Below I've compiled a short history of what has been happening in Chechnya since WWII. The Chechyns and Russians go back to Tsarist Russian conquering it 1815. Its not a particularly happy relationship.
This is offered as a backgrounder to better understand why there is a Chechen/Russian conflict. Its been clipped from various short histories and combined. In no way is it to be construed as a endorsement of the Chechyn terrorists.
1943: German troops invade Chechnya
1944: All of 800.000 Chechens are deported to Central Asia for 'collaborating with the Nazi's'. 239.000 people die
1957: Chechens are allowed to return to their homeland
1991
Soviet Union collapses, 14 regions become independent nations.
In the Soviet period, some of Russia's approximately 100 nationalities were granted their own ethnic enclaves, to which varying formal federal rights were attached. Other smaller or more dispersed nationalities did not receive such recognition. In most of these enclaves, ethnic Russians constituted a majority of the population, although the titular nationalities usually enjoyed disproportionate representation in local government bodies. Relations between the central government calling for far-reaching autonomy (and sometimes even full independence) and subordinate jurisdictions, and among those jurisdictions, became a political issue in the 1990s.
In almost all cases, however, these demands were satisfied by concessions over regional autonomy and tax privileges. The Federation Treaty was signed in March 1992 by President Yeltsin and most leaders of the autonomous republics and other ethnic and geographical subunits. (For additional details, see The Russian Treaty of 1992 and regional power in Russia.) The treaty consisted of three separate documents, each pertaining to one type of regional jurisdiction. It outlined powers reserved for the central government, shared powers, and residual powers to be exercised primarily by the subunits.
The only autonomous jurisdictions that refused to sign the 1992 Federation Treaty were Chechnya and Tatarstan, both of which are rich in oil. (In the spring of 1994, President Yeltsin signed a special political accord with the president of Tatarstan granting many of the demands for greater autonomy among the Volga Tatars, a Muslim people conquered by Russia in the mid-16th century.)
1993
Dzhokhar Dudayev elected president of Chechnya. Dudayev declares Chechnya independent. Russian President Boris Yeltsin refuses to recognize Chechen independence, sends troops. Confronted by armed Chechens, troops withdraw.
Yeltsin declined to carry out serious negotiations with Chechnya, however, allowing the situation to deteriorate into full-scale war at the end of 1994.
1994
Chechnya continues to assert its independence. Paramilitary bands accused of widespread kidnapping for ransom. Russia invades Chechnya; bloody war ensues. Russian President Boris Yeltsin ordered 40,000 troops to prevent the separation of the southern oil-producing region of Chechnya from Russia.
In its propaganda campaign to justify military action against Chechnya, the Russian government played upon the stereotypes of the criminal and the dishonest businessman. It also illustrated the brutal practices of the Chechen rebels by broadcasting photos of the severed heads of victims along the roads in the breakaway republic.
1995
10,000 Russian troops occupy Grozny. Dudayev killed by Russian rocket. Total Russian force numbers 45,000.
Boris Yeltsin's expectations of a quick surgical strike followed by Chechen capitulation were horribly misguided. Russia was quickly submerged in a quagmire like that of the United States in the Vietnam War. Chechen insurgents seized thousands of Russian hostages, while inflicting humiliating losses on Russia's demoralized and ill-equipped troops.
The protracted war in Chechnya, which generated many reports of violence against civilians, ignited fear and contempt toward Russia among many other ethnic groups in the federation. The inability of Russian forces to subdue the Chechen "bandits" also encouraged other ethnic groups to defy the central government by proclaiming and defending their independence.
As the war was reported to the Russian public on television and in newspaper accounts, the rising protests from Russia's independent news media and various political and other interest groups soon came to threaten Russia's democratic experiment. Chechnya was one of the heaviest burdens Yeltsin carried during Russia's 1996 presidential election campaign.
1996
Chechens launch major counteroffensive, 5,000 troops invade Grozny. Unwilling to use maximum force and destroy Grozny to defeat rebels, Russians agree to ceasefire. Yeltsin orders troops withdrawn from Chechnya. Russian military humiliated. 70,000 casualties on all sides.
The demoralized and poorly trained Russian army proved incapable of suppressing determined Chechen opposition either in the Chechen capital or in the countryside. As humiliating defeats and growing casualties made the war more and more unpopular in Russia, and as the 1996 presidential elections neared, Yeltsin's government sought a way out of the conflict.
