Chechen Republic of Ichkeria

Etymology

The name "Ichkeria" comes from the river Iskark in South-Eastern Chechnya, which is a small stream flowing into Belka, a tributary to Sunzha. The term was mentioned first as "Iskeria" in a Russian document by Colonel Konstantin Belevich from 1836. The term was originally used as an exonym for the Chechens, who instead referred to the landscape as "Noxçi-moxk" (Chechen lands). In the 19th century, the Russians began to use it as a toponym.

History

Declaration of independence

In November 1990, Dzhokhar Dudayev was elected head of the executive committee of the unofficial opposition Chechen National Congress (NCChP), which advocated sovereignty for Chechnya as a separate republic within the Soviet Union.

On 8 June 1991, at the initiative of Dzhokhar Dudayev, a part of the delegates of the First Chechen National Congress gathered in Grozny, which proclaimed itself the All-National Congress of the Chechen People (OKChN). Following this, was proclaimed the Chechen Republic (Nokhchi-cho). A month later, the self-proclaimed republic was declared an independent state.

The Soviet coup d'état attempt on 19 August 1991 became the spark for the so-called Chechen Revolution. On 21 August, the OKChN called for the overthrow of the Supreme Soviet of the Chechen-Ingush ASSR. On 6 September 1991, OKChN squads seized the local KGB headquarters, and took over the building of the Supreme Soviet. Following the revolution, the OKChN declared itself the only legitimate authority in the region. On 27 October 1991, Dudayev was elected president of the Chechen Republic. Dudayev, in his new position as president, issued a unilateral declaration of independence on 1 November 1991. Initially, his stated objective was for Checheno-Ingushetia to become a union republic within Russia.

Dudayev released 640 inmates from a prison in Grozny, many of whom became his personal body guards. Among the prisoners was Ruslan Labazanov, who was serving a sentence for armed robbery and murder, and later headed a pro-Dudayev militia. As crowds of armed separatists gathered in Grozny, Russian president Boris Yeltsin sought to declare a state of emergency in the region, but his efforts were thwarted by the Russian parliament. An early attempt by Russian authorities to confront the pro-independence forces in November 1991 ended after just three days.

According to an article originally published by a Kremlin-backed publication, Komsomolskaya Pravda, and reprinted in early 1992 by The Guardian, Dudayev allegedly signed a decree outlawing the extradition of criminals to any country which did not recognize Chechnya. After being informed that the Russian government would not recognize Chechnya's independence, he declared that he would not recognize Russia. Grozny became an organized crime haven, as the government proved unable or unwilling to curb criminal activities.

First war

The intensity of Chechen-sponsored terrorism increased during the first seven months in 1994, when four hijacking accidents occurred, involving people trying to flee Russia for the country. In May 1994, Labazanov changed sides, establishing the anti-Dudayev Niyso Movement. In July 1994, 41 passengers aboard a bus near Mineralniye Vody were held by kidnappers demanding $15 million and helicopters. After this incident, the Russian government started to openly support opposition forces in Chechnya.

In August 1994, Umar Avturkhanov, leader of the pro-Russian Provisional Council, launched an attack against pro-Dudayev forces. Dudayev ordered the mobilization of the Chechen military, threatening a jihad against Russia as a response to Russian support for his political opponents.

In November 1994, Avturkhanov's forces attempted to storm the city of Grozny, but they were defeated by Dudayev's forces. Dudayev declared his intention to turn Chechnya into an Islamic state, stating that the recognition of sharia was a way to fight Russian aggression. He also vowed to punish the captured Chechen rebels under Islamic law, and threatened to execute Russian prisoners.

The First Chechen War began in December 1994, when Russian troops were sent to Chechnya to fight the separatist forces. During the Battle of Grozny (1994–95), the city's population dropped from 400,000 to 140,000. Most of the civilians stranded in the city were elderly ethnic Russians, as many Chechens had support networks of relatives living in villages who took them in.

Former minister of the chemical and oil refining industry of the USSR Salambek Khadzhiyev was appointed leader of the officially recognized Chechen government in November 1994. The conflict ended after the Russian defeat in the Battle of Grozny of August 1996.

