Main ethnic groups: mainly Muslims, Muslims and Russians.
Capital: Grozny, population 40 10000( 1989).
1997 65438+1On October 23rd, Chechen President yandarbiyev announced that Grozny, the capital of Chechnya, would be renamed Dzhokhar-Galla in memory of Jiaohar dudayev. The Chechen Parliament approved this decision on March 25th 1998, but Grozny's name is still used by the outside media.
Industry: petroleum exploitation, petroleum processing, chemistry, machinery manufacturing, building materials, food, wood processing, etc.
Agriculture: planting wheat, rice, corn, barley, sunflower, sugar beet and vegetables. And gardening and grape growing.
Brief history: The earliest record of Chechens was before the beginning of the 7th century. Chechens are famous for their bravery and good fighting skills, and their national consciousness is extremely strong. /kloc-In the first half of the 9th century, after more than 40 years of Caucasian war, Russia incorporated Chechnya into the territory of the Russian Empire in 1859. During the Soviet regime,1922165438+1October 30th, the Chechen Autonomous Region was established, which was subordinate to the Russian Federation. 1934 65438+1October 15 Chechnya merged with the Ingushetia Autonomous Region adjacent to the west to form Chechnya-Ingushetia Autonomous Region. On February 5, 1936 65438 was changed to join the autonomous Republic of the Russian Federation. 1944, the Soviet government forced Chechens to move out of their homes on the grounds that they cooperated with German aggressors. It was not until 1957 that ethnic autonomy was restored in Chechnya. Politics: 1990, General dudayev, representing Chechen nationality, was elected as the chairman of the Executive Committee of the National Congress of the Soviet Union. 1 After the "August 199 19" incident, dudayev overthrew the local Soviet regime on September 6 of the same year and was elected President of Chechnya one month later. 1991110 In October, Chechnya declared an independent republic, with dudayev as president. 1992 65438+1On October 20th, the Russian Parliament passed a resolution, agreeing to upgrade the Chechen Autonomous Republic to the Chechen Republic. Since dudayev came to power, he has been taking actions against the Russian government.
From 1994 to 12, the authorities of the Russian Federation took military action against Chechnya and experienced a brutal war for more than four months in April 1995. 1On April 5, 1995, Russian troops seized the last two important strongholds, Gujemish and Shali, occupied by dudayev supporters, which meant that there was no "source" of large-scale armed conflict in Chechnya. The fighting shifted from the city to the countryside, forests and mountains.
While eliminating the illegal armed forces in Chechnya, Russia is also committed to establishing a power organ in Chechnya that conforms to the Russian Constitution. 1The government for national rejuvenation established at the end of 1994 entered Chechnya and started its work on 1995 10/5, with gadzhiev, an Ingushetia from Chechnya, as the prime minister. On October 9th, 65438/KLOC-0, Russian troops occupied the Presidential Palace in Chechnya. On March 23, Yeltsin signed another order to set up the Chechen Republic Committee for National Harmony, so as to promote the establishment of a constitutional authority in Chechnya.
Judging from the emergence of the Chechen issue, there are differences between the central organs of the Federation on whether to use force or solve the crisis through negotiations. The Chechen crisis has brought a long-term impact on Russia's politics, economy and society, and the war has brought Chechnya's economy to the brink of collapse. According to experts' estimation, at least $1500 million is needed to restore the economy. The government of the Russian Federation has set up a special state committee for the restoration of economic and social activities in Chechnya, headed by First Deputy Prime Minister Soskowitz. As of April 1995, 1 1, 2 trillion rubles have been provided to Chechnya.
199565438+On February 8th, Russian Prime Minister chernomyrdin, Prime Minister Zavgayev of the Chechen Republic and Russian President's Plenipotentiary in Chechnya Lobov signed an agreement on the special status of Chechnya in the Russian Federation. According to the agreement, the Chechen Republic has the right to participate in international exchanges and foreign economic ties, and can formulate its own constitution and laws. In the elections held in 1995, 12, 14 to 17, Zavgayev, Prime Minister of the Chechen Republic, was elected as the head of the Republic.
After nearly two years of war of independence from 1994 to 12- 1996, Chechnya enjoyed de facto independence.
Two-hour budget and ten-year cost
On June1994 65438+February1KLOC-0/,Russian President Yeltsin signed Presidential Decree No.2 169, Measures to Maintain the Legal System and Social Security in the Chechen Republic. At dawn, Russian troops entered Chechnya from Vladikavkaz in the west, Mozdok in the north and Dagestan in the east, besieged Grozny, and forced the dudayev regime and its troops against the federal government to disarm automatically.
Unexpectedly, as soon as the war started, the Russian Federation troops suffered great humiliation: the Union troops who opened the way with tanks encountered fierce resistance and unpredictable blows in Chechnya. As the saying goes, "it costs 800 yuan to kill the enemy." According to official figures, the death toll in Chechnya is 6600-1.5 million, while the number of Russian soldiers killed or missing is 1.5 million. The Russian army admitted that the 13 1 independent motorized brigade and the 8 1 motorized infantry regiment that invaded Grozny were completely annihilated, and 100 soldiers were captured.
When Chechens broadcast videos of captured Russian soldiers on TV, it may be President Yeltsin and his defense minister Grachev who are most embarrassed. Before preparing to send troops to Chechnya, General Grachev's famous saying became the private laughing stock of the soldiers of the warring sides for ten years: "It only takes an airborne regiment to take Grozny in two hours and solve all problems."
Why are the two-hour budget and the ten-year cost so wrong? Today, in Moscow, people are still asking: Should we use force against Chechnya in those years, resulting in tens of thousands of Russian officers and soldiers killed, as many as10.8 million Chechens killed (mostly civilians, less than one third of the militants), and Grozny was a tragic ending with no one?
On February 9, 65438, former Soviet President Gorbachev delivered a speech on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the Chechen War: "Although what happened in Chechnya at that time was worrying, these problems were not typical, and it was totally inappropriate to send troops into the Chechen Republic. This huge tragic mistake not only led to the second Chechen war, but also led to the war of terror. "
From the passive defeat of the Russian army in the first Chechen war to the signing of a ceasefire agreement between General Lebed and maskhadov; From Putin's decision to launch the second Chechen war, to the Moscow hostage incident in May 438+10 in June 2002 and the Beslan hostage incident in September 2004, there have been endless calls for a political solution to the Chechen issue from Moscow to all parts of the world. Many people are still assuming that if Moscow had not sent troops to Chechnya ten years ago, would the situation be better today?
History of Chechens' Resistance to Russia
The history of Chechens' resistance against Russians can be traced back to the1560s, which is the famous Ivan the Terrible era in Russian history. The Tsar's army set foot on the North Caucasus for the first time, conquered the enclosure and the Principality of Kabardino, and established Russian towns and settlements in the North Caucasus. At that time, in the territorial hegemony of the Ottoman Empire of Russia and Turkey, the Caucasus region sandwiched between the two empires had important strategic significance.
1722- 1723, Peter the great captured Persian territory in the Caucasus, conquered the Caspian coast, and established Petrovsk port near Makhachkala, the capital of Dagestan today.
The Ottoman Empire conquered Chechnya in 1585, and Chechens converted to Islam. 1774, the Russian Empire defeated the Ottoman Empire and retaken Chechnya. Ten years later, Chechens took part in the uprising against Russia under the leadership of national leader Mansour. But seven years later, Mansour was arrested and Chechnya lost this crucial battle. After the Tsar sent troops to suppress it, he began to build a series of military forts in this area and stationed heavy troops.
It was in the era when Pushkin and lermontov's romantic poems prevailed that the Russian army began its fourth conquest of the Caucasus for nearly half a century. All ethnic groups in the Caucasus finally declared their surrender at 1862, but the unyielding Chechens were constantly defeated and revolted. According to historical records, the Chechen war usually broke out once every half century, lasting 6 to 25 years at a time.
Like many dynasties in the history of Europe and Asia, the history of Russia and the Soviet Union is a history of expansion and conquest. In the conquered areas, no nation is as brave and skilled as the people in the North Caucasus, and it is rare to see such violent and fierce tribes as Chechens. After the October Revolution in Russia, Chechnya joined the Federal Republic of the North Caucasus in 19 18, which was recognized by European countries and Russian Bolshevik regime, but the Soviet Union directly invaded and occupied the Federal Republic of the North Caucasus in 1920. Chechens launched two great uprisings in 1929 and 1940, both of which were brutally suppressed. In order to divide and disintegrate the Chechen nation, Stalin ordered 500,000 Chechens to move to Kazakhstan in 1944, and Chechnya was not allowed to return home until 1957 when Khrushchev came to power. More than 30 years later, Chechnya, like other parts of the Soviet Union, made progress in economic construction in peace.
The loss of control in Chechnya led Russia to send troops.
1at the end of 980, the structural shaking of the Soviet building caused a commotion in Chechnya. 1990165438+1On October 25th, representatives of all ethnic groups in the Chechen Republic, including Russians, established the Chechen National Congress in Grozny, the capital, and elected dudayev, the first Chechen who became a Soviet general and commander of the strategic air force division, as the chairman of the executive committee of the Congress, and passed a resolution to declare Chechnya's independence from the Soviet Union. At that time, what happened in this small "Chechen-Ingushetia Republic" was not taken seriously by the embattled Kremlin.
That's when the crisis of social unrest in Chechnya began. Zavgayev, the first secretary of the Chechen-Ingushetia Committee in communist party of the Soviet Union, personally declared Chechnya-Ingushetia a sovereign state and established the post of President of the Republic for himself.
Due to the chaos in Moscow, riots broke out in Chechnya in August 199 1. The Chechen-Ingushetia government supported the Moscow Emergency Committee, while the People's Assembly headed by dudayev sided with Yeltsin. As a result of the confrontation between the two sides, dudayev announced the overthrow of the Supreme Soviet of the Republic, claiming that Chechnya should separate from Ingushetia and elect its own parliament and president. 101On October 27th, Du was elected as "President of the Chechen Republic". A few days later, Russian President Yeltsin signed an order to implement a state of emergency in Chechnya-Ingushetia, and dudayev declared martial law in the Republic and distributed weapons to Chechens.
199 1 After the disintegration of the Soviet Union at the end of the year, Chechnya has never signed an agreement to join the Russian Federation. In the following two years, Moscow had no time to care about the disaster caused by its own "shock therapy" reform, and actually recognized the autonomy of Chechnya and the presidency of dudayev. The Russian People's Congress also passed laws in 1992, recognizing Chechnya and Ingushetia as two republics respectively. At the beginning of June of the same year, all the federal troops withdrew from Chechnya, leaving dudayev with all the weapons originally deployed there, including 260 coach planes, 42 tanks, 34 armored infantry vehicles, 139 cannons, 2,500 automatic rifles and 27 wagon ammunition. In the words of Russian general Troshev, "these weapons are enough to equip the army of a small country."
1in April 1993, dudayev dissolved the Chechen parliament, declared that he was in charge of the country, and the opposition formed a provisional republic parliament. The civil strife in Chechnya led to social out of control, the troops supporting and opposing Du went to war, gangs ran rampant everywhere, and terrorist incidents emerged one after another. Local Russians often fall victim to bandits. Chechnya has become a paradise for criminals, and fraudulent acts such as forging bank documents have spread from there to the North Caucasus and even to all parts of Russia.
Mediocre officials let soldiers "funeral"
When Russia as a whole can't find its way in the frustration of the failure of economic reform, the ignorance of the Kremlin masters on the Chechen issue and the Russian army's misjudgment of the Chechen war situation have all laid the groundwork for the long Chechen war.
According to Russian current affairs commentator and former deputy editor-in-chief of Izvestia, just a few days before the start of the Chechen war, dudayev met with Federal Defense Minister Grachev and Interior Minister Yelin in Ingushetia, saying that Chechnya and the federal government could conduct extensive negotiations on the division of power. In fact, General dudayev, who is not handsome, just wants Yeltsin to meet him in person to satisfy his sense of honor. But Yeltsin ignored dudayev because Yeltsin, who was humiliated at that time, had secretly prepared to take military action.
1994165438+1On October 26th, 40 tanks disguised as opposition forces drove to the center of Grozny. They were immediately annihilated by howitzers armed by dudayev. The young tank soldier became a prisoner and admitted to being appointed by the federal counterintelligence agency. Chechens invited TV reporters to record the confessions of captured officers and soldiers, and Defense Minister Grachev denied that the boys were his own soldiers, which made Moscow ashamed.
On the same day, the then Russian Federal Security Council met to discuss how to attack Chechnya. "Labor" reported that yegorov, then the federal policy minister for ethnic areas, was very optimistic about the situation, claiming that "70% of Chechens expect Russian troops to enter, while the other 30% remain basically neutral, and only the rebels will resist." They even boasted that Chechens would "eat rice paste to welcome Julian Waghann" and spread flour on the road to welcome Russian troops in the most solemn traditional way!
Although Grachev, the Secretary of Defense, once said that it was premature to send troops, the Federal Security Council decided to send troops. As an excellent soldier, Grachev wanted to be brave in front of the president and strengthen his position in the army. When Yeltsin asked him how many days it would take to prepare to attack Chechnya, he blurted out: "Three days."
Fall into a war of terrorism
Half a year after the start of the Chechen war, Chechen troops were forced by federal troops to the Georgian border area in the southern mountainous area. Just then, a man named Chamir? Basaev's rebel generals announced that they would transfer the battlefield to Russian territory, forcing Moscow to return to the negotiating table. The Russian military, whose victory was in sight, didn't pay much attention to basaev's remarks. They just wanted to pursue them. As we all know, basaev's remarks are a declaration of war on terror.
Next, the whole world was shocked. Although the Federal Army successfully killed dudayev with rockets on April 22, 1996, extremists in the Chechen independence movement also successfully created terrorist incidents in the surrounding areas outside Chechnya many times:
1On June 4th, 1995, basaev's team hijacked1more than 500 hostages in BuIonov sk, Stavropol Krai. Basaev asked Moscow to withdraw its troops from Chechnya and hold talks on Chechen independence. To show his seriousness, he killed six hostages on the first day and five others the next. The rescue operation of the federal anti-espionage agency and special forces failed, and another 30 hostages were killed. Finally, they had to negotiate with basaev by telephone to reach an intention to stop military operations.
1996 65438+1On October 9, Raduyev, inspector of the Chechen-Ingushetia Committee of the former Soviet Communist Youth League, led his troops to attack the Dagestan city of Kizlyar. After they attacked the military airport, they took another 2000 hostages in the city. This incident lasted more than 40 days, 1 1 the hostage died. ......
Rebel attacks in various places have indeed pushed Moscow back to the negotiating table. After two rounds of negotiations,1signed a cease-fire agreement between Grozny and Chechnya on August 30, 1996, and both sides agreed to solve the sovereignty issue of Chechnya within five years. Then:1996 65438+February 3 1, all federal troops withdrew from Chechnya. 1997 65438+1On October 27th, presidential and parliamentary elections were held in Chechnya. Anti-government armed forces * * * maskhadov defeated other 15 candidates and was elected president of Chechnya. On May 2, Yeltsin and maskhadov signed the Agreement on Bilateral Relations and the Code of Peace between the Russian Federation and the Chechen Republic.
However, the land after the first Chechen war has become a mess-the ruins left by the war can be rebuilt and restored; The chaos caused by human heart has become a cancer of society. The "mujahideen" who entered the Caucasus on the grounds of supporting Chechen national independence turned Chechnya into their activity base and training base. Wahhabism has established its own organization and school in Chechnya. Bin Laden's Al Qaeda, the Taliban regime in Afghanistan and the Chechen armed forces are closely linked and support each other. Grozny's maskhadov regime was obviously unable to integrate the post-armistice republic. As the commander of the terrorist rangers, basaev didn't "break his word". They eventually burned the war to the Russian hinterland and buried the bomb in Moscow. 1from August to September, 1999, a series of violent explosions from Moscow shopping center to high-rise residential buildings caused nearly 1,000 civilian casualties, which aroused the anger of Russian people and shattered the peace fantasy of Russian high-level. At the end of September, then Prime Minister Putin led the federal army to re-enter Chechnya, and the second Chechen war broke out. In February of the same year, Russian troops and Chechen armed forces began a fierce battle against Grozny. On February 7, 2000, sergeyev, Minister of National Defense, announced the complete liberation of Grozny.
Minister of Chariots of the G8.
According to the anti-terrorism spokesman of the North Caucasus Military Region, in the three years after the second Chechen war began, the federal army killed more than 500 gangsters from Arab countries, and among the gangsters who made the Beslan hostage incident in September 2004, there were also Arab gunmen.
