Russia's war with Chechnya Research Papers (original) (raw)

The first act of Chechen suicide terrorism occurred on June 7, 2000 and was carried out by two young women. This inaugurated the migration of suicide terrorism from other conflict zones, into the Chechen conflict. How suicide terrorism as a tactic made it’s way into Chechnya is the topic of this paper, which provides an analysis of the events concerning the importation of militant ideologies and radical terrorist movements taking place since the Chechen declaration of independence as well as an empirical and theoretical analysis of Chechen suicide terrorism based on psycho-social interviews that were collected in Chechnya over a two-year time period from March 2003 to March 2005. We report data about suicide terrorism and the radicalization process from thirty-two interviews with family members and close associates of thirty-four Chechen suicide terrorists inquiring about the terrorists’ backgrounds, experiences, religious, and psychological reasons leading up to their suicidal acts.

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- Terrorism, Political Violence and Terrorism, Political Violence, Jihad
- by Mariano de Miguel
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- North Caucasus, Russia's war with Chechnya, War In Chechnya

Tracing the political development of the Chechen Republic since its secessionist movement in the 1990s, this essay illustrates that the Islamic republic has been gradually pacified and stabilized by unpeaceful means: Authoritarian Conflict Management (ACM) and subcontracting authoritarian governance to the de facto autonomous ruler Ramzan Kadyrov. Building on concepts by Max Weber, Immanuel Kant, and Johan Galtung, this essay acknowledges that the notions of stability and peace concern two dimensions: 1. federal Moscow-Chechnya relations, 2. Chechnya’s internal balance. Though both dimensions evidently stabilized on a basis of coercion (especially by the use of regional networks and the blood feud system by pro-Kremlin Kadyrov), the emerging institutional framework exposes sources of instability, as it depends on individual relationships. Democratic innovations would even pose a threat to this established stability. Additionally, social integration of Chechnya into the Federation might be hampered by ethnic nationalism and xenophobia in Russian society. On the Chechen side, a ‘Russian’ identity is fragile. The collective memory still remembers Russian repressions vividly. Quantitative figures suggest pacification alongside the negative definition of peace. However, the case of Chechnya indicates that positive definitions (e.g. by Galtung) cannot be measured dichotomously; structural violence characterizes Chechen society, but, at the same time, a certain form of social integration took place.

Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL), also known as Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), or “Islamic States” (henceforth Daesh) is officially one of the most important and complex threats for the modern world, especially after June of 2014. In this essay we will try to understand what kind of ties lie between Daesh and Georgian small region - Pankisi valley. Also we have to look at government policy towards the dramatically risen threat from ISIS and its Chechen fighters.

- by Tato Mirotadze
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- History of Georgia, Isis, Russia's war with Chechnya, Chechnya

This article examines recent developments in Chechnya with a
particular focus on its leader, Ramzan Kadyrov, whose influence
has long surpassed the borders of the republic and whose further
provocative behaviour and uncontrolled actions may face
repercussions at the federal level. The research consists of two
major parts explaining the psychological, political, social, security,
and economic dimensions of the Kadyrov regime and its potential
for collapse. It employs a cognitive approach to analyse the
Kadyrov–Putin relationship as well as a behavioural perspective
focusing on individual–psychological factors. In addition, the study
thoroughly analyses Kadyrov’s regime and the elements of his
personal clout that remain heavily dependent on Moscow’s
assistance. The article concludes that, despite frictions, the
Kadyrov regime has been advantageous to federal authorities, has
mostly operated within Moscow’s comfort zone, and has pushed
forward Moscow’s interests. As long as the strategic partnerships
between Grozny and Moscow and Kadyrov and Putin continue,
there will be no significant steps taken to replace the regional
leader.

- by Emil Aslan Souleimanov
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- Eastern European Studies, Russian Studies, Russian Politics, Caucasus

An abbreviated version of this review essay will be published in the peer-reviewed journal Iran and the Caucasus (Brill) in one of its issues this year; its editorial board has given permission for the current extended version to be published here in our own journal.
Ilyas Akhmadov’s book The Chechen Struggle: Independence Won and Lost—with co-author Miriam Lanskoy, Director for Russia and Eurasia at the National Endowment for Democracy—is an insightful, searing and moving account of the Chechen independence struggle in the Northern Caucasus against Russia. The same is true for Akhmadov’s more recent book Chechnya’s Secret Wartime Diplomacy: Aslan Maskhadov and the Quest for a Peaceful Resolution—with Nicholas Daniloff, a renowned journalist and former Director of the Northeastern University School of Journalism, as the co-author.
The latter book presents in separate chapters the transcripts of twenty-four secretly sent audiotapes by Chechen President Aslan Maskhadov between 1999 and 2003 to Akhmadov as Foreign Minister of the separatist government abroad from 1999 to 2005. The last chapter presents a letter by Maskhadov to the European Union of 25 February 2005 shortly before his