Interwar period (1996–1999)

According to Russian sources, after the Russian withdrawal, crime became rampant, with kidnappings and murders multiplying as rival rebel factions fought for territory. In December 1996, six Red Cross workers were killed, resulting in most foreign aid workers leaving the country.

Parliamentary and presidential elections took place in January 1997 in Chechnya and brought to power Aslan Maskhadov. The elections were deemed free and fair, but no government recognized Chechnya's independence, except for the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. According to a 1997 Moscow Times article, ethnic Russian refugees were prevented from returning to vote by threats and intimidation, and Chechen authorities refused to set up polling booths outside the republic.

Maskhadov sought to maintain Chechen sovereignty while pressing Moscow to help rebuild the republic, whose formal economy and infrastructure were virtually destroyed in Russia's war against Chechen independence from Moscow.

In May 1997, the Russia–Chechen Peace Treaty was signed by Maskhadov and Yeltsin. Russia continued to transfer funds for schools and hospitals in Chechnya and paid pensions to its residents. Some of this money was stolen by the Chechen authorities and divided between the warlords. Nearly half a million people (40% of Chechnya's prewar population) had been internally displaced and lived in refugee camps or overcrowded villages.

Chechnya had been badly damaged by Russia's war against the newly formed republic's independence, and the economy was in shambles. According to Russian sources, Aslan Maskhadov tried to concentrate power in his hands to establish authority, but had trouble creating an effective state or a functioning economy. Maskhadov requested $260 billion in war reparations from Russia to rebuild infrastructure destroyed during the war, an amount equivalent to 60% of the Russian GDP.

The war ravages and lack of economic opportunities left numbers of armed former guerrillas with no occupation. Machine guns and grenades were sold openly and legally in Grozny's central bazaar. The years of independence had some political violence as well. On 10 December 1998, Mansur Tagirov, Chechnya's top prosecutor, disappeared while returning to Grozny. On 21 June, the Chechen security chief and a guerrilla commander fatally shot each other in an argument. The internal violence in Chechnya peaked on 16 July 1998, when fighting broke out between Maskhadov's National Guard force led by Sulim Yamadayev (who joined pro-Moscow forces in the second war) and militants in the town of Gudermes; over 50 people were reported killed and the state of emergency was declared in Chechnya.

Second war and insurgency period

In August 1999, Islamist fighters from Chechnya, along with defected militants from other factions, invaded Russia’s Dagestan region and declared it an independent state, calling for a jihad against “unbelievers.” These fighters, led by commanders such as Shamil Basayev and Ibn al-Khattab, operated outside the formal authority of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria government under President Aslan Maskhadov. Maskhadov's behaviour was contradictory: on one hand he denied the participation of Chechens in the attack and blamed it on Russia; on the other hand he condemned the incursion and denied that his government was involved in planning or controlling the attack.

Maskhadov appealed to Russian President Boris Yeltsin for negotiations and said "show us the terrorist bases and we will destroy them ourselves".

On 14 September 1999, Maskhadov, through his representative Mairbek Vachagaev, proposed joint action with Russia against terrorism and denied any official Chechen connection to the later apartment bombings, stating that if evidence emerged showing Ibn al-Khattab's involvement, that commander would be expelled from Chechnya.

In September 1999, a series of apartment bombings in Moscow, Buynaksk, and Volgodonsk were cited by Russian authorities as the immediate cause for Russia’s renewed military campaign against Chechnya. These bombings killed hundreds of civilians. Although Russian officials blamed Chechen militants, responsibility for the attacks remains contested among analysts and scholars. In 2000, U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright stated that, at that time, there was no evidence tying the bombings to Chechnya.

The Ryazan incident on 22 September 1999 — when local police discovered and initially treated as a real bomb a device containing a sugar-like substance and arrested three individuals who were later identified as Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) agents — added to the controversy surrounding the official narrative. The incident was later described by the FSB as a training exercise, which has been cited by independent researchers as raising questions about the official account of the apartment bombings’ origins.

