Introduction: Land and People

The Chechens have traditionally been fiercely independent and democratic mountaineers. Lermontov, the Russian poet, wrote in 1832: "Their god is freedom, their law is war." From the 17th to the mid-19th century, the Chechen tribes were converted to the Sunni branch of the Muslim religion, with emphasis on its mystic Sufi form, which combines asceticism, the search for personal union with God, submission of the novice or murid to the sect's leader, and the glorification of ghazavat, or holy war, as a defense against foreign domination. Their Muslim religion plays an important role in Chechen society, although the ancient clan structure of Chechen social and political life also persists, as do blood feuds and other traditional customs.

The area of Chechnya is approximately 6,000 square miles, somewhat larger than Connecticut. Its western border with the Ingush Republic has not been definitively settled. Georgia, now an independent state, lies over the mountains to the south; Dagestan, a Republic of the Russian Federation, is to the east and north; the Stavropol Krai and the North Ossetin Republic lie to the northwest. The northern half of Chechnya is a fertile plain crossed by the Terek and Sunja rivers. The southern half contains the wooded foothills rising to the northern slopes of the main Caucasus range.

According to the 1989 census, the population of the Chechen-Ingush Autonomous Republic numbered 1,270,000. The districts now considered part of Chechnya had 1,084,000 inhabitants, 715,000 of whom were Chechens, 269,000 were Russians (including Cossacks), and 25,000 were Ingush. In 1989, the population of Chechnya's capital, Grozny, was 397,000. Of these, 210,000 were Russians and 121,000 Chechens. Since the 1989 census, there has been a substantial emigration of Russians from Grozny and Chechnya, probably in excess of 100,000 persons even before December 1994. Chechens living elsewhere in the USSR in 1989 numbered 242,000 with 58,000 in Dagestan, 50,000 in Kazakhstan, 19,000 in Ingushetia, and 2,000 in Moscow.

The Chechens have been primarily herdsmen and farmers. According to the 1989 census, 70% of all Chechens still lived in rural areas. The rich oilfields surrounding Grozny have been exploited since 1893. Although recent petroleum production is declining (in 1992 slightly exceeding 3.5 million tons), Grozny has remained a major center of refining (about 6.5 million tons of petroleum in 1992) and of petrochemical production. It is a hub for rail and road transport, as well as for important oil and gas pipelines. (There is speculation that Russia's interest in controlling the pipeline for Caspian oil may have been a major factor in the decision to send the Russian army into Chechnya.) Employment in Grozny's oil industry attracted many Russians -- the city's population grew from 97,000 (68,000 Russians) in 1926 to 397,000 (210,000 Russians) in 1989.

The Russian Constitution (Article 65) lists the Chechen Republic as a part of the Russian Federation. However, in 1990 a secession movement began to gain force, and on November 2, 1991, Chechnya proclaimed its independence. On March 17, 1992, a constitution was adopted; it defines the Chechen Republic as an independent, secular state governed by a president and a parliament.