Where and what is Chechnya?
Chechnya, capital Grozny, is a 6,000-square-mile (smaller than New Jersey), mostly Muslim republic in the Caucasus region with a population of about 1 million. Its legal status as a fully autonomous part of the Russian federation was the outcome of the cease-fire that followed the bloody but inconclusive 1994-96 war between the Russian army and Chechen separatists. Before the fall of the Soviet Union, Chechnya was classified as an autonomous region a rung below an autonomous republic (most of which, such as Georgia, were allowed independence after the Soviet breakup). The area was conquered by the czars in the 19th century and remained a hotbed of sedition for most of the century. Stalin forcibly removed the entire Chechen population during World War II for fear they would collude against Russia with the advancing Germans, and they returned to find their lands carved up among hostile ethnic groups. After the Soviet Union collapsed, Chechnya tried to break away and declare independence.