Across the North Caucasus and in many Western analyses, Maskhadov’s government is portrayed as the moderate wing of the Chechen movement, seeking political negotiation and attempting to distance itself from radical Islamist commanders whose actions it could neither authoritatively control nor endorse. Maskhadov continued to express a willingness for political resolution and dialogue with Russian authorities in later years, though such overtures were largely ignored during the escalation of hostilities. Historians note that Maskhadov’s ability to control all armed groups within Chechnya was limited, particularly after the rise of autonomous Islamist factions.

Military

Dudayev spent the years from 1991 to 1994 preparing for war, mobilizing men aged 15–55 and seizing Russian weapons depots. The Chechen National Guard counted 10,000 troops in December 1994, rising to 40,000 soldiers by early 1996.

Major weapons systems were seized from the Russian military in 1992, and on the eve of the First Chechen War, they included 23 air defense guns, 108 APC/tanks, 24 artillery pieces, 5 MiG-17/15, 2 Mi-8 helicopters, 24 multiple rocket launchers, 17 surface-to-air missile launchers, 94 L-29 trainer aircraft, 52 L-39 trainer aircraft, 6 An-22 transport aircraft, 5 Tupolev Tu-134 transport aircraft.

Politics

Since the Declaration of Independence in 1991, there has been an ongoing battle between secessionist officials and federally appointed officials. Both claim authority over the same territory.

The Chechen Republic of Ichkeria was officially a secular state, with its constitution stating, "The Chechen Republic is a secular state. No religion may be established as a state or compulsory religion." The Spiritual Administration of the Muslims of the Chechen Republic—the Chechen muftiate—was a non-governmental organisation. Despite this, the criminal code of Chechnya legally established Sharia courts and included Islamic hudud punishments of decapitation, stoning and other punishments for crimes such as alcohol drinking, sodomy, and apostasy from Islam.

Government in exile

After being injured in a car accident in 2000, the Chechen deputy prime minister and foreign minister Akhmed Zakayev had been in the United Kingdom for medical treatment, remaining there as the Second Chechen war turned into an insurgency and denouncing the efforts of Umarov to Islamify Chechen politics and resigning from his government in 2007 before going on to found the Chechen government in exile on 25 November 2007. Since the creation of this government Zakayev has served as its prime minister.

In his role as self-proclaimed prime minister in exile, Zakayev has extensively lobbied European governments from his headquarters in London to pursue more stringent sanctions on Russia, and for support for the Chechen cause. However, Zakayev's actions proclaiming himself as the prime minister are in violation of the Constitution of Chechnya, as there was no parliamentary session nor vote held to transfer power from Dokka Umarov to Zakayev, and with the dissolution of the Chechen parliament it is impossible for such a vote to take place. As such, Zakayev has continued to struggle to unify the Chechen diaspora around him as a dissident group of Chechen exiles led by Dzhambulat Suleymanov compete for legitimacy. The divide in the two groups is that Suleymanov's faction wishes to institute Sharia law should they take power in Chechnya, while Zakayev and his government in exile are stringent secularists, all while Umarov's supporters seeking a restoration of the Emirate are still a powerful voice in the diaspora with hundreds, if not thousands, coming to Ukraine to join various Chechen militant groups after fighting alongside Islamist rebels in Syria.

Foreign relations

Ichkeria was a member of the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization. Former president of Georgia, Zviad Gamsakhurdia, deposed in a military coup of 1991 and a leading participant in the Georgian Civil War, recognized the independence of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria in 1993.

Diplomatic relations with Ichkeria were also established by the partially recognized Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan under the Taliban government on 16 January 2000. This recognition ceased with the fall of the Taliban in December 2001. However, despite Taliban recognition, there were no friendly relations between the Taliban and Ichkeria—Maskhadov rejected their recognition, stating that the Taliban were illegitimate. In June 2000, the Russian government claimed that Maskhadov had met with Osama bin Laden, and that the Taliban supported the Chechens with arms and troops. In the aftermath of the September 11 attacks, the Bush administration called on Maskhadov to cut all links with the Taliban. After the 2021 Taliban offensive and the Fall of Kabul (2021) the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan was restored. It is unknown if the Taliban still recognizes the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria.

