The Conflict

Following the disintegration of the Soviet Union in 1992, Chechnya declared independence. Russia viewed Chechnya as an integral part of Russia, and there was a significant minority of Russians within Chechnya. Chechnya and Russia went to war over the issue of Chechnya's independence from Russia.

Ethnic

• Chechens view themselves as distinct from Russians.

Political

• Chechens believe they have a right to self-determination.
• Russians believe they must protect the Russian minority in Chechnya.
• Russian officials believe that if they let Chechnya become independent, other ethnic groups in Russia will rebel.

In February 2000, Russian military forces retook the city of Grozny, capital of the breakaway republic of Chechnya. Chechen separatists, who had declared Chechnya's independence in 1991 from the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) as it was dissolving, fled once again into the surrounding Caucasus Mountains...