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The Influence of International Funding on the Chechen Separatist Movement in Post-Soviet Russia

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The Influence of International Funding on the Chechen Separatist Movement in Post-Soviet Russia University of Amsterdam Masters in East European Studies The Influence of International Funding on the Chechen Separatist Movement in Post-Soviet Russia Author: Colm Fitzpatrick Introduction Given the current political and social climate, it has become commonplace to link an insurrectionist movement of a predominantly Muslim population to a global concept of Islamic awakening. The conflicts and post-conflict dissidence in Chechnya and her neighbours have at times been placed into this category of dubious self-determination. Indeed, Vladimir Putin has often justified the heavy handed approach of the Kremlin in the region since 1999 by associating the insurgency in Chechnya with the endeavours of the Western powers in fighting the ludicrous War on Terror. However, it would be equally as irresponsible to claim that the violence in Chechnya over the past three decades was purely a question of a coloniser combatting nationalists. Although nationalism has played a significant role in the politics of Chechnya and the initial motivation for self-determination; pan-Islamic philanthropy and transnational military mobilisation with a discernible radical ideology have dramatically altered to conception of the Chechen conflict. This essay will endeavour to asses to what extent the involvement of international actors and organisations motivated by the pan- Islamist agenda had on the gradual adoption of radical Islam by the chief proponents of Chechen independence during the 1990s. Was the Chechen conflict co-opted or hijacked by global Islam; or were the Chechens supremely pragmatic in accepting the only tangible international support afforded them in their desperate confrontation with Russia? Chechnya as Nation Before delving into the broad question of Chechen indoctrination into the global Islamist agenda, it is pertinent that one assess the potency of the nationalist movement that brought about secession and consequent conflict with Moscow after the fall of the Soviet Union. Chechnya’s initial push for self-determination was the crescendo of a burgeoning nationalism 1 that in many ways was the fallout of Mikhail Gorbachev’s glasnost policy. Ethnic identities, both historical as in the Baltics and fictive creations of the Soviet Union as in Central Asia, and the memories of crimes against one’s culture played a significant role in promoting a sort of ethno-regional nationalism that concluded with separatism and the dramatic dissolution of the conglomerate sub-national state. Chechnya with its considerably homogenous Muslim population, and fuelled by memories of Stalinist repression and deportation were therefore equally as motivated as their Ukrainian or Baltic brethren to escape the yoke of Kremlin rule.1 The late 1980s and early 1990s witnessed a revival of historical debate in Chechnya in conjunction with the general reappraisal of the Soviet Union and the openness promulgated by Gorbachev’s slogan of transparency, glasnost. The liberation of regional historical thought and religious practice sharpened the notions of disparity between the Muslim populations of the Northern Caucasus and their Orthodox Muscovite superiors. Observance of the discrimination of the Chechen people under Joseph Stalin accentuated a national revival that initially was far from sectarian. Considering many of the disenfranchised Chechen population were born in exile, it is unsurprising that the central powers of the Kremlin could be viewed as somewhat nefarious and untrustworthy to Chechen identity. Prior to 1991 there was debate amongst politicians in the Chechen-Ingush ASSR as to how to proceed with its relationship with the Soviet Union. There were three proposed actions. The first was for the region to seek out limited sovereignty within the Russian element of the Soviet Union. The second promoted independence of the Chechen-Ingush 1 Sokirianskaia, Ekaterina, ‘Ideology and conflict: Chechen political nationalism prior to, and during, ten years of war’ in Gammer, Moshe (editor), Ethno-Nationalism, Islam and the State in the Caucasus, (Abingdon, 2008), p. 111 2 ASSR, creating a republic representing the variegated Nakh people of the Caucasus. The third polity, promoted by the Chechen National Congress (CNC), was the the secession of the Chechen lands from both Russia and the Soviet Union and the inauguration of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria.2 In November 1990 the unity of the Chechen-Ingush ASSR began to unravel as the CNC declared a republic, much to the behest of local and federal authorities.3 The putsch against Gorbachev in August 1991 by hard-line elements of the Communist Party ultimately confirmed the