Editing First Chechen War (section)

===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>