase of weapons, formation of paramilitary groupings, etc) and for the personal enrichment of the Russian oligarchs and the businessmen tchetchenes residing at Moscow. A great number of intermediate companies in Russia thus garnered several million petrodollars in turbid water surrounding this conflict.

Two wars and the guerilla who followed themselves from there

Following various pretexts, two bloody and destroying wars with the “federal Center” (Russia) burst in 1994-1995 and 1999-2000. The surprised attack of the Russian army in 1994 under the command of Boris Eltsine, the first president of Russia post-Soviet, became, with more: 20000 engaged soldiers, the greatest military operation organized by Moscow since its intervention in Afghanistan in 1979.

Eltsine needed a fulgurating and victorious war to prove with its people which Russia was still a super power and to thus sit his authority the day before the presidential elections. But instead of a spectacular blitz , the war proved to be a military and humane failure for Russia which met a wild resistance combatants of different nationalities, using very modern heavy weapons. In spite of the catch of Grozny, the war was transformed into a true mud pit with enormous human losses and material on the two sides. Not being able to continue military operations of such a scale, Russia agreed to sign in August 1996 with Khassaviourt (Daghestan) an peace agreement leading to a status quo leaving in Chetchnia a car-governorship de facto in exchange of a promise of the carryforward of the talks on independence (the negotiations were pushed back until 2001) and the stop of the operations of removals of men. In addition, the cases of many civilian victims and the exactions isolated made by soldiers upset the foreign public opinion against Russia, which worsened the crisis of the presidential authority and the Russian company in general.

In 1997 Aslan Maskhadov, a leader tchetchene considered as moderate, having established constructive contacts with Moscow, was elected president (with 53% of the voices), opposed to Chamil Bassaïev.

Of 1998 with 1999, the Republic tchetchene of Itchkérie, de facto independent, bore also semi-officially the name of the Islamic Republic of Itchkérie (while keeping the original name in its foreign relations).

Forts of their victories, several tchetchenes war leaders claimed the introduction of the Caucasus Islamique intended to gather all the close republics. They organized intrusions armed often in the form of attacks and with attacks against the Russian forces dispersed around Chetchnia. The most radical elements (directed by the war leaders Chamil Bassaïev and Salmon Radouyev) then made terrorist attacks not only on the civil populations of the autonomous republics and the Russian areas bordering, but also with Moscow and Volgodonsk, killing more than 240 people.

The summary attacks, executions by decapitation of several hostages, including Westerners, and the massive intrusions of the forces tchetchenes to the close Daghestan in order to cause an islamist coup d'etat there, started the second war in September 1999, under the command of Vladimir Poutine, then Russian Prime Minister. The operation showed a rapid success and the catch of Grozny by the Russian federal forces in January 2000. Putin founded the direct governorship of Moscow in the Republic. As of the end of the hostilities, the majority of the independence combatants, benefitting from the amnesty granted by Putin, deposited their weapons. Among them, many which was those joined the rows of the militia of the new pro-federal mode. Trained enlisted in the commando of current the Prime Minister, Ramzan Kadyrov. However, several tens of rebellious thousands of combatants took refuge in the mountains and the forests, from where they continue to carry out operations of guerilla against the Russian troops and tchetchenes pro-federal. The islamist networks foreign extremists finance always certain operations of the rebels, enabling them to survive 5 years after the fall of the mode.

March 8th, 2005, the independence president tchetchene Aslan Maskhadov was killed in Tolstoï-Iourt following a “special operation” carried out by the Russian forces. The death of Maskhadov, like that of Bassaïev in July 2006, carried an hard blow to the cohesion and the logistics of the rebels. The attacks against the federal forces take more and more a sporadic character and less coordinated. Fewer, the maquis are also obviously involved.

Context of the conflicts as Chetchnia

The Caucasus of historically rebellious North

The people which lived until the 19th century in the Caucasus, whose surface is lower by 20% than that of France, still speak a good hundred about languages and dialects different belonging especially to the very former linguistic family from the Caucasian Langues (60 to 70 languages), but also to the families Indo-European, turco-Mongolian and Semitic, they are mainly of Moslem religion .