- by Caspar ten Dam
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- Russian Studies, Peace and Conflict Studies, Conflict, Russian Politics
- by Jeffrey Burds
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- Soviet History, Intelligence Studies, Political Science, Caucasus
- by Anna Colin Lebedev
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- Russian Studies, Soldiers Mothers, Russia's war with Chechnya

The review article analyses several key publications on the Chechen conflict in the light of the portraits of Maskhadov and other prominent figures of the post-1991 Chechen insur-gencies, with a view on the inner controversies between... more

Exploring the case study of the Moscow-led counterinsurgency in Chechnya, this article shows the crucial importance of cultural knowledge understood in an ethnographic sense in terms of patterns of social organization, persisting value systems, and other related phenomena – in the relative success of the eradication of the Chechnya-based insurgency. Using a range of first-hand sources – including interviews by leading Russian and Chechen experts and investigative journalists, and the testimonies of eyewitnesses and key actors from within local and Russian politics – the article explains the actual mechanisms of Moscow's policy of Chechenization that have sought to break the backbone of the local resistance using local human resources. To this end, the study focuses on the crucial period of 2000–2004, when Moscow's key proxy in Chechnya, the kadyrovtsy paramilitaries, were established and became operational under the leadership of Akhmad Kadyrov, which helped create a sharp division within Chechen society, reducing the level of populace-based support for the insurgents, thereby increasing support for the pro-Moscow forces.

Published in Politics of Religion and Nationalism: Federalism, Consociationalism and Seccession. Edited by Ferran Requejo and Klaus-Jürgen Nagel, London: Routledge, 2015. p.93-106. The essay outlines the use of Islam an instrument for moblization for secession of Chechnya from the beginning of the secessionist mobilization in 1990s until 2013. It focuses on the the conversion to Salafi version(s) of Islam of a segment of the secessionists' elite and their violent conflict with the adherents of the Sufi traditional Islam, led by the Grand Mufti, Akhmad Kadyrov. It briefly examines the fusion of secessionism and Salafi jihadism which at present dominates the secessionist movement in the Russian-ruled Caucasus.

- by Aleksandar Pavković
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- Islam, Salafism, Salafi-Jihadi Ideology, Russia's war with Chechnya

This study draws on historical perspective and critical theoretical approaches to explore the following questions: What determined the labeling of the Pankisi Gorge as a “threat” on the global security map? How are the local religious landscape of the Pankisi Gorge and its transformations related to the global security system? The study enquires into local, regional and global political circumstances and interests that were instrumental in the „Pankisi Crisis;“ the current global security politics and its ramifications for Muslims, who are rendered susceptible to racialization, essentialization and discrimination; attempts to neglect the heterogeneity of Salafism and the power implications of such dichotomous classification; the Georgian state politics towards the Pankisi Gorge between the years 1999-2018 and constant alternation between violent and non-violent approaches. Overall, the study aims at demonstrating epistemic injustice and dismantling the dominant frame that forces us to continuously scrutinize Pankisi residents with suspicion. Hence, the study seeks to give voice to Pankisi residents and their experiences, for whom the crumbling of the hegemonic worldview sprung from global and local security politics, carries an existential meaning.

- by Maia Barkaia
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- South Caucasus, Anti-Colonialism, Contemporary Salafism, Russia's war with Chechnya

master's thesis defended in 2006

- by Sarah Slye
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- Russia's war with Chechnya, Chechnya, War In Chechnya, Chechen Republic, Chechnya
- by Cornelia Klocker
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- History and Memory, Collective Memory, Stalinism, Russia's war with Chechnya

Co-authored newspaper article wirh Karina Vamling in the Swedish daily paper Sysdvenskan on the day of the Russian invasion in Ukraine (2022-02-24). ): “The world must be more attentive to patterns in Russia's actions in the former Soviet republics”. The article refers to parallels in Russia's internventions in Crimea, Georgia and Chechnya with the current development in Ukraine.

