According to an article written by Dave Damrel in Religious Studies News, the conflict started with the Russian expansion into Caucasia, the remote, rugged, mountainous territory between the Black and Caspian Seas that is home to over thirty different ethnic groups. In the late eighteenth century Catherine the Great’s attempted many times to forcibly annex the region, but the Russian invaders inspired fierce, unexpected resistance from a broad ethnic coalition of Caucasian Muslims. The Muslims declared the struggle a jihad, and Muslim mountaineers inflicted a crushing defeat on Czarist forces at the Sunzha River in 17

The article goes on to say the Chechens, one large group of Muslims living within the Russian federation (internal Muslims), are important to Russia for two reasons. The first is economic: both Chechnya and Tatarstan (a region held by the other large group of “internal Muslims” called Tartars) possess substantial oil reserves, with Tatarstan alone producing 25% of the Russian yield. The second reason is political: of all the former Russian republics and autonomous republics, only Tatarstan and Chechnya refused to ratify the 1992 Russian Federation Treaty that established Yeltsin’s present Russian Federation. Moscow immediately attacked both de facto secessions, and the Tatar case is pending appeal before the new Russian Constitutional Court. In Chechnya two years of Russian threats, bluster and empty negotiations ended with invasion in late 1994.

The Chechens and the Russians have been in some form of conflict for nearly four hundred years. The names of the groups fighting have changed repeatedly but they have always been at odds. The Russians wish to hold on to the region for it’s vast oil reserves that it needs in order to help boost their economy. The Chechen separatist movements are looking to form their own country some thing that they have been trying for almost four hundred years. While the Chechens consider themselves as an independent nation the Russian see them as part of Russia. The Chechens have carried out many terrorist attacks against Russian targets, which has caused Russia to vow revenge. Peace can be obtained in the region but it will require communication, trust and honoring agreements. In short peace can be reached however both sides must be willing to give up some thing and at the current moment the Russian won’t give up the oil and the Chechens won’t give up the land.

The Chechens are fighting for their homeland and have lost thousands of people to this fight, but the Russian has the most to lose. The war is already unpopular with the Russian public, it is very expensive in a country that has had economic problems since the fall of communism, and Russia does not seem to gain any ground in it’s fight. Many prominent people in the Russian media have spoken out calling for an end to the war. Russia is also struggling financially and has been ever since the fall of communism. Their economy has struggled despite attempts by both the United States and the World

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