In the Caucasus of the North, where the Republic of Chetchnia is, these people were recently (16th century at the 18th century) converts with Islam (put aside the Ossètes, partially converted them with Christianity). But they had very violently rebelled against the military and colonial projection Russian in the area, started at the 16th century with the detriment of the Othoman Turks, Persians and the Mongols and completed during the 19th century, whereas England had aimings on the natural resources (oil, iron, etc) of the area. N the other hand, most of these people militarily were occupied, massacred or massively fled per hundreds of thousands in the Ottoman Empire (Anatolia and the Middle East).

The news Hadji Mourad , of Tolstoï, reports the epopee of the chief thus rebels tchetchene Chamil in war against the Russian invader in the area in the middle of the 19th century. In the first part of the 19th century, the country tchetchene was indeed already the bastion of the war for the independence of the Caucasus, the Imam nakshbandi Chamil leading a “holy war” against the Russians between 1834 and 1859.

See also: the Caucasus

Current economic issues

The small Republic of Chetchnia is relatively rich in Pétrole and Natural gas. But the importance of its layers is often over-estimated - during all the Soviet period, Chetchnia massively imported oil of Azerbaïdjan and Siberia to supply her petrochemical industry (13,5 of the 18 million tons refined in 1991), and was subsidized by Moscow. Other industries being quasi-absent, the Republic primarily rural and was underdeveloped, which surely fed the popular discontent, the exodus towards the Far North and an animosity towards Moscow. One of the reasons of the conflicts of Russian and American interests in the Caucasus is not so much the control of the natural resources of these territories (the Caucasus of Russian North produces hardly 1,5% of the 459 million tons of oil only Russia extracts annually) that the control of the routing of the black gold since the Caspian Sea out-Russia (Azerbaïdjan, Kazakhstan) whose pipelines pass by this area (Georgia, Arménie, Russian Transcaucasie - of which Chetchnia) to the ports of the Mediterranean, particularly the port of Ceyhan in Turkey. Benefitting from instability in Chetchnia, the United States made pressure so that an alternate pipeline is built through the Azerbaïdjan and the Georgia towards the Turkey without passing through Chetchnia; financed by the American companies, it was completed in 2005.

A geopolitical chess-board

The high contents in hydrocarbons do not constitute the only stake of the new “Big game” between powers for the control of the southernmost margins of old the the USSR. Just like at the time of the first conquests, since 1994, the Russia carried out the wars as Chetchnia for, inter alia, to preserve its influence in the whole of the the Caucasus. It continues its interference by other means in the separatist conflicts of certain autonomous republics of Georgia (Abkhazie, Adjarie, Ossétie of the South) and of Azerbaïdjan (Haut-Karabagh).

The conflict tchetchene comprised also a geopolitical factor of another kind. According to several analysts, including Westerners, the collapse of the the USSR was not an ultimate objective of the “cold” war. Its ideologists never hid their interest to continue a political weakening of Russia, including by its dismantling. The crisis tchetchene was an excellent occasion for these strategists, who they are islamist or Western, to revive the old latent tensions in the Caucasus of North by granting a political, financial and media support to the freedom fighters tchetchenes.

See also the article detailing the Géostratégie of Russia .

Recent situation

Immediately after the end of the major operations military, the Russian president Vladimir Poutine reaffirmed the bases of the new policy of the Center as Chetchnia: transfer of the maintenance of law and order to the local militia, election of a president and a Parliament by the vote for all, treated delimitation of the capacities between the Federation of Russia and the Republic of Chetchnia and rebuilding. Several thousands of combatants were amnestied. But in spite of the insurances of standardization on behalf of the the Kremlin, some groups of armed separatist combatants always continue, in a sporadic way, to carry out the terrorist acts, especially in the close republics, less militarized.

