The rich and very complex history of our country has contributed to the emergence of modern individual regions of the Russian Federation. Some peoples under the protection of Russia in the Middle Ages escaped from constant raids and robberies, others fell into the sphere of expansion and “voluntarily” became part of the Russian state. Few showed fierce resistance and became Russian only after bloody clashes. But there were also regions that were very difficult to be part of Russia. For example, Chechnya is the most freedom-loving and possibly obstinate part of the Caucasus.
Total information
Chechnya (Chechen Republic) is currently a relatively small North Caucasian region of the Russian Federation with an area of, according to various sources, 15-17 square meters. km The city of Grozny (Chechen Republic) is the administrative center. The state languages in the region are Chechen and Russian.
Chechnya borders on various regions of the Russian Federation:
- on the western side - with Ingushetia;
- in the north-west - with North Ossetia and the Stavropol Territory;
- in the east - a large border with Dagestan;
- in the south, the border partially coincides with the state border, entering the line of contact with Georgia, which was hostile from time to time.
Administratively, Chechnya consists of seventeen municipal associations and two cities. After the 2007 elections, R. A. Kadyrov became the head of the republic.
The official Chechen flag is a rectangular panel of three unequal horizontal stripes: the upper green stripe is the size (standard) of sixty-five centimeters, the middle stripe is white in the width of ten centimeters and the lower stripe is red in color - thirty-five centimeters; at the flagpole is a vertical white stripe with a beautiful Chechen national ornament about fifteen centimeters in size. The flag of the Chechen Republic all over the region is lined with gold fringe. The ratio of the width of the national flag to its length is 2: 3.
Population
The population of Chechnya is within one and a half million people. Almost three hundred thousand people live in the largest city of Grozny. The population density is now more than 90 people. per 1 sq. km
The age distribution of residents is as follows: more than half of the population are of working age, approximately 35% are children, and only 8% are older people.
According to the ethnic composition, at the beginning of the nineties Chechnya is a multinational republic dominated by Chechens and Russians. But over the past twenty-five years, Chechens have become dominant in the national composition. During many conflicts, the large Russian and Russian-speaking population in the region had to flee to other regions. Many died in ethnic cleansing by militants.
Religion
What religion is official in Chechnya? Chechnya is historically a Muslim region. The main religion is Sunni Islam. Here he received the form of Sufism, spreading through various religious organizations that consist of Muslim groups - wird brotherhoods. The total number of such organizations today has exceeded three dozen. Those who believe in Sufism in the Chechen Republic are Sunnis who rely on the main provisions of Islam, but are guided by Sufi customs, believing in their ustaz.
The history and culture of Chechnya is largely based on Islam. A major role in the traditional faith is played by oral Muslim prayers, holy rites, ritual trips to holy places, religious rituals and so on.
Since the beginning of 1992, a new religious trend (Wahhabism) has begun to spread in Chechnya, acting as a religious and political counterweight to local Islam. The Wahhabis conducted frankly ideological activities that were aimed against Russian society and the state.
Now the activity of Muslim extremists, as well as religious terrorists is not allowed. Traditional Islam is rapidly developing, which is evident not only in the creation of mosques, Muslim schools, but also in the religious education of modern youth and even in the appearance of the Chechen flag. In their regular calls and prayers to Muslims, traditionalists call for a common union, spiritual growth, and oppose drug addiction and other bad deeds.
Geographical position
The geographic location of Chechnya is determined primarily by the mountainous terrain. There are several separate mountainous structures in the region. This is a significant part of the Tersko-Sunzhensky mountainous terrain, which consists of two ancient folds of small ridges lying in a latitudinal stream. The eastern section of the Tersky ridge is another ridge - Bragunsky, to the east lies the Gudermes ridge. The eastern territory of the Sunzhensky ridge is occupied by a peculiar Grozny ridge. All mountain structures are not sharp.
The southern part of the region, called mountain Chechnya, is located in the Greater Caucasus. All four leading ridges pass here (except for a large number of local mountain linear formations), which are located parallel to the north of the mountain expanses of the Greater Caucasus Mountain Range. Here is the highest mountain in the East Caucasus. Mountain lines are often cut by large gorges with mountain river flows.
