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Abstract
This article assesses the successes and setbacks of Moscow’s policy of counterinsurgency and beyond. It challenges the general consensus in scholarship positing that military successes associated with Chechenisation have been obtained against the backdrop of Chechnya’s increasingly autonomous status within Russia, considered by some as a case of ‘systemic separatism’. The article tracks how four key mechanisms (Chechnya’s institutional design, internal opposition to the Kadyrov clan, the tradition of blood feud among kadyrovtsy—initially Chechen paramilitary forces named after both Kadyrovs, gradually transformed into seemingly regular Ministry of Interior (MVD) units—and Chechnya’s economic dependency on Moscow) have enabled Moscow to maintain control over Chechnya while simultaneously allowing its elites to consolidate power within the republic.
Notes
This study was carried out in the framework of the Program P17 ‘Sciences on Society, Politics, and Media’ at the Faculty of Social Sciences, Charles University in Prague.
1 See also Kim and Blank (Citation2013).
2 For further analysis on the topic, see Souleimanov and Aliyev (Citation2015a, Citation2016).
3 For a comprehensive review of the literature on political violence in the North Caucasus and Chechnya, see Ratelle (Citation2015).
4 The US Army/Marine Corps Counterinsurgency Field Manual, No. 3-24, Marine Corps War fighting Publication No. 3-33.5, 15 December 2006, p. 1.28, available at: http://usacac.army.mil/cac2/Repository/Materials/COIN-FM3-24.pdf, accessed 24 August 2016.
5 The US Army/Marine Corps Counterinsurgency Field Manual, No. 3-24, Marine Corps War fighting Publication No. 3-33.5, 15 December 2006, available at: http://usacac.army.mil/cac2/Repository/Materials/COIN-FM3-24.pdf, accessed 24 August 2016.
6 ‘Daily News Bulletin’, Interfax, 22 December 1999.
7 ‘Daily News Bulletin’, Interfax, 22 December 1999.
8 ‘In a Climate of Fear: “Political Process” and Parliamentary Elections in Chechnya’, International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights, International Federation for Human Rights, Norwegian Helsinki Committee, Center ‘Demos’, and Human Rights Center ‘Memorial’ joint publication, November 2005, available at: http://www.refworld.org/docid/46f146360.html, accessed 1 August 2014.
9 For further about the beginning of the Chechenisation process and the internal tensions inside the Russian government, see Russell (Citation2008) and Campana and Légaré (Citation2010).
10 ‘Chechen Deputy Minister Threatens Executions For Militant Suspects’, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty North Caucasus Service, 13 December 2003, available at: http://www.rferl.org/content/chechnya-official-kill-frame-militants/25200041.html, accessed 1 August 2014.
11 For an extensive analysis of the phenomenon of blood in the Chechen wars, see Souleimanov and Aliyev (Citation2015b); for a comprehensive analysis of the motives of former insurgents to defect, desert, and remain loyal to kadyrovtsy, see Souleimanov and Aliyev (Citation2014), Souleimanov et al. (Citation2016).
12 Interview with a Chechen political scientist, Prague, 24 June 2014.
13 Interview with Ivan Preobrazhensky, a Russian political scientist, Prague, 12 December 2015.
14 Skype interview with Ivan Preobrazhensky, a Russian political scientist, 15 February 2015.
15 ‘Does Chechnya Stand to Lose Out from Russian–Azerbaijani Oil Agreement?’, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 30 August 2013, available at: http://www.rferl.org/content/russia-azerbaijan-oil-agreement-chechnya/25091138.html, accessed 1 August 2014.
16 ‘Kadyrov Lashes Out at Rosneft’, The Moscow Times, 17 April 2013, available at: http://www.themoscowtimes.com/business/article/kadyrov-lashes-out-at-rosneft/478713.html, accessed 1 August 2014.
17 ‘Does Chechnya Stand to Lose Out from Russian–Azerbaijani Oil Agreement?’, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 30 August 2013, available at: http://www.rferl.org/content/russia-azerbaijan-oil-agreement-chechnya/25091138.html, accessed 1 August 2014.
18 ‘Caucasus: Chechnya, Kabardino-Balkaria Compete for New Oil Refinery’, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 3 April 2008, available: http://www.rferl.org/content/article/1079730.html, accessed 1 August 2014.
19 ‘Kadyrov Lashes Out at Rosneft’, The Moscow Times, 17 April 2013, available at: http://www.themoscowtimes.com/business/article/kadyrov-lashes-out-at-rosneft/478713.html, accessed 1 August 2014.
20 Email interview with Ekaterina Sokirianskaia, head of the Russian branch of the International Crisis Group and an expert on the North Caucasus, 10 January 2014.
21 20 anonymous interviews with ordinary Chechens in Vienna, Moscow, Oslo, Paris, and London, 2007–2013. To ensure the security of these respondents the exact location and time for these interviews are not provided.
22 ‘Kto Takoi Sulim Yamadaev’, Novaya Gazeta, 21 April 2008, available at: http://www.novayagazeta.ru/politics/40540.html, accessed 11 August 2016.
23 Interviews with kadyrovtsy. To ensure the security of these respondents the exact locations and times for these interviews are not provided.
24 Interviews with kadyrovtsy. To ensure the security of these respondents the exact locations and times for these interviews are not provided.
25 Interview with a Chechnya-based Chechen political scientist, Prague, 27 June 2014.
26 Interviews with kadyrovtsy. To ensure the security of these respondents the exact locations and times for these interviews are not provided.