: 100000 soldiers of the federal armed forces, which were deployed as Chetchnia during the two wars to fight against the rebels taken refuge in the mountains (that is to say more than one soldier for ten inhabitants), it did not remain about it any more but: 24000 in 2005 (the 42e Division motorized of infantry) to support the forces tchetchenes of the ministry for the Interior which replaced large military units and special forces. The soldiers receive a premium if they capture resistant separatists.

In 2005, more than 200 independence combatants were disarmed, according to the chief of FSB, Nikolaï Patrouchev. According to the declaration of the Chechen president Alou Alkhanov made on December 25th 2005, the considerable reduction in the activities of the combatants reached in 2005, grace, in particular, the neutralization of their chiefs, would now make it possible to still reduce manpower of the federal forces in the Republic, the local bodies of the order being henceforth ready to keep the situation as Chetchnia under their control.

The analysts consider that the Kremlin thus wants “tchétchéniser” the conflict with the separatists, namely, to give to Tchétchènes the reins capacity in the republic, including the total control of the police force, while keeping a vigilant eye on them. Thus, the totality of military operations are done henceforth by the forces pro-federal tchetchenes (especially the regiment of the Kadyrovtsy ) or the battalions “Zapad” and “Vostok” of the ministry for the Interior, supplemented entirely by Tchétchènes ethnic. The rise to power of Ramzan Kadyrov, a determined man who does not chew the words, testifies some even more. With its nomination at the station of the Prime Minister in March 2006 in the place of a young apparatchik of Moscow, Serguei Abramov, they are not only military levers and police officers who find themselves in his hands, but also those politico-economic, including financial flows.

The phenomenon Kadyrov-wire

Ramzan Kadyrov, wire of the late Chechen president and former large mufti Akhmad Kadyrov, assassinated on May 9th 2004, at the time of an attack during the celebration of the birthday of the victory against the Nazis, currently occupies the position of president of the Republic tchetchene (since February 15th, 2007), after having occupied that of the Prime Minister (since March 2nd, 2006). Before these nominations, Kadyrov-wire was with the head of the Security services and the Presidential guard made up under his/her father. He controlled then between: 12000 and: 34000 armed and trained men, often of war veterans senior anti-Russian.

Today, supported by admiration or fear by the majority of the population, especially for her successes in the crushing of the rebellion and the accelerated rebuilding of the country, Ramzan is constituted as a true Master of Chetchnia, at the sides of the new Parliament. Publicly pro-federal and openly anti Wahhabite, it preaches, on another side, an Islamization of manners and habits tchetchenes and often acts as radical nationalist. Many times shown to be violent and antidemocratic, it would have been implied, according to the rumors, in many cases of torture, even of murder. The high commissioner of the the United Nations for the human rights, Louise Arbor, expressed on February 23rd 2006 in Grozny his concern in front of testimonys of removals and tortures exerted by the commandos of Ramzan Kadyrov as Chetchnia. Human Rights Watch denounces a systematic use of torture by the security forces.

Openly supported by the Russian president Vladimir Poutine, which wants through him to exert a control of the true capacity as Chetchnia, that of the clans ( teips ), Kadyrov-wire does not hesitate to multiply the voluntarist initiatives, by enacting oukazs not-writings that everyone must follow. Thus, in 2005, it prohibits in the republic the games of chance, or in February 2006, the entry of the Danish citizens on the ground tchetchene, in answer to the publication of the caricatures on the prophet. As it was awaited by the analysts, passed age the 30 years in October 2006, limit legal for any presidential candidate, Kadyrov-wire could approach this supreme mandate. February 15th, 2007, it is named by the Russian president Vladimir Poutine, president by interim after the surprised resignation of Alou Alkhanov. Moreover, the occupants of this station could be indicated by the Russian presidency and either by an local election, and this for all prone federal of Russia, including the republics; such an idea starts to be advanced by the Kremlin with an aim of restoring the control of the central capacity on the areas.

