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CHECHNYA
STORY
INTRODUCTION
1
“When grief-stricken, hold your head high. Bow your head before other people’s grief.”
- A Chechen proverb
The conflict in Chechnya remains as “one of the most extreme cases of the
complex and painful process of secession.” [1] Secession is defined as “the fact of an
area or group becoming independent from the country or larger group that it belongs
What drive Chechnya towards partition can be understood when one would like
to study the historical context of this conflict and the nature of its people. Roman
Khalilov who is acting as the head of the Political Department of the Chechen Foreign
Ministry addresses this issue by stating that, “The reasons why the Chechens want to
create their own state is clear. For centuries, Chechens have been victimized and
persecuted by Russian authorities. Russian czars in the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries,
Bolsheviks in the early 20th century, Stalin in the mid-20th century, Yeltsin in the 1990s
and now Putin, they all have had the same policy towards the Chechens. The Czarist
regime in Russia was replaced by a Bolshevik one in 1917, that in turn was replaced by
a so-called ‘democratic’ regime in 1991. And yet, the Chechens felt little difference.
They have always been victims of Russian imperialistic policies. The Chechens have
been given only two options: to become Russians by assimilating to the Russians and
accepting “Russian moral” (as General Shamanov put it) or to die as Chechens. We
have always chosen the second option. Therefore, what the Chechens want to achieve
is security. Under the current world order, only statehood is able to provide security for
2
the Chechens. Thus, this is the aim of our struggle, nothing less than full independence
is acceptable.”[4]
As much as the issue of secession is being contended, the conflict is also being
portrayed to the rest of the world as a destructive war, which “many experts evaluate as
unprecedented since World War II because of its catastrophic outcome. For example
Medicins Sans Frontiers labeled it as ‘world’s cruelest war’.” [5] Western criticism always
has always put the blame on the Russian handling of the war. But recent world events
that drive the anti-terrorism war provided an avenue for Moscow to “silence what
Western criticism there was.”[6] Fareed Zakaria, who is editor of Newsweek International
wrote, “Thank goodness for moral clarity. President Bush’s black-and-white picture of
the war on terror has apparently made sense of Russia’s complicated struggle with the
Chechens. The White House offered its wholehearted support to President Vladimir
Putin in the aftermath of the Moscow theater siege, despite accounts of a heavy-handed
Russian operation that had little regard for the lives of the hostages or the terrorists. (the
latter were shot dead despite being unconscious.) But that’s all understandable. Russia
Bush’s spokesman, Ari Fleischer, revealed that, ‘the president’s first reaction [to
the events in Russia] is sorrow that other nations around the world are being victimized
It is really strange since all the while the Russian has been accused of barbaric
behavior in the Chechen war. Since international law on the law of the war governed the
conduct of war, hence weather Russia is really a victim can be analyzed historically by
3
Therefore, the aim of this paper is to explore the justification of Chechnya to
pursue secession from Russia in the lights of international law. This will be conducted
by analyzing the historical context of the struggle, Russian treatment towards his
Chechen subjects and the application of international law with regards to secession.
The conclusion derived from this analysis will be assessed in respect to the
“Take no step forward before you’ve seen where you go, utter no word before you’ve
-A Chechen proverb.
Northern Ossetia and Stavropol Territory. They are all part of Russian Federation.
Historically, “the Chechens have evidently been in or near their present territory
for some 6000 years and perhaps much longer; there is fairly seamless archeological
continuity for the last 8000 years or more in central Dagestan, suggesting that the Nakh-
language which belongs to the Nakh group of Caucasian languages.[9] Ninety seven
percent of them also speak Russian as their second language. They are addressed as
“Chechen” by the Russian. Historically, the name “Chechen” has been assigned by the
4
Russian in connection with the village of Chechenaul, a place where the Russian were
“In the history of the difficult relations between Chechen and Russians, two
episodes are central: the War of the Caucasus (in the 19th century) and the deportation
between Chechen and Russians date to the early 18th century.”[12] Throughout the
conflicts which developed into the Caucasian War of 1817-64, the Chechen “have never
5
undertaken the battle[s] except in [self] defense. The Russian conquest of the Caucasus
was difficult and bloody, and the Chechens and Ingush with their extensive lowlands
territory and access to central pass were prime targets and were among the most
tenacious defenders.”[13] Grozny was founded by the Russian during this Caucasian War
to serves
6
“as one of a number of fortresses from which they waged a ruthless and destructive
Russian finally took Chechnya in 1858. Consequently, many Chechen become refugees
who migrated or were deported to the Middle East, especially to Ottoman Empire.