Ichkeria also received limited support from certain political factions in Poland, the Baltic countries and Ukrainian nationalists. Estonia once voted to recognize, but the act never was consummated due to pressure from both Russia and pro-Russian elements within the European Union. Dudayev also had contacts with Islamist movements and guerrillas in the United Arab Emirates, Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia.

After the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Verkhovna Rada passed a resolution in October recognizing the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria as "temporarily occupied" by Russia.

Human rights

First Chechen War

The human rights situation in Chechnya during the hostility phases had long been a concern among several human rights organizations such as Human Rights Watch, who, after several years of investigation and gathering evidence, referred to the situation as disturbing. Throughout the span of the first Chechen war, Russian forces have been accused by human rights organizations of starting a brutal war with total disregard for humanitarian law, causing tens of thousands of unnecessary civilian casualties among the Chechen population. The main strategy in the Russian war effort had been to use heavy artillery and air strikes leading to numerous indiscriminate attacks on civilians. This has led to Western and Chechen sources calling the Russian strategy deliberate terror bombing on parts of Russia. According to Human Rights Watch, the campaign was "unparalleled in the area since World War II for its scope and destructiveness, followed by months of indiscriminate and targeted fire against civilians". Russian forces attacked civilians many times throughout the war. One of the most notable war crimes committed by the Russian army during the First Chechen War is the Samashki massacre, in which it is estimated that up to 300 civilians died during the attack. Russian forces conducted an operation of zachistka, house-by-house searches throughout the entire village. Federal soldiers deliberately and arbitrarily attacked civilians and civilian dwellings in Samashki by shooting residents and burning houses with flame-throwers. They wantonly opened fire or threw grenades into basements where residents, mostly women, elderly persons, and children, had been hiding. Russian troops intentionally burned many bodies, either by throwing the bodies into burning houses or by setting them on fire. A Chechen surgeon, Khassan Baiev, treated wounded in Samashki immediately after the operation and described the scene in his book:

Dozens of charred corpses of women and children lay in the courtyard of the mosque, which had been destroyed. The first thing my eye fell on was the burned body of a baby, lying in the fetal position... A wild-eyed woman emerged from a burned-out house holding a dead baby. Trucks with bodies piled in the back rolled through the streets on the way to the cemetery.

While treating the wounded, I heard stories of young men – gagged and trussed up – dragged with chains behind personnel carriers. I heard of Russian aviators who threw Chechen prisoners, screaming, out of their helicopters. There were rapes, but it was hard to know how many because women were too ashamed to report them. One girl was raped in front of her father. I heard of one case in which the mercenary grabbed a newborn baby, threw it among each other like a ball, then shot it dead in the air.

Interwar period

Kidnappings, robberies, and killings of fellow Chechens and outsiders weakened the possibilities of outside investment and Maskhadov's efforts to gain international recognition of its independence effort. Kidnappings became common in Chechnya, procuring over $200 million during the three-year independence of the chaotic fledgling state, but victims were rarely killed. In a Los Angeles Times interview with a Russian woman, she states that kidnappers would at times mutilate their captives and send video recordings to their families, to encourage the payment of ransoms. According to her, there was a slave market in Minutka Square, downtown Grozny. Some of the kidnapped were supposedly sold into indentured servitude to Chechen families. They were openly called slaves and had to endure starvation, beating, and often maiming according to Russian sources. In 1998, 176 people had been kidnapped, and 90 of them had been released during the same year according to official accounts. There were several public executions of criminals.