Economy, rebuilding and poverty always present

The oil public company “Grozneftegaz” extracted in 2005 2,2 million tons from the Pétrole and: 500000 m ² of Natural gas (700 thousand tons of Oil in 2001, 1,5 million in 2002, 1,8 million in 2003 and 2 million in 2004). The analysts estimate that the layers tchetchenes should decrease and expect that the volume of extraction is established to 1,8 million tons towards 2008 and that it continues to go down thereafter.

As Chetchnia actively continues the program of residential and industrial rebuilding, of which the principal goal is to give suitable residences to the population, to increase the GDP and to decrease unemployment. As example, the giant combine “Krasnyj Molot” - more the large company of the republic founded in 1886, which delivered petrochemical equipment in 56 countries before the war, was entirely destroyed in the years 1990. Its rebuilding is finished and the combine is again operational since the beginning 2006. The airport of Grozny, largest in the Caucasus of North, reopened in October 2006, entirely renovated, with a highway which carries out to it since the capital.

Since the beginning 2006, the civil and residential rebuilding, carried out under the direct supervision of Ramzan Kadyrov and mainly financed by its foundation whose financing comes from the taxes and social security deduction near the businessmen tchetchenes, took a fulgurating acceleration. Kadyrov, which goes regularly to the building sites, required in September 2006 that the downtown area of Grozny is entirely deprived of the traces of war. However, part of the capital still remains in ruins and several thousands of people still live in the buildings devastated by the bombardments and which are often likely to crumble.

The analysts suspect that behind the total control of the funding sources of the rebuilding as the leaders tchetchenes exert, there can be an embezzlement, as well on the level of the Republic as in Moscow even in the mediums close to the financial “tap”. It would be for example possible that the number of the requests for compensation following the loss of housing is inflated (a compensation of order of: 10000$ per anybody are supposed to be poured by Moscow): there would be many “hearts died” on the list of: 187000 recipients of this help.

Among the important problems that faces the economy tchetchene, it is necessary to note the level record of unemployment (impossible to determine because of the preponderance of work not declared), the number of official unemployed being of: 340000 people in 2006. Massive unemployment induces an important level of poverty. According to UNO, approximately 60% of the population live in lower part of the poverty line.

Elections between 2003 and 2005

After years of conflict, the the Kremlin stressed the installation of legislative bodies and executive democratic tchetchenes which will have to function according to the Constitution of the Federation of Russia. The restoration of a Rule of law is advanced by Putin like guarantees ultimate standardization and of no return to the mode of the military junta.

Following the adoption, with a great majority and the vote for all, of a pro-federal Constitution in March 2003 and after the two presidential elections of October 2003 and August 2004, the republic elected its Parliament, on November 27th, 2005. Thus, with these last elections, the process of installation of a new capacity as Chetchnia was completed. “The elections officially closed the re-establishment of the constitutional system of the republic”, declared Mr. Putin quoted by the news agency Interfax.

The president of the Electoral commission tchetchene, Mr. Ismail Baikhanov, estimated rate of participation at 66% among: 600000 registered voters. Some: 34000 soldiers or officers of the federal forces based in the republic also took share with the poll (their participation is considered to be legitimate according to the electoral law). There was in particular in the republic: 23000 observers of the executive Secretariat of the the Community of the independent States (CEI), of the the Arab League and the Organization of the Islamic conference (OCI), as well as representatives of the “mission of presence” of the parliamentary Parliament of the the Council of Europe (APCE) and Congress of the local and regional Authorities of Europe (CPLRE). The observers declared that the elections proceeded “without any excess nor notable irregularities”. The Organization for safety and the co-operation in Europe (SOEC) however refused to send observers as Chetchnia for “safety reasons”.

Certain governmental organizations like “Memorial”, the foreign observers and the rare representatives of the the European Parliament who could arrive on the spot, announced irregularities at the time of the polls considering that the population had not been sufficiently informed, and deploring that the freedom fighters did not on the occasion to express themselves publicly. They in addition fustigated that good number of Russian soldiers non-residents brought to the insulators put their voices in the pro-federal balance. The Kremlin retorted that the vote of the soldiers is authorized by the Constitution on their place of employment.