“Sporadic resistance to Russian rule continued and with the coming of the Russian
(autonomous province) was established in 1922. It merged with that of the neighboring
Ingush in 1934 and became a Soviet Republic in 1936, though Stalin’s purges of that
period cost the lives and liberty of thousands of Chechens and did nothing to win their
support as war with Germany loomed…In 1944, Chechnya paid a shocking price for
continued defiance of Russian rule which, Stalin charged, went so far as collaborating
with the German invaders. On Feb. 23 and 24, 400,000 Chechen and Ingush people—
30-50% of them are estimated to have died within the year—one of the most
devastating incidents of ethnic cleansing in the 20 th century. Yet, amid the turbulence of
the war, the episode went largely unnoticed outside the region. In the issue of July
8,1946, TIME sourly noted: ‘The Soviet Union has a social system of its own but
borrows from others…from tribal jurisprudence, group punishment for individual guilt…
Because ‘many’ Chechens and Crimean tartars fought on the side of Germans and the
‘main mass of the population…did not give opposition, their ‘autonomous’ republics
estimated 400,000 men, women and children were driven from the land on which their
7
ancestors had lived for untold generations, and ordered to trek eastward. Where?
Nobody knew—probably to the vast Kazak steppes beyond the Caspian Sea.’ Only with
the passing of Stalin did Russia begin to acknowledge its inhumane crime against the
Chechens.”[16] In 1957, the Chechen nation was allowed to return to their homeland.
There they found ruined houses, destroyed villages, wrecked mosques, and strangers
Chechnya and with the breakup of the USSR in 1991, Chechnya tried to break away by
That prompted the 1994 Russian clampdown and a brutal war in which some 100,000
people were killed, mainly innocent civilians. Boris Yeltsin, who was the Russian
president during that period had always manipulated the war in Chechnya for his
political advantage. But eventually the war turns its table and become an “unmitigated
disaster for Yeltsin personally and for Russia generally…Politically, the war only
deepened Chechen enmity toward Moscow, making it all but inconceivable that
Chechnya will never become a normal ‘subject of the federation.’ It also dealt a severe
8
Figure 3: Russian Penetration into Chechnya
9
On 12 May 1977, Yeltsin signed a peace accord with Grozny. “Entitled ‘Treaty
on Peace and the Principles of Mutual Relations between the Russian Federation and
the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria,’ the terse agreement included only three provisions:
the first stipulated that both sides had ‘renounced forever (navsegda) the use of force
and the threat to use force in resolving all disputed issues’; the second affirmed that
they both agreed ‘to construct (stroit’) relations in accordance with the generally
recognized principles and norms of international law, and to deal with one another on
the basis of specific agreements’; while the third indicated that the treaty would ‘serve
as the basis for additional treaties and agreements on the entire complex of mutual
relations.’….Having won a military victory against improbable odds, and having suffered
The peace accord only survived for two years. When Vladimir Putin won the
may freely enter or freely leave – neither men nor women; neither children, nor the old.
Military checkpoints are everywhere. In order to pass these checkpoints, civilians must
place a form ‘Form # 10’ (a 10-rubble bribe) in their passport. Without such bribes,
soldiers might shoot you in the back or simply detain you, the consequences of which
10
The most characteristic feature of life in Chechnya today is the uncontrolled
blizzard of bullets and shells all around you. No one is safe. Any discussion of human
rights is silly: Such rights simply do not exist. As Sultan Khadzheiv, one of the few
surgeons remaining in Chechnya, stated, Chechnya is a place where some people can
do anything they like, while the rest have to put up with it.
In this drama, the leading roles are played by the military and the supporting
roles by the civilian population. As for the fighters and other militants, they are nothing
more than extras, providing the necessary background and scenery for a dirty little war.
A brief look at the events on a typical day this month illustrate the point. Nov.4:
Federal troops at a checkpoint open fire on a passing tractor. Fifty-two-year old tractor
driver Sultan Suleimanov and his assistant, 42-year-old Akhmed Sadullayev, are lucky.