But Chechnya is not only mountains. On the territory of the republic there are several plains and lowlands. The Chechen plain with good soils, the area with the highest population density in the region, stands out especially in this respect. On the lowlands of Chechnya, the lands are generally ennobled; in the valleys there are many relatively small rivers. In the valleys of these rivers are small areas of woodland.
So when asked where Chechnya is located, we can say that this is the Caucasus, mountains and a little flat terrain.
Climatic features
The climate of Chechnya today is directly dependent on the highlands and warm temperatures. A relatively small republic is distinguished by a significant number of natural areas: from north to south, the area is replaced by a deserted semi-desert on the steppe, forest-steppes with plant diversity are already appearing near the mountains; a little to the south there is a zone of mountain forests, which gradually grows into a mountain meadow territory, and higher up there are high-altitude mountain ranges lying above the beginning of a strip of constant snow. Mountain peaks are occupied by large glaciers and eternal snows. A clear vertical mountain zonality, manifested in the form of a change in mountain landscapes on the slopes from the base to the peaks, is a common feature for such mountain territories.
However, as we have already said, Chechnya is not only mountains. The local semi-desert covers a relatively small Tersko-Kuma lowland. The climate, as it should be for such places, is rather arid, the summer season is characterized by high temperatures, dry winds are usual. But the winter is short, with little snow, for a period of not more than four months.
The forest-steppe zone adjoins a significant territory of the lowland part of Chechnya. There is not much rainfall here - about 500-600 mm per year.
In the mountains, part of the territory is occupied by wooded and meadow areas that allow you to engage in nomadic cattle breeding. At the very tops of the mountains of the Lateral Ridge there is an area of eternal snow and glaciation, the weather is frosty, often strong winds with snow flare. Precipitation is mainly in the form of snow.
The economy of modern Chechnya
In Soviet times, the economic sphere of Chechnya has come a long way. And today, although the hostilities of the past years have brought great ruin, the region has good economic opportunities and sufficient potential. Now the economy of Chechnya is going up. The GNP of the republic today reaches over one hundred and fifty billion rubles.
The gross domestic product of the Republic is 23% provided by trade, 20% by social insurance, state administration and security, 10% by agriculture, fisheries, forestry, and 14% by construction. The leading agricultural sector in Chechnya is animal husbandry, and only 30% falls on agriculture. Of industry, 32% of production is provided by the extractive sector, 60% by production and distribution of gas, water, and electricity. In the fuel and energy complex of Chechnya, the oil and gas sector dominates.
An acute problem remains unemployment in Chechnya. In 2010, 235 thousand inhabitants of the region, or 43%, remained without a permanent job. At the same time, annual employment growth is observed. The average salary in Chechnya is just over twenty-two thousand rubles, and a pension is ten and a half thousand rubles.
During the military campaigns, the region’s economy has been hit hard. In 2015, Chechnya asked the state to write off a debt of more than 16 billion rubles for electricity and gas for 1999-2009 to the region.
The importance of the Chechen Republic in the economy of our country is determined by its complex natural resource conditions: nature, the diversity of the agricultural sector, the available volumes of raw materials, forest and other resources. The geo-economic situation, the growth of labor potential and the basic traditions of the local population make it possible to talk about the region’s preparedness for serious economic modernization, based on serious financing and innovation. The government of the Chechen Republic seeks to further develop the economy of the region.
Chechnya of the nineties
The population of Chechnya during the nineties experienced a particularly difficult time. At first, against the backdrop of the collapse of the Soviet Union, independent Chechnya was created, and radical sentiments were spreading faster and faster. Then two Chechen wars passed in a row.
In the early nineties, with the formation of an independent Russia, Chechnya became a virtually independent republic. However, in practice, the new state structure has been very ineffective. The economy was criminalized in almost all areas, criminal structures carried out business at work with hostages, drug trafficking, oil theft, and the slave trade was openly conducted in the republic.
Everything went to war. The conflict began with the fact that in the fall of 1994 there was an unsuccessful assault on the capital of the then Chechnya. A significant part of the Russian military, who were in the city, was captured. A poorly organized assault became a prologue to the start of a major conflict. A bloody war began, killing thousands of people on both sides of the barricades.