Criticisms of the policy of Russia as Chetchnia

The opponents of the Russian president affirm that Putin needed the war as Chetchnia to justify an authoritative capacity, and denounce sometimes the turbid role of FSB (ex- the KGB) in the conflict, of which the current president had formed part. The current reform of the Russian areas had as a consequence which the governors are not any more elected but are appointed by the president, following the example prefects in France. According to these opponents, Vladimir Poutine uses the terrorist threat tchetchene like pretexts with the reinforcement of the provisions of national security, often with the detriment of individual freedoms, such as freedom of expression. After the events of September 11th, 2001, the Russian authorities speak constantly about presupposed bonds of the separatists tchetchenes with Al-Qaida and make sure of the undeniable support of the the United States and several European countries in this “planetary combat”.

The “American Committee for peace as Chetchnia” (ACPC), very near to the preserving wing of the American Republican party, is one of the most virulent critics of the Russian actions as Chetchnia. Certain international mediums and several other associations (whose Amnesty International and the Comité Chetchnia) claimed with the beginning of the year 2000 of the international community, and in particular of the US governments and Europeans, an diplomatic action near the Russian government to put an end to supposed violations of the human rights ascribable to the soldiers of the federal army and militia pro-federal tchetchenes, and deplore a legal absence of recourse realities. They also require the international mediation so that negotiations between the authorities current tchetchenes and the separatists are established. Putin justified its refusal to negotiate with the rebels by an universal principle, also stated by many Presidents, of which Jacques Chirac: “One does not negotiate with the terrorists and the criminals”. It invited the Westerners not to show “double morals”.

With the end of major military operations in 2001 - 2002, which were favourable with the abuses and induced civil losses, and the introduction of a democratic Civil statue as Chetchnia between 2004 and 2005, the claims of negotiation with the rebels appreciably decreased.

However, certain representatives independence tchetchenes always receive an important support abroad, grace, in particular, with the work of public relations which they carry out. The most obvious example is that of Akhmed Zakaeïev, representative of the deposed government of Aslan Maskhadov, taken refuge in London. Russia tries to obtain its extradition of the European countries where it makes appearances sporadically, by showing it of bonds with the terrorist Chamil Bassaïev, war leader and organizer acknowledged several murder attempts of which that of Beslan in 2004.

Other characters of foreground reproach Putin its management of the file tchetchene. Inter alia, the Russian oligarch Boris Berezovski, under-secretary of the Russian Safety advice in the Nineties, also saw himself granting the political asylum London, although the Russian authorities seek it for tax evasion. Moscow often showed Berezovski to have financed the rebels tchetchenes via the mechanism of payment of ransoms following removals of men.

The traditional company tchetchene

Throughout their history, and more particularly during the Russian era, part of Tchétchènes fought against what they regard as a foreign occupation. The stress laid on the warlike values thus has as a corollary the exaltation of resistance against the Muscovite central capacity. Resistance, in its historical and mythical dimension, arises in central element consolidation of an identity tchetchene. The identity speech is focused on the social factors which support this resistance, that it acts of the social structure (the system of the teips ) or nun (Islam Sunnite of obedience soufie).

An identity built on resistance

Resistance is perceived at the same time like a value, but also like a need vis-a-vis a hostile outside world. The vision tchetchene of the history in terms of perpetual fight implies this need for defending permanently, and sometimes until bloody fanaticism, the identity tchetchene against the attempts at assimilation (which they are tsarists, Soviet or Russian). In this direction, the nationalist anthem tchetchene exalte courage, pride and dignity which are incarnated in the figure of the wolf:

Symbol tchetchene, the Loup is invested connotations related to the force. Animal which attacks itself with more extremely than, represented to him on the armorial bearings of the republic tchetchene of Itchkérie, like on the independence iconography, he personifies the endurance and courage.

The system of the teïps

In spite of an increased Russianization, the company tchetchene preserved an antiquated traditional element in its social organization: the teïp (the clan). This one constitutes a factor of social regulation and it held formerly a big role in the legal administration. Generally, the teïp is a clannish organization founded on a widened family group whose members are connected not only by economic links but also by blood according to a patrilineal line.