- by Marta-Lisa Magnusson and +1
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- Ukraine (History), Georgia, Russian-Ukrainian Relations, Russia's war with Chechnya
- by Cornelia Klocker
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- Russia, European Court of Human Rights, Russia's war with Chechnya, Chechnya
- by jason wahlang
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- Russian Studies, Russia's war with Chechnya, Chechnya, Seperatism

Co-authored article with Karina Vamling (2014-03-20) in the Swedish daily paper "Sydsvenskan": “Russia's intervention in Ukraine shouldn't have come as a surprise to anyone”. The article was written at the time of Russia's annexation of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol, against the background of the Russo-Georgian war in 2008 and Russia's earlier wars against Chechnya.

- by Marta-Lisa Magnusson and +1
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- Georgia, Council of Europe, Russian-Ukrainian Relations, Russia's war with Chechnya

Over the last decades, the strategic profile of the discourse with which wars are narrated has been reinforced. This discourse has also varied in the light of a recent – and alleged – peace culture permeating Western societies. Whereas the war discourse in Russia during the Second Russian-Chechen War has been widely studied, this has not been the case of the rhetoric of the Chechen Islamist guerrillas. The aim of this paper is to contribute to bridging this gap in the academic literature on the North Caucasus, employing to this end a critical discourse analysis (CDA) of a selection of texts posted by the Kavkaz Center (KC) news agency. On the basis of this analysis, it can be concluded that one of the main discursive strategies revolved around the construction of an “us” embodying the Chechen victims of the initial aggression in a conflict provoked by the Russian “other”.

Typically, when analysing contemporary Russian–Chechen conflicts, the relegation of the nationalist struggle to a secondary role by the religious battle waged by the North Caucasus insurgency is pinpointed as one of the fundamental differences between the First and Second War in Chechnya. This article discusses how it was reflected in one of the most important media of the Chechen Islamist insurgency: the Kavkaz Center. To this end, 2859 English language news items posted on the website during 2001–04 were reviewed using media frame analysis.

The article makes a comparative analysis of the Chechen war (the first campaign) and the Donbas rebellious (2014-2015). The focus of the research is aimed at reproducing the characteristics of the Chechen war, which are compared with the... more

The present article analyses the evolution of Sufism in Chechnya. The study of the Sufi community, by one of its members, contributes to an understanding of the changes that took place in Chechen society in the second half of the twentieth century. Particular attention is paid to the integration of Sufi orders into the political system of the Republic. This essay investigates the isolation of Chechen Sufism from the rest of the Sufi world and its reasons, likewise its impact on the formation of a specifically Chechen Sufism. First among studies of North Caucasian Sufism, it raises the issue of the substitution of the political system by Sufi orders. There is a growing tendency towards the politicisation of Sufism in Chechnya, reflecting the alliance of Sufi orders with government. It is also a result of the quest for a political system in Chechen society, where clan relations are still strong.

- by Mairbek VATCHAGAEV
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- Islamic Studies, Sufism, Big History, Chechnya & the Caucasus, Sufizm

This paper is unpublished. It was written for my application for the Scoville Peace Fellowship.

- by Kasey Stricklin
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- Russian Studies, Russian Foreign Policy, U.S. Foreign Policy, Russia

Following Ramzan Kadyrov’s reappointment in 2016 as head of the Chechen Republic for yet another five-year term, the ambitions of the Chechen strongman have grown. While intensifying his age-old rivalry with Rosneft for control over Chechnya’s oil resources and with Gazprom over writing off Chechnya’s debt, Kadyrov has sought to expand to the neighboring republics not only politically but also geographically, claiming parts of Ingush and Dagestani territories. Kadyrov’s ongoing struggle with Ingush activists, along with his interference in the neighboring republic’s internal affairs, has caused an internal revolt in Ingushetia. Likewise, Kadyrov’s claims on contested border territory have stirred tension in Dagestan.

Reports have recently resurfaced that unspecified federal authorities in Russia plan to oust Ramzan Kadyrov, Chechnya’s infamous strongman and head since 2007, and remove him from public office in Chechnya. While similar rumors have circulated previously, interesting details have made their way into the media, adding to the seriousness of recent speculations. This article attempts to shed light on the prospects of Kadyrov’s ouster as it has been discussed recently, in relation to the more general question of Kadyrov’s ability to maintain power in the years to come.

Chapter in 'Canada in the World: Youth Dialogue on Women, Peace, and Security' (2015)

- by Jenny Yang
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- Russia's war with Chechnya, Chechnya, Women, Peace & Security