Kremlin's 'War on Terrorism' in the Northeastern Caucasus: How Chechnya Still 'Saves' Russia

This article discusses Russia’s struggle to combat disintegration in the Northeastern Caucasus—one of the country’s most turbulent regions in terms of religious extremism, criminal violence, and radically different social processes—in light of its politics in Chechnya. With the beginning of the Second Chechen War (August 1999) and a series of dubious terrorist attacks in Russia in September 1999, Vladimir Putin rose to power, displaying an uncompromising stance against terrorism and post-Soviet fragmentation. The so-called counterterrorism operation in Chechnya officially ended in the spring of 2009. However, the power structures responsible for the crackdown on terrorists have not been disbanded to this day. Ramzan Kadyrov’s effort to strengthen security measures in Chechnya starting in 2022 might be linked to the war in Ukraine. This article aims to examine the Chechens’ involvement in the war against Ukraine and to reassess the Moscow-Grozny relationship in the context of the Russo-Ukrainian conflict. It highlights Chechnya’s increasing alienation from Russia while the political dialogue at the official level attempts to prove the opposite.