The teïps, of which the number is evaluated to more than one hundred, are different sizes. Some come from the mountainous regions, whereas others are the fruit of interethnic mixtures with nearby groups. They are distributed according to nine great units called toukhoum , which represent new the tribes of the Chetchnia of origin (represented by new stars of the independence flag).

The teïp is characterized by a whole of rights, privileges and obligations which are the same ones for the whole of the members of the teïp. A local law, more known under the name of adat babbit metal all aspects of the daily life. It is a kind of commercial, penal and civil code. This common law is built on the honor of the clans and structure the relations inter clannish.

This organization causes sometimes divisions within the company tchetchene. The teïps and the individuals are socially thorough to compete for prestige, this competition reflects générationnelles tensions most of the time. An good example is the compromise that Maskhadov tried to reach between different the teïps. Indeed, under the presidency of Maskhadov, the Minister for Oumar health, the Minister for defense Magomed Khanbiev as well as old the Mufti Akhmad Kadyrov came from same the teïp, Benoï , whereas Maskhadov belonged to the teïp Aleroï . This recruitment of members of others teïps mainly aimed at diversifying the representation within the government in order to avoid the strategic political errors made by Djohar Doudaev, which had supported only the members of its clean teïp. Aslan Maskhadov played the chart of the consensus between different the teïps tchetchenes but does not succeed in reconciling the private interests of each teïp.

The religious factor or Islam sunnite of obedience soufie

The importance of the religious factor was recalled at the time of the taking of hostages of the theater of Doubrovka to Moscow, in particular because of the port of the veil by the majority of the women tchetchenes among the kidnappers. Even if more than one person saw there a collusion between Tchétchènes and islamist terrorism wahhabite, a majority of Tchétchènes condemned this passage to the act and underlined the marginal character of Islamic fundamentalism in a country of tradition primarily soufie.

The Sufism, a current of the Islam sunnite which was established in the the Caucasus the North-East at the beginning of the 19th century, preaches a mystical report/ratio of faithful to Very High, without intermediary, and is put up with the local habits. Contrary to the Wahhabisme, he recommends the fastening of each faithful to a vird (intern of a brotherhood connects), bearing the name of a oustaze (main spiritual). As Chetchnia, the religious allegiance is at the level of two brotherhoods soufies: the Naqchabandiyya and the Qadiriyya . These two brotherhoods are trained according to a hierarchical structure, the followers being subordinated to the spiritual Master. Whereas Naqchbandiyya imposes quiet prayers, Qadiriyya recommends the zikr , celebration sung and danced during which the faithful ones enter in fright. In general, the followers of Naqchbandiyya are for the majority of the intellectuals whereas those of Qadiriyya belong to the country class.

Because of his contradiction with the Wahhabisme, the Sufism, such as one practices it as Chetchnia, thus relativizes the threat wahhabite and his effect domino on the the Caucasus so much décrié and fears by Moscow. Moreover, much of wahhabites terrorist chiefs operative as Chetchnia and in her immediate surroundings are not tchetchenes, but Arab, mainly Saoudi or Jordan NS.