They are in intensive care, but they are alive. While proceeding along a road bordering
the town of Akhchoi-Martan, a military column opens fire on a roadside café. A 19-year-
old waitress, Larisa Bugaeva, a refugee from Grozny is killed immediately; another
intensive care unit. The column, meanwhile, continues toward the mountain without
even slowing down.”[21] This make one wonder whether the Russian are just in their
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“If Moscow will find a way to kill the very last Chechen, then Moscow will not stop
for anything. They understand that the only way you [they] can bring us to our knees is
The Russian justified that they have the right to go to war in order to preserve
their territorial boundary. The justification is more pressing when the issue of security
and economics are put into the equation. Hence the official reason stated by Russia “is
to stamp out Islamic guerilla who in summer [1999], had launched a separatist
bombings inside Russia [some speculations pointed out that these are the provocation
carried out by Moscow to rally public support for the invasion [23]]. But Moscow is well
aware that President Mashkadov has no control over the guerillas operating from his
increasingly anarchic country; in fact, they have demanded his ouster. The full-scale
invasion therefore seems in part an opportunity for the Russian military to redeem itself
from what was a humiliating failure in the last Chechnya war.” [24] But that reason that
does not stop there. The main goal of Moscow decision to attack Chechnya back in
December 1994 “was to ensure control of the oil pipeline which runs from Baku, via
Grozny, the Chechen capital, to the Russian city of Tikhorestsk. The pipeline ends at
the Russian Black Sea port of Novorossiysk, designed by Russia to be the terminal for
the purposed Kazakh and Azerbaijani pipelines. In addition, Grozny boasts a large
refinery with a processing capacity of 12 million ton per year.” [25] But even if jus ad
12
bellum is on the side of the Russian, the jus in bello tells a different story. The conducts
of the Russian Federal Forces in Chechnya are very gruesome. Consider some of the
· “I remember a Chechen female sniper. She didn’t have any chance of making
it to the authorities. We just tore her apart with two armored personnel
carriers, having tied her ankles with steel cables. There was a lot of blood, but
· “We would also throw fighters off the helicopters before landing. The trick was
to pick the right altitude. We didn’t want them to die right away. We wanted
them to suffer before they died. Maybe it’s cruel, but in a war, that’s almost
the only way to dull the fear and sorrow of losing your friends.” – Boris,
Russian soldier.
· “It’s much easier to kill them all (Chechens). It takes less time for them to die
· “Our hatred is against all Chechens, not just the individual enemies who killed
· “Our commander told us all the time, ‘There’s no such thing as Chechen
“Russian and Western human rights group have extensively and meticulously
consists of invading a village or town, rounding up all of its inhabitants and separating
13
out men and older boys for detention in open pits. Most are released to their families in
exchange for bribes, but many are tortured and some are summarily executed, their
The summary from the Russian President’s Commission on Human Rights report
indicated that the war in Chechnya is considered “as an armed conflict not of an
international nature, which is covered by Article 3 in all four Geneva Conventions, dated
August 12, 1949, and by the Protocol Additional to the Geneva Conventions and
The Russian Federation ratified these agreements and is bound by their provisions
regardless of whether they have been incorporated into domestic legislation.”[28] This
report, which addressed the 1994-1995 Chechnya conflict listed down six major areas
victims of non-international conflicts has been the massive assault on the life
forces widely applied the principle of collective guilt and collective punishment
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· “The unlawful detention of civilians, harsh and degrading treatment of
combat zone.”[29]
Russian complete disregards to the terms of all agreements that they signed on
the highest level, the cruel war and the gross abuse of human rights, makes one
wonder why does the Chechen struggle for its independence does not received a
favorable response from the international society. The answer may lie in the conflict of
- A Chechen proverb.
than the law of self-determination.”[31] This incoherency lies in the fact that the law
affirms at the same time the inalienable right of self-determination that peoples have
and the right of existing states (its sovereignty) to maintain their territorial integrity. The
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with a secessionist movement reasons as follows. If the secessionists win, then they
form their own state, which third states must recognized because it is effective (i.e., the
new government effective exercise political power over the population in the territory),
and the right of self-determination has been exercised. If the government wins, then
there is no new state, third states ought to refrain from recognition because the rebels
have no effective government, and the right to territorial integrity has been vindicated.
