The Chechen republic: a space of peace, mutual understanding, and trust (1990s – 2000s)

Abstract

This article focuses on the recovery period following two stages of military action in the Chechen Republic. Using archival documents from that period (1997) and subsequent years, it shows how citizens of the republic, first of all, returned to their places of residence, restored their homes, restored their property, and began a new life, naturally under difficult everyday conditions, unfolded day by day. The conclusion is obvious: war brings only destruction and does not contribute to the triumph of civil peace and stability or the cohesion of society, regardless of ethnicity. The perpetrators always become known, and, as the renowned Russian scholar and public figure R.I. Khasbulatov rightly noted, speaking at a rally in Grozny (1994): "The main conclusion is that the Russian Federation authorities fully share equal responsibility with the Dudayevites for the Chechen massacre." This is the reality. Methods. The study and analysis of archival documents published in this article aimed not only to expand the scientific base for studying the complex problem of the state and its constituent parts – autonomous regions – but also to identify the key societal pillars for creating, building life, and addressing priority issues in the multinational Russian Federation. It is undeniable that the executive and legislative branches of government created new legislation regulating relations in the post-war period, aimed primarily at achieving peace and civil harmony throughout Russia as a whole. Drawing on historicist, consocialist, and other methods, the author examines the topics through the prism of a set of documents relating to that time. Of course, in this regard, research by the predecessors of the war in the republic is particularly valuable. In this regard, the scholarly works of renowned scholars in the republic, including A.M. Bugaev, V.Kh. Akaev, L.L. Khoperskaya,   T.I. Shaykhaev, M.M. Akhmadov, M. Seidulaev, V. Dikaev, L. Turpalov, T. Muzaev, D.Kh. Saidulaev, G. Zaurbekova, and others, are noteworthy. They identify the causes of the contradictions that arose before the war, the difficult social situation of the population in the republic – a constituent entity of the Russian Federation – and the escalation of these contradictions into an armed conflict between the Chechen Republic and the center of the Russian Federation. This should not be the nature of a multinational state, and any misunderstandings or grievances that arise should be resolved through consensus and trust, based on the regulation of interethnic relations.