Terrorism and kidnapping, instruments of the fight of the freedom fighters

The Russian authorities affirm to have evidence of bonds of the groups djihadists tchetchenes (especially of those of the emir Al-Khattab or of Chamil Bassaïev) with foreign terrorist networks, in particular Al-Qaïda. Judge Jean-Louis Bruguiere, owner of the French antiterrorist pole, also confirms the existence of these bonds. At the same time, the Information paper of the Commission of the foreign affairs of the French National Assembly on the international cooperation to fight against terrorism affirms, inter alia, qu' in terms of training of the terrorists, with the shelter of the Afghan sanctuary, developed a nebula (Al-Qaïda) with relays in the whole world (Algeria, Chetchnia, Balkans… Towards this sanctuary converged of the hundreds of djihadists. Thus, during five to seven years, of the hundreds of combatants were formed in the Afghan camps, before turning over to Europe, in the United States or in their countries of origin where they had at the same time legitimacy and competence to direct terrorist cells, not having besides more necessarily of direct links with Al-Qaida. .
The parliamentary Parliament of the the Council of Europe affirms that within the framework of the fight against terrorism, become an important international priority, one notes an agreement of sights between the United States on the one hand, and Russia and Georgia on the other hand, on the fight against the combatants tchetchenes and their allies mercenaries, called “Arabic of Pankissi”, hidden on the other side of the Russian border and suspected of being related to the network Al-Qaïda. In October 2002, the parquet floor of Paris opened an instruction on the preparation of an attack against the Russian embassy in the French capital. This investigation was presented by the media under the generic name of the “business of the dies tchetchenes”. Indeed, the common denominator of the terrorists consisted in the fact that they had passed all through Chetchnia, in 1999-2000 and were related to the Benchelali Imam, itself near to the combatants of Al-Qaida.

According to the Canadian research Center on Universalization, The rebellious main leaders as Chetchnia, Chamil Bassaïev et al. Khattab, received their military and ideological formation in camps of drive financed by the CIA in Afghanistan and with the Pakistan . According to Yossef Bodansky, director of the US Congress' S Task force one Terrorism and Unconventional Warfare , the war tchetchene was planned during a secret meeting of Hizb Allah, held in 1996 in Mogadishu, in Somalia. Many senior officers of the Iranian Intelligence services and Pakistani, would have taken part in this meeting, to which Usama Bin Laden was also present .

According to the declaration of the chief of Russian FSB, Mr. Nikolaï Patrouchev, in November 2005 “was liquidated” as Chetchnia the representative of Al-Qaïda for the the Caucasus of North, the Sheik Abou Omar have-Seif, the large treasurer of the independence combatants. According to the documents seized by the Russian special forces, it would have been indicated to develop the strategies of establishment of “International Green” fundamentalist in the Caucasus by Bin Laden in person, 10 years before.

Trained in the existing camps as Chetchnia and Afghanistan in the years 1990, and financed by the international terrorist capital, of many terrorist groups djihadists tchetchenes regularly have recourse to the acts of terror within the framework of their armed struggle against the Russian central capacity:

May 26th, 1994 taken hostages of schoolboys with Mineralnye Vody.

July 29th, 1994 taken of hostage of travellers with Mineralnye Vody.

June 1995, a commando of the Bassaïev terrorist seizes the hospital and maternity with Boudionnovsk, 150 dead.

November 16th, 1996, explosion of bombs in a house with Kaspijsk, 69 dead

March 19th, 1999, explosion of bombs in a central market of Vladikavkaz, 64 dead

September 4th, 1999, explosion of bombs in a house with Bujnaksk, 62 dead

September 16th, 1999, explosion of bombs in a house with Volgodonsk, 18 dead

December 5th, 2003 explosion of bombs in the train with Kislovodsk, 42 dead

Series of attacks allotted to Tchétchènes, Moscow (September 1999). Assessment: more than 200 dead.

Taken of hostage by a commando tchetchene with the Theater of Moscow (October 2002). These terrorists carried belts of explosives. The Russian special services used of a dangerous gas. The commando was completely eliminated, perhaps because it was infiltrated, according to a “anonymous adviser from the FSB”. Assessment: 128 died among the hostages, 41 among the terrorists.

Attack of the subway of Moscow, allotted to Tchétchènes (February 2004). Assessment: 40 dead.

Taken hostages of Beslan, in Ossétie of North-Alanie (September 2004). Many children assassinated by the terrorist commando tchetchene.

Operation against buildings of the police force to Naltchik (Kabardino-Balkarie), asserted by Chamil Bassaïev (October 13rd, 2005). Assessment: 137 dead including 92 attackers.