Bad start
Particularly difficult hostilities in Chechnya took place between 1995 and 1996. Although the city of Grozny (Chechen Republic) was captured by Russian troops. But then the terrorists launched several attacks on, in fact, Russian territory. For example, on June 14, 1995, the Basayev’s gang took over a local hospital in the nearby town of Budennovsk (in the neighboring Stavropol Territory) demanding that Russian units be removed from Chechnya and that the war would end. As a result of the negotiations, the terrorists returned the captured hostages to the authorities and without any interference retreated to Chechnya.
In early 1996, the fighters of another odious leader, Salman Raduyev, struck the Russian city of Kizlyar. At first, the terrorists wanted to destroy the helicopter parking area and the structures adjacent to it, then they put forward a demand to end the war in a short time and remove Russian units from Chechnya. Under the protection of "living cover" from civilian militants withdrew from Kizlyar to Pervomaiskoye, in which they were blocked by the approaching Russian structures. Soon the assault on the city of Pervomaisky began, but the terrorists managed to escape to Chechnya under cover of night.
As a result of these actions, the Chechens knocked out Russian units from Chechnya. All this was completed by the Khasavyurt agreements, according to which Chechnya became independent. President Maskhadov strove to improve the situation by establishing purely Muslim rule in the country, but this only turned into new open protests against the government.
Second Chechen War
In the fall of 1999, when it was already difficult to understand where Chechnya was located and where Russian territory was, the Second Chechen War broke out, during which it was necessary not only to solve the problems of the first, but also to analyze the accumulated difficulties of recent years. Before the New Year another storm of Grozny took place. In nature, he was very different from the previous operation. Sensitive tanks and infantry fighting vehicles in street battles did not enter the capital of Chechnya; instead, large artillery and air attacks were used. Much better trained Russian units quickly and effectively defeated the bandits.
On January 13, 2000, bloodless militants left Grozny right through minefields, losing a lot of manpower. In early February, the city was completely liberated by Russian troops. At the end of the month, there was a fierce battle for the last large base of terrorists. The positions of the terrorists were partially destroyed, and the militants themselves were ousted from the territory of Chechnya to the Georgian Republic.
In March of that year, open battles ended.
Activities of A. Kadyrov
With the intensification of hostilities in Chechnya in the late nineties, the pro-Russian leadership of Chechnya begins to form. The government of the republic was then headed by Mufti A. Kadyrov, who sided with the Russian Federation. He managed to somewhat normalize the station in the region. In 2003, a new Constitution of the region appeared, according to which Chechnya became a subject of the Russian Federation. In the same year, presidential elections were held, during which Akhmat Kadyrov won. Chechnya was seething. The first officially elected leader of the republic was able to prove to the population that normal life in Russia is the only possible solution to the conflict. A. Kadyrov took responsibility for the development of his own people. At that time, the region was dominated by terrorism. Akhmat was in the center of events. He managed to be a true leader of his republic and gain popular love. Kadyrov worked not for the sake of valor, authority or religion, but exclusively for his own people. All his activities were aimed at the successful development of the Chechen Republic as part of the Russian Federation. On May 9, 2004, Akhmat Kadyrov was killed in the city of Grozny, he died as a result of a terrorist act.
Chechnya at the beginning of the twenty-first century
In 2007, after a short reign of A. Alkhanov, Ramzan Kadyrov became president of the region. Chechnya was becoming calm. Largely due to this, in 2009, in connection with the cessation of hostilities, the Russian authorities terminated the anti-terrorist operation regime in the region.
Even then, almost all the settlements of the republic were revived. In the practically destroyed Grozny, construction of new residential buildings, religious buildings was underway, sports stadiums, national museums, and monuments were recreated. In 2010, a number of high-rise multi-purpose buildings (up to forty-five floors) “Grozny City” were built. An extensive reconstruction was carried out in the second-largest city of Chechnya, Gudermes, and a large number of high-rise buildings were rebuilt. The government of the Chechen Republic, headed by R. Kadyrov, was able to achieve the almost impossible, namely to calm the region and restore the economy of Chechnya.