Forgotten world (31): Chechnya
On six occasions now, I’ve had a week-long feature on NightHawk devoted to parts of the world that tend to be under-reported or even forgotten. You can check out the previous 30 entries here. This week, I plan to run a seventh series of postings on this theme.
The world forgets about Chechnya until forced to remember by some horror such as the Beslan massacre. Historically, whenever the Russian state has faced challenge or suffered weakness, the Chechnians have asserted their claim for independence. During the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the government of the republic declared independence as the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria.
However, their independence has not been recognized by any state. In the ensuing conflict, there has been terrible brutality by both the Chechnian rebels and by the Russian military.
A controversial referendum in March 2003 approved a new constitution, giving Chechnya more autonomy but stipulating that it remained firmly part of Russia. Parliamentary elections in November 2005 saw the pro-Kremlin United Russia party win over half the seats. but the separatist rebels dismissed the election as a charade