Editing First Chechen War (section)

==Origins==
{{Main|Chechen–Russian conflict}}

===Chechen Independence Struggles from the 18th to Early 20th Century===
[[Chechens|Chechen]] resistance against Russian [[imperialism]] has its origins as early as 1785 during the rule of [[Sheikh Mansur]], the first [[imam]] of the [[Peoples of the Caucasus|Caucasian peoples]]. Uniting various North-Caucausian nations under his command, Sheikh Mansur sought to repel Russian invasion and expansion into the region.

Despite intense resistance during the 1817–1864 [[Caucasian War]], Imperial Russian forces defeated the Chechens, annexed their lands, and deported thousands to the [[Middle East]] throughout the latter half of the 19th century. 

Following the [[Russian Revolution]] and collapse of the [[Russian Empire]] in 1917, Chechen efforts to assert independence failed, and by 1922 Chechnya was incorporated into the [[Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic]] (RSFSR) - the largest member state of the newly-formed [[Soviet Union]] (USSR). In 1936, Soviet leader [[Joseph Stalin]] established the [[Chechen-Ingush Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic|Checheno-Ingush Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic]], within the [[Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic|Russian SFSR]].

===Chechen Insurrection of 1940–1944 and Post World War 2 Ethnic Cleansing===
{{Main|1940–1944 insurgency in Chechnya}}
In 1944, on the orders of [[NKVD]] chief [[Lavrentiy Beria]], more than 500,000 Chechens, the [[Ingush people|Ingush]] and several other North [[Peoples of the Caucasus|Caucasian people]] were [[Operation Lentil (Caucasus)|ethnically cleansed and deported]] to [[Siberia]] and [[Central Asia]]. The official pretext was punishment for collaboration with invading [[Wehrmacht|German forces]] during the [[1940–1944 insurgency in Chechnya]],<ref>{{Cite web |last=Aurélie |first=Campana |date=2007-11-05 |title=The Massive Deportation of the Chechen People: How and why Chechens were Deported |url=https://www.sciencespo.fr/mass-violence-war-massacre-resistance/en/document/massive-deportation-chechen-people-how-and-why-chechens-were-deported.html|access-date=2022-02-06 |website=[[Sciences Po]] |language=en |archive-date=2024-09-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240906142740/https://www.sciencespo.fr/mass-violence-war-massacre-resistance/en/document/massive-deportation-chechen-people-how-and-why-chechens-were-deported.html |url-status=live}}</ref> despite the fact that many Chechens and Ingush were loyal to the Soviet government and fought against the [[Nazism|Nazis]] and they even received the highest military awards in the Soviet Union (e.g. [[Khanpasha Nuradilov]] and [[Movlid Visaitov]]). In March 1944, the Soviet authorities abolished the Checheno-Ingush Republic. Eventually, Soviet first secretary [[Nikita Khrushchev]] granted the [[Nakh peoples|Vainakh]] (Chechen and Ingush) peoples permission to return to their homeland and he restored their republic in 1957.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.pbs.org/wnet/wideangle/uncategorized/explore-chechnyas-turbulent-past-1944-deportation/3314/ |title=Explore Chechnya's Turbulent Past ~ 1944: Deportation &#124; Wide Angle &#124; PBS |website=[[PBS]] |date=25 July 2002 |access-date=9 April 2022 |archive-date=9 April 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220409015830/https://www.pbs.org/wnet/wideangle/uncategorized/explore-chechnyas-turbulent-past-1944-deportation/3314/ |url-status=live}}</ref>

===Dissolution of the Soviet Union and the Russian Federation Treaty===
{{unreferenced section|date=December 2023}}
[[Russia]] became an independent state after the [[dissolution of the Soviet Union]] in December 1991. The Russian Federation was widely accepted as the [[Succession of states#Soviet Union|successor state to the USSR]], but it lost a significant amount of its military and [[economic power]]. Ethnic [[Russians]] made up more than 80% of the population of the [[Russian SFSR|Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic]], but significant ethnic and religious differences posed a threat of political [[Societal collapse|disintegration]] in some regions. In the Soviet period, some of Russia's approximately 100 [[nationality|nationalities]] were granted ethnic [[enclaves]] that had various formal federal rights attached. Relations of these entities with the [[Government of Russia|federal government]] and demands for [[autonomy]] erupted into a major political issue in the early 1990s. [[Boris Yeltsin]] incorporated these demands into his 1990 election campaign by claiming that their resolution was a high priority.