In August 1996 Yeltsin's national security adviser, Alexander Lebed, brokered a ceasefire agreement with Chechen leaders, and a peace treaty was formally signed in May 1997.
1997
Chechnya won't accept Moscow's authority. Aslan Maskhadov elected Chechen president. Name of capital changed from the Russian Grozny, to the Chechen Djohar. Lawlessness in Chechnya continues.
1999
The Second Chechen War began in 1999 after attacks by Chechen forces on neighboring Dagestan and a series of terrorist attacks on residential buildings in Russian cities that caused nearly 300 casualties, which were blamed on Chechen militants.
Terrorist bombs explode in Moscow and other Russian cities. Russian authorities blame Chechen paramilitary commanders. Chechen insurgents enter neighboring Russian territory of Dagestan to help Islamic fundamentalists seeking to create separate nation.
Russian troops recapture breakaway areas of Dagestan. Yeltsin sends nearly 100,000 Russian troops into Chechnya. Russians occupy much of Chechnya, pulverize Grozny, driving rebels into hills. 250,000 refugees.
During the initial months of the war, Russia made effective use of air power instead of immediately rushing in massive numbers of ground troops. Thus, the Russians have avoided the first war's extremely high casualties. Russian forces later resorted to heavy carpet bombing and ballistic missile strikes against Grozny and other major cities. Though corridors were made for civilians to exit the cities when the attacks occurred, rebels sometimes blocked their escape. Some Western countries have criticized heavy-handedness of the Russian military in dealing with the rebels, and both sides are charged with substantiated claims of torture, rape, looting, smuggling, and embezzlement.
According to Chechen rebel sources 60,000 civilians have died so far in this war.
2000
Despite Russian claims of imminent victory, war continues. Russians are unable to defeat rebels in mountainous areas. United Nations officials call for investigations of alleged human rights abuses by Russian troops and by Chechen rebels. New Russian President Vladimir Putin agrees to human rights investigation, continues war.
2001
Russian president Putin appoints Stanislav Ilyasov as Chechen prime minister.
2002
On Oct. 23, Chechen rebels seized a crowded Moscow theater and detained 763 people, including 3 Americans. Armed and wired with explosives, the rebels demanded that Russian government end the war in Chechnya. Government forces stormed the theater the next day, after releasing a gas into the theater, which killed not only all the rebels but more than 100 hostages.
2003
In March Chechens voted in a referendum that approved a new regional constitution making Chechnya a separatist republic within Russia. Agreeing to the constitution meant abandoning claims for complete independence. While Moscow has presented the referendum as a way of bringing peace to the war-ravaged region, it is unclear how much power Russia would actually grant the separatist republic. A spate of Chechen suicide bombings followed throughout the year.
In September elections, Akhmad Kadyrov, the de facto Chechen president installed three years earlier by Russia, officially becomes president. Human rights groups as well as several nations questioned the fairness of the elections.
During 2003, there were 11 bomb attacks against Russia believed to have been orchestrated by Chechen rebels.
2004
On May 9, Chechnya's Moscow-backed leader, Akhmad Kadyrov, is killed in a bombing. Six others are killed and another 60 wounded. The assassination undermines Russian claims that Chechnya has been growing more secure. A warlord, Shamil Basayev, claimed responsibility for the bombing.
On Aug. 24, days before the Chechen presidential election, two nearly simultaneous plane crashes in Russia kill 90 passengers; Chechen terrorists are suspected.
On Aug.29, another Russian-supported leader, Alu Alkhanov, is elected president of Chechnya with 73.5% of the vote.
On Aug 31, Chechen terrorist attack at a Moscow subway stop kills ten.
Between Sept. 1-3, about 30 heavily armed guerrillas seize a school in Beslan, near Chechnya, and hold about 1,100 young schoolchildren, teachers, and parents hostage. The guerrillas are made up of Chechen, Ingush, ethnic Russian, and some foreign Islamic militants. When a bomb inside the school is apparently accidentally detonated, the hostages attempt to flee. The militants set off more bombs and open fire on the fleeing children and adults. At least 338 hostages are dead, including about 156 children.
As you can tell, Chechnya has not been a happy place for quite some time. And the Russians haven't helped the situation at all. That, of course, does not in any way excuse what was done in the school.
The Islamic connection seems to go through the Muslim Brotherhood which has been active in Chechnya. From what I read of the Muslim Brotherhood, it is considered to be moderate as compared to al-Queda, although if it is the MB, what they were just involved in showed anything but moderation and speaks to the possiblity of connection with more radical elements among Islamic extremists.