has to say that there are no preexisting principles and that the outcome can only be
decided in the battlefield! In my view, this is not law but antilaw. Such unconditional
surrender to the most brutal realities of power politics has no place in a philosophy of
international law: we want to know whether or not secessionist are justified in their
demands, regardless of whether or not they win the struggle.” In conducting the analysis
on the philosophers and political scientist’s approaches to fill this gap in international
law, Teson comes to a conclusion that “there are three factors to be considered in the
moral evaluation of self-determination claims. The first is the moral urgency to escape
group rights and even secession may be the only viable forms of political reorganization
to end the injustice. The second is need to remedy past territorial injustice against the
group…Political injustice occurs when members of the group are denied human rights;
territorial injustice occurs when the group’s governance over the territory has been
forcibly replaced by outsiders…The third factor is the need to take into account the
legitimate interest of third parties, in particular, of people in the parent state. Those
legitimate expectations of third parties, however, ought always be either moral reasons
16
(e.g., a fear that larger autonomy for the group would impair the democratic institutions
in the parent state) or strong prudential reasons (e.g., a danger that larger group
Looking back at the Chechen secessionist struggle, the first factor qualified in
this analysis since the current and historical evidence displayed that the Chechen
subjects are always being victimized by the Russian (and previously Soviet)
international society), is to provide security and welfare to its citizen or subjects, the
breach of this principle or the inability to honor it, justified the demand of the afflicted for
territory and forcibly annexed it to the Russian empire also substantiated the claim that
there is a pressing need to address the issue on the territorial injustice. As for the third
factor, availability of natural resources within Chechnya, or the necessity of oil pipeline
routing via this territory does not justified the denial of its independence, since it can be
overcome by bilateral agreement or what ever trade mechanisms which exist within the
international society.
Conclusion.
- A Chechen proverb.
Given the historical context of the Chechen’s struggle, the forced annexation with
Russia, the repetitive inhumane treatment by Russian on his Chechen subjects, which
include the genocide carried out by Stalin and the latest attempted genocide [33] by
17
Russian forces, with the application of the concept concluded by Teson, the Chechen
has the very right to secede within the framework of international law.
But this right has not been honored by the international community since “the
induces others to launch wars of secession elsewhere.”[35] This is more so for the states
that already facing “active or potential separatist threats within their own borders.”[36]
Fearful of severed diplomatic relation with Russia also stopped many states from
This disjuncture between the right according to the law and the right to apply the
law, characterizes the international law in the absence of sole enforcement authority. As
the tragedy of Chechen nation attracts worldwide attention, this issue will certainly
Written by Mej Abdul Latif Mohamed TUDM for International Law And
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[6]
Phil Reeves and Mary Dejevsky, The Independent, “Analysis: Chechnya: The bloody history of a people
with an unquenchable thirst for independence”, London, 2002. Assessed online 09 November 2002,
<http://infoweb2.newsbank.com/iw-search/we/InfoWeb?p_action=doc&p_docid=0F703A3…>
[7]
Fareed Zakaria, Washingtonpost.com, “This Is Moral Clarity”, The Washington Post Company, 2002.
Assessed online 09 November 2002, <http://www.chechenpress.info/english/news/11_2002/09/1.htm>
[8]
Johanna Nichols, “Who Are The Chechen?”, University of California, Berkeley, 1995. Assessed online
09 November 2002, <ftp://coombs.anu.edu.au/coombspapers/otherarchieves/asian-studies-
archieves/caucasus-arch...>
[9]
“Chechnya,” Microsoft Encarta Online Encyclopedia 2002. Assessed online 16 December 2002, <http://
encarta.msn.com>
[10]
Time Europe, “Chechnya: A Time Trail”, Time Inc. New Media, 2000. Assessed online 09 November
2002, <http://www.time.com/time/europe/chechnyatrail/chechnyatrail.html>
[11]
Chechen Republic Online 1996-2002. Assessed 16 December 2002,
<http://www.amina.com/maps/Chechnyaregion.gif>
[12]
Viatcheslav Avioutskii, Strategic International, “Chechnya: Towards Partition?”, Chechen Republic
online 1996-2002. Assessed online 09 November 2002, <http://www.amina.com/article/partition.html>
[13]
Johanna Nichols, “Who Are The Chechen?”, University of California, Berkeley, 1995. Assessed on line
09 November 2002, <ftp://coombs.anu.edu.au/coombspapers/otherarchieves/asian-studies-
archieves/caucasus-arch...>
[14]
Chechen Republic Online 1996-2002. Assessed 16 December 2002,
<http://www.amina.com/maps_1.jpg>
[15]
Time Europe, “Chechnya: A time Trail”, Time Inc. New Media, 2000. Assessed online 09 November
2002, <http://www.time.com/time/europe/chechnyatrail/chechnyatrail.html>
[16]
Ibid.
