War Languages Wars in Chechnya Vesa Matteo Piludu University of Helsinki Department of Art Research

Chechnya

The Caucasian Wars 1817–1864 Wars in Chechnya and Dagestan Resistence led by Ghazi Mollah, Gamzat-bek and Hadji Murad Imam Shamil The Russian poet Alexander Pushkin referred to the war in his poem The Prisoner of the Caucasus (1821) Leo Tolstoy gained much of his knowledge and experience of war for his book War and Peace from these encounters He wrote the short novel Hadji Murat , published after his death

Franz Roubaud ( ). Surrender of Shamil

Stalin’s deportations In 1944, more than 1 million Chechens, Ingush, and several other North Caucasian peoples were deported to Siberia

Dzhokhar Dudayev: declaration of independence of Chechen- Ingush territories (1991) the Chechen-Ingush Autonomous Republic split in two in June 1992 The newly-created republic of Ingushetia joined the Russian Federation Chechnya declared full independence from Moscow in 1993 as the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria Confusion in : unofficial civil war between supporters of Dudayev and opposition, Russia entered in the conflict

The First Chechen War From December 1994 to August 1996 On December 11, 1994, Russian forces launched a ground attack towards Grozny Deputy Minister of Defense Gen. Boris Gromov stated: It will be a bloodbath, another Afghanistan More than 800 professional soldiers and officers refused to take part in the operation Boris Yeltsin's Propaganda: “easy” blitzkrieg war

Battle of Grozny heaviest bombing campaign in Europe since Dresden 35,000 civilians killed, including children vast majority of killed were ethnic Russians Mikhail Gorbachev: ”disgraceful, bloody adventure” A hard guerrilla begun on the mountains Chechnya's Chief Mufti Akhmad Kadyrov's called a jihad Presence of radical Islamic groups The separatist begun to took hostages

Budyonnovsk hospital’s facts June 1995 The separatist islamic group Abkhaz Battalion of Shamil Basayev (batlle name: Emir Abdallah Shamil Abu-Idris, killed in 2006) took more than 1,500 hostages in southern Russia in the Budyonnovsk hospital about Russian civilians died before the ceasefire signed after by Basayev and Russian Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin

Opposition to the war Relevance of media Demoralization of the Russian forces successful campaign on Grozny by by Aslan Maskhadov opposition of the Russian public to the conflict led Boris Yeltsin's government to declare a ceasefire in 2006, Humanitarian disaster: killed

Chechen Republic of Ichkeria: the internal struggles ( ) Unofficial independence President Aslan Maskhadov Corruption: reconstruction founds divided between warlords Kidnapping as source of income Political divisions: Chechen National Guard versus Islamist groups Maskhadov versus Basayev

The background to the second war The Chechnya-based Islamic International Brigade of Shamil Basayev and Ibn al-Khattab (killed in 2002) invaded the neighboring Russian republic of Dagestan, in 1999, in support of the Shura of Dagestan separatist rebels Terrorist bombing in various cities of Russia, including Moscow were connected with Chechen terrorists: three hundred Russian civilians died killed. The only person who claimed responsibility for bombings was an anonymous caller who said he belongs to a group called the Liberation army of Dagestan. However, the Russian government blamed Chechen separatists for the attack Two theories: warlords’ theory and conspiracy theory

Second Chechen War ( ) Putin era First air bombing On 1th October 1999 land war begun Siege of Grozny Akhmad Kadyrov, at first a supported of Dudayev, changed side in the second war and became the head of the pro-Moskow goverment and became Presindent of the Chechen Repubblic in 2003 He has been killed in 2004 in Grozny His son Ramzan Kadyrov, whose militia has been accused of any kind of atrocity, became the real ruler in 2005 In 2007 he has been nominated President, with the support of Putin

The Nord-Ost Theatre massacre Chechen rebel forces seized the Nord-Ost theatre in Moscow in April 2002 Anna Politovskaya was trying to open a negotiation Russian forces refused to negotiate and gassed the entire building, killing one hundred and thirty of the Russian hostages and all the terrorist

Beslan school A group of terrorist, supporters of Basayev, took more than 1000 people in hostage in a school in North Ossetia Russian security forces stormed the building using tanks and rockets Chaotic gun battle 334 hostage killed, 186 children

A violent ”pacification” or a All the prominent separatist were killed, including al-Kattab (2002) Maskhadov (2005) and Basayev (2006) Maskhadov was killed just after he issued a call for a ceasefire in 2005 In 2007, the International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights published the report Amnestied People as Targets for Persecution in Chechnya, about several rebels who have been amnestied and subsequently abducted, tortured and killed In April 2009, Russia “officially” ended its counter-terrorism operation and pulled out the bulk of its army Violence are still present in the neighbouring republics In the two wars died – civilians

Media under control Control of the national and local TV The access of journalist in on Chechnya was limited Censorship Intimidation Assassinations of jounalists: Supian Ependiyev (killed in 1999) Roddy Scott (killed in 2002) Adlan Khasanov (killed in 2004) Ramzan Mezhidov (killed in 1999) Anna Politkovskaya (assassinated in 2006)

Ramzan Kadyrov Separatist Leader of a militia supported by Russia's FSB state security service, the Kadyrovites Prime Minister President Nominated Hero of Russia Accused of several violation of human rights and killing political opponents Lyudmila Alexeyeva, the head of the Moscow Helsinki Group organisation, stated "Kadyrov is to blame for kidnappings of many innocent people. Their bodies were found later with signs of torture.”

The bloodline in 2009 On January 13 former Kadyrov bodyguard Umar Israilov was assassinated in Vienna. He was cooperating with the The New York Times, extensively detailing abuses committed by Kadyrov and his associates On January 19 was shot the advocate Stanislav Markov, working for tortured people in Chechnya. With him was also killed the young journalist Anastasija Baburova Kadyrov is fighting rebels in Ingushetia after the car-bomb attack on President Yunus-bek Yevkurov in June 22 Kadyrov is exending his power and influence on the other repubblics On July 15 Memorial’s Natalia Estemirova, who investigated the alleged abuses by government-backed militias in Chechnya, was assasinated An assassination attempt on Kadyrov was averted on October 23