After the First Chechen War, the country won de facto independence from Russia, and Islamic courts were established. In September 1996, a Sharia-based criminal code was adopted, which included provisions for banning alcohol and punishing adultery with death by stoning. Sharia was supposed to apply to Muslims only, but in fact, it was also applied to ethnic Russians who violated Sharia provisions. In one of the first rulings under Sharia law, in January 1997 an Islamic court ordered the payment of blood money to the family of a man who was killed in a traffic accident. In November 1997, the Islamic dress code was imposed on all female students and civil servants in the country. In December 1997, the Supreme Sharia Court banned New Year celebrations, considering them "an act of apostasy and falsity". Conceding to an armed and vocal minority movement in the opposition led by Movladi Udugov, in February 1999, Maskhadov declared The Islamic Republic of Ichkeria, and the Sharia system of justice was introduced. Maskhadov hoped that this would discredit the opposition, putting stability before his own ideological affinities. However, according to former Foreign Minister Ilyas Akhmadov, the public primarily supported Maskhadov, his Independence Party, and their secularism. This was exemplified by the much greater numbers in political rallies supporting the government than those supporting the Islamist opposition. Akhmadov notes that the parliament, which was dominated by Maskhadov's own Independence Party, issued a public statement that President Maskhadov did not have the constitutional authority to proclaim sharia law, and also condemning the opposition for "undermining the foundations of the state".

Second Chechen War

The Second Chechen War saw a new wave of war crimes and violation of International humanitarian law. Both sides have been criticised by international organizations of violating the Geneva Conventions. Russian forces have since the beginning of the conflict indiscriminately and disproportionately bombed and shelled civilian objects, resulting in heavy civilian casualties. In October 1999, powerful ballistic missiles were fired on the Grozny central market, resulting in hundreds of casualties. Russian forces have throughout the campaign ignored to follow their Geneva convention obligations, and has taken little responsibility of protecting the civilian population. Russian media reports state that Russian soldiers were sometimes sold into slavery by their commanders. According to Amnesty International, Chechen civilians have been purposely targeted by Russian forces, in apparent disregard of humanitarian law. The situation has been described by Amnesty International as a Russian campaign to punish an entire ethnic group, on the pretext of "fighting crime and terrorism". In one such occasion, Thermobaric weapons were fired on the village of Katyr-Yurt, in what is known as the bombing of Katyr-Yurt. Hundreds of civilians died as a result of the Russian bombardment and the following sweep after. Thermobaric weapons have been used by the Russian army on several occasions according to Human Rights Watch. In what is regarded as one of gravest war crimes in the war, Russian federal forces went on a village-sweep (zachistka), summarily executing dozens of people and committing crimes in what is known as the Novye Aldi massacre.

During the Second Chechen War, Chechen and Chechen-led militants have on several occasions used terrorism against civilian targets. In one such occasion, three suicide bombers ran a truck filled with explosives into the Grozny governmental headquarters, resulting in at least 35 deaths. Chechen fighters have shown little regard for the safety of the civilian population, often placing their military positions in densely populated areas and refusing to leave civilian areas. Two large-scale hostage-takings have been documented, the Moscow theater hostage crisis and Beslan school siege, resulting in the deaths of multiple civilians. In the Moscow stand-off, FSB Spetsnaz forces stormed the building on the third day using an unknown incapacitating chemical agent that proved to be lethal without sufficient medical care, resulting in the deaths of 133 out of 916 hostages. In Beslan, some 20 hostages had been executed by their captors before the assault, and the ill-prepared assault itself resulted in 294 more casualties. A report by Human Rights Watch states that without minimizing the abuses committed by Chechen fighters, the main reason for civilian suffering in the Second Chechen War came as a result of the abuses committed by the Russian forces on the civilian population.

Minorities

Ethnic Russians made up 29% of the Chechnya's population before the war, and they generally opposed independence. Due to the mounting anti-Russian sentiment following the declaration of independence and the fear of an upcoming war, by 1994 over 200,000 ethnic Russians decided to leave the independence-striving republic. Ethnic Russians left behind faced constant harassment and violence. The separatist government acknowledged the violence but did nothing to address it, blaming it on Russian provocateurs. Russians became a soft target for criminals, as they knew the Chechen police would not intervene in their defence. The start of the First Chechen War in 1994 and the first bombing of Grozny created a second wave of ethnic Russian refugees. By the end of the conflict in 1996, the Russian community had nearly vanished.

International recognition

No states currently recognize the independence of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria.