SUMMARY
The Chechen Republic of Ichkeria was an organization fighting for independence in Russia's Caucasian republic of Chechnya. Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, Chechnya became part of the newly established Russian Federation. Dzhokhar Dudayev was elected as the republic's president on 27 October 1991. On 1 November he declared the independence of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria.
The political leaders of Chechnya aspired to alter this status and to achieve political and cultural independence from Russia. The forces of the ‘Chechens’ were however not a unified party. It would be more accurate to speak of individual leaders that command small groups, which are bound together by ties of personal loyalty and a more or less common goal. Examples for such groupings are the Shakhid battalion, Riyad us-Saliheen and the Islamic International Peacekeeping Brigade. In the first episode of the conflict, from 1994 to 1996, the Chechen forces were rather unified under the command of Dzhokhar Dudayev. In the second war, from 1999 on, the actions were fare less coordinated as there were disputes among the field commanders.
Several different commanders dominated the leadership of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria. Dzhokhar Dudayev declared the republic’s independence of Russia in 1991 and became its first ‘president’. When he was killed by air-launched Russian missiles in April 1996, Aslan Maskhadov, a prominent military leader in the first episode of the conflict, 1994-1996, was elected ‘president’ in 1997. However, it was often unclear who had authority over the Chechen rebels. Maskhadovs ability to directly influence activities on the battlefield was low. Another field commander, Shamil Basayev, had a strong position in the rebel movement. He worked together with Saudi-born Amir Ibn al-Khattab who allegedly organized the participation of foreign Mujahedin in the Chechen resistance. Aslan Maskhadov was killed by Russian troops 8 March 2005 and was succeeded by little known Adbul-Khalim Sadulayev. Both Basayev and Sadulayev were killed by Russian forces in July and June 2006 respectively. Some of the leader figures like Aslan Maskhadov, had entirely separatist motives and were more western-oriented, others like Shamil Basaev and Amir ibn al-Khattab adhered to fundamentalist Islam and worked for the islamisation of Chechnya.
Doku Umarov, a Muslim cleric who has taken part in the struggle since the mid-1990s, took over as 'president' of the unrecognized government of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria in 2006 following the death of Sadulayev. Umarov renounced Chechen nationalism the year after he took office in favor of Caucasian pan-Islamism, declaring himself the Emir of the Caucasus Emirate in October 2007, and integrated the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria into the Caucasus Emirate as the Vilayat Nokhchicho. The conflict over Chechnya was thereafter subsumed into the conflict over the Caucasus Emirate. The Chechen Republic of Ichkeria thus ceased to exist temporarily, though the former Deputy Prime Minister, Akhmed Zakayev, revived the the movement as a government in exile in November of that year, though it was then merely a fraction of its former strength. The revived Chechen Republic of Ichkeria has since July 2022 participated in the Russia-Ukraine war on the side of Ukraine, and has participated in attacks across the border into Russia alongside the Russian Volunteer Corps, LSR and Sibir Battalion.
Sources in media and academics maintain that Saudi Arabian charities and Chechen diaspora organizations in Turkey have offered financial support to Chechen forces. The governments of both countries have denied any official support. The Saudi Arabian government expressed however solidarity with the Republic of Chechnya. Russian authorities have even claimed that there was a link between Al Qaeda and Chechen forces. This could not been verified independently. Like in Chechnya, there has been resistance against the Russian authority in the bordering republics of Dagestan, North Ossetia and Ingushetia. While it is known that Chechen rebels have committed attacks beyond the territory of Chechnya, the ties between other groups committing attacks there and the Chechen rebels are unclear.
The Chechen Republic of Ichkeria has been involved in the intra-state, non-state and one-sided categories of UCDP organised violence.