dissolution of the USSR and the outright secession of Chechnya. The successor organisation of the CNC, the National Congress of the Chechen People (NCCP), supported the Russian nationalist Boris Yeltsin, while the official authorities in Grozny eschewed any outright condemnation or support for the putsch.4 This miscalculation resulted in the NCCP, headed by the former Soviet Air Force General Dzhokar Dudayev, taking unequivocal control of Chechnya, legitimising the previous declaration of independence.5 While the NCCP supported Yeltsin, Yeltsin did not support Chechen separatism and endeavoured to quash the insurrection. The succedent years saw both the Russian Federation and Chechnya in a state of flux. Moscow attempted to negotiate with the more surreptitious republics of its realm, namely Tatarstan and Chechnya, offering limited self-determination while maintaining the territorial integrity of the Russian Federation. Although Dudayev proclaimed authority, the years 1991-1994 were defined by political unrest, protracted negotiations with the Kremlin and attempts at military coercion 2 Ibid, p. 113. 3 Trenin, Dmitrij and Malashenko, Aleksei V., Russia’s Restless Frontier: The Chechnya Factor in Post- Soviet Russia, (Washington D.C., 2004), p. 17. 4 Sokirianskaia, ‘Ideology and conflict: Chechen political nationalism prior to, and during, ten years of war’, p. 114. 5 Trenin, Dmitrij and Malashenko, Aleksei V., Russia’s Restless Frontier: The Chechnya Factor in Post- Soviet Russia, (Washington D.C., 2004), p. 17 3 on the borders of Chechnya. During this period, Islam was not overtly on the political agenda for Dudayev. As Sokirianskaia outlines, Dudayev’s strategy in campaigning for sovereignty was on the basis of historical “memories of grievances” and highlighting the “security dilemma”. The “grievances” related to the anamnesis of ethnic cleansing in the 1940s. Moscow ultimately aided Dudayev with the notion of Chechen security as military manoeuvrings on the borders only served to accentuate the reality that Chechnya was under constant and significant threat of attack.6 As Wilhelmsen outlines, the primary goal of the NCCP was to “resolve problems the Chechen ‘nation’ was facing.” The priority was to cease and prevent further discrimination of the Chechens in their homeland, and to assemble all Chechen people into one definitive independent political entity.7 Prior to the outbreak of hostilities between the Russian and Chechen military factions, support for Dudayev had remained uncertain. Conformity with Dudayev was greatly enhanced after Yeltsin opted to reimpose Moscow’s hegemony over the breakaway southern republic in the winter of 1994. The succeeding war rallied nationalist sentiment in Chechnya against their habitual Russian foe. The First Chechen War was very much a conflict of nationalisms, where Russian nationalist feeling toward maintaining its integrity and negating a geopolitical disintegration akin to that of the Soviet Union faced off against a Chechen nationalism, defensive against another invasion of Russian aggression. Chechen nationalism at this stage remained secular. Dudayev, being a former Soviet General, had found inspiration while stationed in Tartus, Estonia, far from proponents of Islamic identity.8 Of course, Islam 6 Sokirianskaia, ‘Ideology and conflict: Chechen political nationalism prior to, and during, ten years of war’, p. 115. 7 Wilhelmsen, Julie, ‘Between a Rock and a Hard Place: The Islamisation of the Chechen Separatist Movement’ in Europe-Asia Studies, Vol. 57, No. 1, (Glasgow, 2005), p. 36. 8 Sokirianskaia, ‘Ideology and conflict: Chechen political nationalism prior to, and during, ten years of war’, p. 116. 4 remained synonymous with Chechen identity; however, the motivation remained an indigenous nationalism. In terms of rhetoric it is easy to see Dudayev as somewhat disingenuous, or perhaps simply Machiavellian. Although preferring secularism, Dudayev openly exploited Islamic terminology by calling for a ghazawat or holy war to be waged against Russia.9 As with every conflict, the distinctive differences between the belligerents became more acute as the brutality heightened. It is within such a context that one can comprehend the diversion from overt nationalism to a more radical theological motivation for separation from Russia. Considering the époque and geopolitical affiliation, it would be easy to categorise Chechen self-determination in the 1990s as being inherently linked to the demise of the Soviet Union and the trend of Soviet dissident republics to secede. Of course it is most assuredly true that Chechen separatism of the early 1990s follows said trend. However, the conflicts that brought such desolation and destruction on this region of the Northern Caucasus were heavily impacted on by a burgeoning global Islamic radicalism that in many ways shared a common enemy in the powers of the Kremlin.
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