[17]
Alex Chia, Independent Politics, “Chechnya Freedom Struggle – Yeltsin’s Vietnam”, 1995. Assessed
online 08 November 2002, <http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archieves/63/074.html>
[18]
Edward W. Walker, Strengthening Democratic Institutions Project, “No Peace, No War In The
Caucasus: Secessionist Conflicts in Chechnya, Abkhzia and Nagorno-Karabakh”, Harvard University,
1988, p. 7.
[19]
Ibid., pp.5-6
[20]
A hardline policy on Chechnya was the hallwark of Putin’s campaign to succeed Yeltsin as president in
March 2000. Assessed online 17 Nov 2002, <http://infoweb2.newsbank.com/iw-search/we/Infoweb?p
action=doc&p docid=0F6FB94...>
[21]
Anna Politkovskaya, “Remember Chechnya”, Washington Post, 2001. Assessed online 17 December
2002, <http://www.amina.com/article/remember_cheche.html>
[22]
Lyoma Usmanov, “Crimes Against Humanity in Chechnya”, Washington, DC, 1999. Assessed online
09 November 2002, <http://www.amina.com/article/crime_hum.html>
[23]
Antero Leitzinger, History Of Provcocations, Eurasian Culture Institute, Helsinki, 2000. Assessed
online 17 December 2002, <http://www.amina.com/article/history_provoc.html>
[24]
Time.Com, A Chechnya Primer, Time Inc. New media, 1999. Assessed online 09 November 2002,
<http://www.time.com/time/daily/special/russia/chechnya.html>
[25]
Aerial Cohen, “The New Great Game: Oil Politics In The Caucasus And Central Asia”, The Heritage
Foundation, Backgrounder No. 1065, 1996. Assessed online 09 November 2002,
<http://www.idis.com/ChouOnline/xxb-oilgame.txt>
[26]
All the confessions are assessed from <http://www.amina.com/war/rusquote.html>, 17 December
2002.
[27]
Washington Post, “Why Chechnya Is Different”, 2001. Assessed online 17 December 2002,
<http://www.amina.com/article/cheche_diff.html>
[28]
Report of the President’s Commission on Human Rights – Translated by Catherine A. Fitzpatrick,
“Chapter 2. Violation of human rights and International humanitarian law during armed conflict in the
Chechen Republic”. Assessed online 17 December 2002, <http://www.amina.com/article/humr_viol.html>
[29]
Ibid.
[30]
Maivan Clech Lam, Cecelia Lynch and Michael Loriaux, Law And Morality in World Politics,
“Indigenous Peoples’ Conception of Their self-Determination in International Law”, University of
Minnesota Press, 2000, p.205
[31]
Fernando R. Teson, A Philosophy of International Law, Westview Press, 1998, p.130
19
[32]
Ibid., pp. 150-151
[33]
“Genocide in Chechnya”, ISCA, 1999. Assessed online 17 December 2002,
<http://www.amina.com/article/genocidin_chech.html>
[34]
Edward W.Walker, Strengthening Democratic Institutions Project, “No Peace, No War in The
Caucasus: Secessionist Conflicts in Chechnya, Abkhazia and Nagorno-Karabakh”, Harvard University,
1998, p.46
[35]
Ibid.
[36]
Ibid
[37]
Only Taliban government of Afghanistan recognized the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria, but until year
2000, the Taliban government itself was only recognized by Pakistan,
<http://www.amina.com/article/partition.html>. In year 2001, the Taliban government was annihilated in a
war with coalition forces led by America.
[38]
Roman Khalilov, “Main Causes of the Present Russian Aggression”, 1999. Assessed online 17
December 2002, <http://www.amina.com/article/main_causeswar.html>
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