Warning Signs

The roots of the crisis
The roots of the crisis in Chechnya extend back several centuries. Russia established a permanent military presence in Chechnya in the late eighteenth century. The Chechens periodically rose up against Russian rule throughout the nineteenth century and into the twentieth. In 1944, Josef Stalin ordered the deportation to Central Asia of the entire Chechen population, along with other nationalities in the region. The deportation, which in 2005 the European Parliament recognized as constituting genocide, exacted a heavy toll -- as many as three out of every ten Chechens died during the transport, resettlement, and first years of exile. Not until 1957 were the Chechens allowed to return home.

Discrimination and Demonization
Chechens in particular, and other "persons of Caucasian nationality" in general, have faced discrimination and demonization in Russian society. They often are referred to pejoratively as "blacks" and have been treated by virtue of their ethnicity to be criminals or terrorists. Throughout the Russian Federation, particularly in larger cities, Chechens suffer discrimination in housing and employment and are subject to arbitrary arrests and harassment. Chechens displaced by the war are not accorded the right of freedom of movement and are effectively barred from resettling elsewhere in Russia.

War (1994-96 and 1999)
As the former Soviet Union dissolved in 1991, Chechen nationalist leaders declared the republic's independence. Russian President Boris Yeltsin responded militarily in 1994. The first war lasted from 1994-96 and was marked by widespread destruction and violence against civilians: more than 30,000 civilians killed, some 600,000 displaced. It is estimated that Russian soldiers killed over 100 civilians in a single incident in the town of Samashki. That war ended with a Russian withdrawal from Chechnya at the end of 1996. A May 1997 peace agreement signed by Russian President Boris Yeltsin and Chechen President Aslan Maskhadov set aside the determination of Chechnya's legal status for five years. Between 1997 and 1999, the Maskhadov government failed to establish stability or rebuild Chechnya's shattered economy.

A second war began in October 1999, in response to terrorism attacks in Russia, anarchy inside Chechnya, and the growth of Chechen armed units. This war began under President Yeltsin, but he was shortly thereafter replaced by Vladimir Putin, who won an election in 2000 and remained the leader of Russia until 2008. The fighting was catastrophic for civilians. The Russian siege of Chechnya's capital Grozny left that city in ruins. Other built-up areas that were held by rebels, however temporarily, sustained enormous damage as Russian forces indiscriminately used air and artillery bombardment. Both sides fought the war without regard to the safety of civilians, although the vast Russian superiority in numbers and firepower took a much greater toll.

The Russians captured Grozny at the end of January 2000. They declared the war won and began a strategy of "pacification" of the region that ostensibly was designed to fully defeat the Chechen rebel movement, but was marked instead by systematic and sustained abuses against Chechen civilians simply because they were Chechen.

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