There was an urgent need for a law to clearly define the powers of each federal subject. Such a law was passed on 31 March 1992, when Yeltsin and [[Ruslan Khasbulatov]], then chairman of the [[Russian Supreme Soviet]] and an ethnic [[Chechens|Chechen]] himself, signed the [[Federation Treaty]] bilaterally with 86 out of 88 federal subjects. In almost all cases, demands for greater autonomy or independence were satisfied by concessions of regional autonomy and tax privileges. The treaty outlined three basic types of federal subjects and the powers that were reserved for local and federal government. The only federal subjects that did not sign the treaty were Chechnya and [[Tatarstan]]. Eventually, in early 1994, Yeltsin signed a special political accord with [[Mintimer Shaeymiev]], the president of Tatarstan, granting many of its demands for greater autonomy for the republic within Russia. Thus, Chechnya remained the only federal subject that did not sign the treaty. Neither Yeltsin nor the Chechen government attempted any serious negotiations and the situation deteriorated into a full-scale conflict.

===Chechen declaration of independence===
Meanwhile, on 6 September 1991, militants of the [[All-National Congress of the Chechen People]] (NCChP) party, created by the former [[Soviet Air Force]] general [[Dzhokhar Dudayev]], stormed a session of the Supreme Soviet of the [[Checheno-Ingush Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic]], with the aim of asserting independence. The storming caused the death of the head of [[Grozny]]'s branch of the [[Communist Party of the Soviet Union]] Vitaliy Kutsenko, who was [[Defenestration|defenestrated]] or fell while trying to escape. This effectively dissolved the government of the Checheno-Ingush [[Autonomous republics of the Soviet Union|Autonomous Republic of the Soviet Union]].<ref>{{cite book |title=The Chechen Wars: Will Russia Go the Way of the Soviet Union? |first=Matthew |last=Evangelista |location=Washington |publisher=Brookings Institution Press |year=2002 |page=[https://archive.org/details/chechenwars00matt/page/18 18] |isbn=978-0-8157-2498-8 |url=https://archive.org/details/chechenwars00matt/page/18 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Russia's Chechen War |first=Tracey C. |last=German |location=New York |publisher=RoutledgeCurzon |year=2003 |isbn=978-0-415-29720-2 |page=176 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Chechnya: Calamity in the Caucasus |author-link=Carlotta Gall |first1=Carlotta |last1=Gall |author-link2=Thomas De Waal |first2=Thomas |last2=De Waal |location=New York |publisher=New York University Press |year=1998 |isbn=978-0-8147-2963-2 |page=[https://archive.org/details/chechnyacalamity00gall/page/96 96] |quote=Vitaly Kutsenko, the elderly First Secretary of the town soviet either was [[Defenestration|defenestrated]] or tried to clamber out to escape the crowd. |url=https://archive.org/details/chechnyacalamity00gall/page/96 }}</ref>

[[1991 Chechen presidential election|Elections for the president]] and parliament of Chechnya were held on 27 October 1991. The day before, the [[Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union]] published a notice in the local Chechen press that the elections were illegal. With a turnout of 72%, 90.1% voted for Dudayev.<ref name="kommersant_history_and_memory">{{cite web |url=https://www.kommersant.ru/doc/2630476 |title=Первая война |trans-title=First war |language=ru |website=kommersant.ru |date=13 December 2014 |quote=...&nbsp;По данным Центризбиркома Чечено-Ингушетии, в выборах принимают участие 72% избирателей, за генерала Дудаева голосуют 412,6 тыс. человек (90,1%)&nbsp;...' |access-date=September 4, 2020 |archive-date=7 May 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170507230240/http://www.kommersant.ru/doc/2630476 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Dudayev won overwhelming popular support (as evidenced by the later presidential elections with high turnout and a clear Dudayev victory) to oust the interim administration supported by the central government. He became president and declared independence from the [[Soviet Union]].

In November 1991, Yeltsin dispatched [[Internal Troops]] to [[Grozny]], but they were forced to withdraw when Dudayev's forces surrounded them at the airport. After Chechnya made its initial declaration of [[sovereignty]], the Checheno-Ingush Autonomous Republic split in two in June 1992 amidst the [[East Prigorodny conflict|armed conflict between the Ingush and Ossetians]]. The newly created [[Ingushetia|Republic of Ingushetia]] then joined the [[Russian Federation]], while Chechnya declared full independence from [[Moscow]] in 1993 as the [[Chechen Republic of Ichkeria]] (ChRI).