Moreover, removals of men remain one of the most significant problems of Chetchnia. : 2780 people were removed since 2000 as Chetchnia, according to the data presented by the Chechen president, Alou Alkhanov. “Kidnapping business” was launched, according to Ramzan Kadyrov, by the former Russian oligarch Boris Berezovski, him also in exile to England, which occupied in the middle of the years 1990 the post of under-secretary of the Russian Safety advice. “Berezovski said to the terrorist chiefs that it could not pay money directly to them, and it proposed to them to remove civilians and soldiers as Chetchnia to pay them million dollars in the form of ransom”, he explained, adding that the kidnappers had thus taken down 30 million dollars.
“Kidnapping business” was born in the middle of the years 1990 when the other illegal sources of enrichment were exhausted. “The war against Russia then became lucrative”, tells the adviser of the Kremlin, Aslambek Aslakhanov. “Already before the beginning of the first military countryside, into 1994, the Republic tchetchene degenerated into a criminal black hole making it possible to bleach billion dollars”, affirms it. “In 1993, the Republic tchetchene became one of the world turntables of the traffic of weapons. Sometimes, to 30 planes, charged with weapons, took off in one day of the airport of Grozny bound for the countries of the Middle East and of Africa, and they brought back as Chetchnia dopes and her raw materials. In the district of Chali an important die of production of highly refined heroin functioned”, adds it.
The number of disappearances passed from 228 in 2004 to 117 in 2005, according to the agency Itar-Heap.
July 15th, 2006, the chief of Russian FSB, Nikolaï Patrouchev, making following the death of the “terrorist No 1” Bassaïev, proposed with the remainders rebels to deposit the weapons against leniency. Since, more than 178 combatants their weapons deposited. According to the Deputy Prime Minister Adam Delimkhanov, it would not remain about it more than 90 still in the resistance, including 30 Arab mercenaries.

List presidents of the Republic

Djokhar Doudaïev, 1991 - 1996 (independence): assassinated by a Russian missile radio-controlled on April 24th 1996; would have been located by the localization of its satellite phone, which it used right before its death.
Aslan Maskhadov, 1997 - 2000 (independence): elected official at the time of a presidential election controlled by SOEC in 1997; taken refuge in clandestinity starting from the beginning of the Second war because supported the rebellious forces, it continued to assert its legitimacy of President vis-a-vis the authorities pro-Russian; killed on March 8th, 2005, in circumstances which remain still dubious.
Akhmad Kadyrov, 2003 - 2004 (pro-federal): old supreme Mufti, assassinated by a terrorist attack at the time of the procession in the honor of the birthday of the victory over Fascism. He is elected following a poll not recognized by SOEC.
Alou Alkhanov (pro-federal), elected on August 29th, 2004 following elections with the Vote for all and resigned on February 15th, 2007.
Ramzan Kadyrov, indicated by Vladimir Poutine and ratified in this function by the Parliament tchetchene on March 2nd, 2007; hitherto chief of the government.

Current political system

Chetchnia is a presidential republic which has, for personal reasons, an executive power extremely in person of the president Ramzan Kadyrov.

The government consists of 8 sectoral members and 14 ministers. The President has the Cabinet ( Apparat ) composed of several specialized or sectoral departments.

The Parliament of 58 seats bicameral and is composed of the republican Council (Upper House) and of the Popular Assembly (Lower House). The Party of plain Russia the pro-Kremlin joined together 61% of the voices at the time of the last poll of 2005.

The Council of State ( Gossoviet ), composed of 34 members, is a body representative of the administrative Raion S of the republic. He plays an advisory part near the Parliament.

Additional lighting on the last wars

Chronology of the conflict
Summarized Russo-tchétchéne conflict
History of the conflict tchétchéne
the first war of Chetchnia, by Paul Labarique
the second war of Chetchnia: the aspects politico-soldiers

To see in DVD

“the Prisoner of the Caucasus” (Kavkazskiy Plennik) : A humanistic vision of the war.
kidnapping with the Caucasian” (Kavkazskaya Plennitsa) : A laughing comedy of 1966 combining Caucasian folklore and prickly satire.

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