who the hell are all these people？ Why did they abandon their life in a foreign land? According to General Troshev, the author of "The Recurrence of Old Diseases in Chechnya-Notes of Commander-in-Chief", the existence of these foreign mercenaries fully proves that Chechnya has long been one of the battlefields of "global jihad". In fact, the Russian army is fighting against the international terrorist Coalition forces on the territory of Chechnya. Many documents also prove that a large number of foreigners who fought for Iraq and its independence under the banner of "helping Muslim brothers" were sent to Chechnya by global terrorist organizations. Some countries and groups even secretly funded foreign mercenaries for ulterior motives to prevent the stability of Chechnya. Some countries try to turn their political and economic interests into reality in the Caucasus, and are keen to find "their own" as leaders among local illegal armed groups. It is precisely because of the money imported from abroad into Chechnya that the existence and activities of various organizations are guaranteed. The structure of Wahhabi organization is mainly composed of foreigners, mostly Arabs. Today, a large number of foreigners in Chechnya crossed the border from Georgia and Azerbaijan after the disintegration of the Soviet Union. In the First Chechen War, the most famous foreign mercenary unit was called "Fajit Camp", which was composed of Turks, Jordanians, Lebanese and other citizens. 1996, more than 200 foreign Muslim "volunteers" stood on the side of Chechen rebels and fought against Russian troops. They come from Bosnian Muslims and the Amir of Algeria. Abd？ Kader in Syria, Islamic Liberation Army in Syria, Islamic Revolutionary Organization in Saudi Arabia, Khalifa in Yemen? Islamic extremist organizations such as Rashid fighters. According to the authorities, Tajiks, Uzbeks, Crimean Tatars, Albanians and Uighurs from Xinjiang, China were fighting Russian troops in Chechnya. The Russian counterintelligence department also discovered radio stations operated by the United States and Britain in Chechnya. In the battle of radio reconnaissance and anti-reconnaissance, the Russian interception department heard pure American English and British English, and the rebel leader was able to obtain NATO satellite reconnaissance information. Even in the rebel ranks, you can often see the faces of western Europeans.
Where is the way out for Chechnya? How long can we fight?
Residents living in Grozny in 1980s (1950- 1980), whether Chechens, Russians, Armenians or Jews, all remember the scene of people of all ethnic groups living in harmony. At that time, in a square in Grozny, there was a "Three Warriors Monument". It is a group of sculptures: three warriors during the October Revolution and the Civil War: Nicholas? Gikalo (Russian), Aslanbek? Sheripov (Chechnya) and Gapur? Akhriyev (Ingushetia) stood side by side on the pedestal of the monument.
1990 war destroyed the monument, but did not destroy the memory of that harmonious period. In a sense, historians and observers of international issues all over the world are right: from Elmorov to beria (1943 Stalin's will forced the Ingushetia residents in Chechnya to Kazakhstan), they brought suffering and hatred to the Caucasian people. On the other hand, from the tsar to the Soviet Union and then to the leaders of the new Russia, Great Russia has been trying to resolve the hatred of the Caucasian people, and Moscow has invested a lot of money to stabilize the situation on the southern border.
In other words, the law of human survival is ruthless, so can the law of national survival be an exception? Judging from the history of Russia's struggle with other big powers for sovereignty in the Caucasus, or from the broader history of human development, the geopolitical map of the world today is mostly the result of hegemony and merger of big powers. Can a weak nation and region live independently without the wings of a big country?
When the Chechen people's call for independence and movement reached its climax again, an ordinary Chechen rural teacher published an article in Voice of Chechnya, expressing the realistic view of a realistic Chechen intellectual and saying to those compatriots seeking independence: "Please don't forget that the land is at our feet, the sky is above us, and Russia is around us ....."
That night, in the officer's dormitory of the 42nd Division of the North Caucasus Military Region, I turned on the TV and saw President Putin answering reporters' questions in Germany. When a reporter asked about the Chechen war, Putin replied: The Chechen war has ended because there was no large-scale military action there as early as three years ago. On the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the Chechen War, Ivanov's Defense Minister announced on 2004 12 that it was time to withdraw troops from Chechnya.
The Chechen war is over? So it's over without any agreement or conclusion?
"Trench General" Troshev lamented: War begins with politicians and ends with politicians. Of course, the Kremlin is eager to get rid of the burden of the Chechen war, but there are many politicians and illegal armed commanders inside and outside Chechnya who don't want to end the war. Only when Chechnya is in a state of disintegration and even the war spreads to other parts of the North Caucasus can the personal interests of these conspirators last.
During the ten years of the war, from Radio Free Europe to Washington post, maskhadov's representative Zakayev and former "foreign minister" ahmadov made speeches and articles calling on Moscow to sit down and negotiate, but Putin's government did not respond. Unilaterally declared a ceasefire and unilaterally called for negotiations, the game in Chechnya has not finally ended.
Malashenko, a professor at the Institute of International Relations of the Russian Foreign Ministry, said in a speech on the occasion of the Chechen War 10 that military means can't change the fundamental situation in Chechnya, and no matter who talks with whom, there will always be negotiations sooner or later. For example, he said, Chechnya's anti-Soviet campaign began at 19 17, and it was not until 1940 that it was successfully quelled. Finally, he quoted Kadyrov's words before he was killed in the bombing: "Armed confrontation will continue for another 20 years."