Representatives of many nations joined the Cossacks. But the most surprising thing is that those with whom Russian subjects were forced to wage an irreconcilable war - the Chechens - became Cossacks.
Mutual influence
The life of the Cossacks, who inhabited the left bank of the Terek since the 16th century, was largely influenced by neighboring mountain peoples - Chechens, Ingush, and Kabardians. For example, Cossack huts were not much different from the mountain huts, especially in their internal structure and decoration. Leo Tolstoy, who lived in Chechnya in his youth, wrote that the Greben (Terek) Cossacks “arrange their homes according to Chechen custom.”
Mountain clothing, most adapted to local conditions, was readily accepted and adopted by the Cossacks. The Caucasian burka, beshmet, papakha, bashlyk and Circassian coat became commonplace for the Cossack. They also enjoyed decorating themselves with a Caucasian belt, a dagger and gazyrs with metal or silver tips.
Russian writer of Chechen origin German Sadulayev believes that the process of interpenetration of Cossack and mountain cultures was mutual. Thus, in his opinion, the Vainakhs who came down from the mountains learned from the Cossacks how to engage in banditry, robbery operations and dashing youth.
We became related
Terek Cossacks have been establishing good neighborly relations with the Chechens since the mid-16th century. Living side by side with each other it was impossible to do otherwise. The Chechen teip Varanda turned out to be especially close to the Cossacks, often receiving peasants fleeing serfdom. According to eyewitnesses, almost all of Imam Shamil’s artillery was served by fugitives. It is no coincidence that today varanda is called “Russian teip”.
But there was also a reverse process. Chechens trying to escape Islamic expansion crossed the Terek and ended up in Cossack villages. Many of them settled in the village of Chervlennaya (today Shelkovsky district of Chechnya).
Terek Cossacks were often kunaks of Chechens; they were proud of such friendship and passed it on from generation to generation. Tolstoy wrote that until the second half of the 19th century, “Cossack families were considered kinship with the Chechens, some had a Chechen grandmother or aunt.”
Representatives of the Chechen teip Gunoy assimilated especially closely with the Cossacks; there was traditionally a high percentage of mixed marriages between them. “Among the Terek Cossacks, even in the type of their appearance, features common to the mountaineers can be seen; These features are especially characteristic of Cossack women: along with the round, ruddy face of a Great Russian beauty, we encounter an elongated, pale, oval face with Chechen blood,” wrote one of Tolstoy’s contemporaries.
An interesting observation about the mixture of Russian and Chechen blood was left in 1915 by local historian F. S. Grebenets. He described the woman of the village of Novogladkovskaya as follows: “She acquired a light figure from a Caucasian highlander, and from a Cossack she borrowed the height, muscular strength and sober character of a Russian woman.” According to ethnographers, at the beginning of the 20th century, almost every Novogladkovsk woman had Chechen blood flowing through her.
"Pig Eaters"
Since the 17th century, active Islamization of Chechnya began. Sources note that this process was extremely painful. Often, Dagestan murids ordered entire villages to slaughter those who opposed the will of Allah.
Many Chechens, who did not want to accept the new faith, began to gradually populate the free left-bank territories and the environs of the Terek settlements. Some of them eventually turned out to be the founders of future Cossack villages. Thus, the founder of the village of Dubovskaya is considered to be a Chechen from the sadoy teip named Duba. Over time, many left-bank villages and pastures retained their ancient Chechen names.
The subsiding and again renewed waves of resettlement continued until the era of Peter I. By this time, the Chechens came into close contact not only with the life of the Cossacks, but also with the customs of the Old Believers Christians, with whom they were forced to leave their inhabited places on the right bank of the Terek.
At the beginning of the 19th century, Muslim elders directly contributed to the eviction of Chechens beyond the Terek who did not want to comply with the orders of Islam. Being in the position of Muslim Protestants, they were strangers both among Christians and among Mohammedans. The only place where they were accepted were the Cossack villages.
One of the reasons for the Chechens’ non-acceptance of Islam was the tradition of pig farming, which many did not want to give up. “Yes, we are Russians,” they said, “we eat pig.” The terms “Russian”, “Christian” and “pig eater” in those days sounded like synonyms to the Chechens. Researcher Alexander Gapaev notes that the division of Chechens into Muslims and non-Muslims was solely based on “pig eating.”
It has been precisely established that Chechens with entire families and even clans adopted Christianity - this is how they fit more organically into the Terek Cossack ethnic group, and their descendants became full-fledged Cossacks. Although history also knows the opposite example, when the Terti people converted to Islam.
The Islamization of the Terek Cossacks, in particular, is discussed by historian Vitaly Vinogradov, who has repeatedly stated at scientific conferences and in the press that the flat part of the Chechen land up to the “black” mountains originally belonged to the Russians. As evidence, he cited the fact that in the village of Guni live the descendants of the Terek Cossacks, who at one time converted to Islam and “gotcha.”
Stable ethnicity
Chechen writer Khalid Oshaev recalled how in the 20s, as a commander to eliminate “Cossack gangs,” he was sent to the Left Bank of the Terek. He was then one of the first to draw attention to the fact that elderly Cossacks call almost all local old place names in Chechen.
The enthusiastic Oshaev got to the bottom of some Cossack surnames of Chechen origin and through them achieved a meeting with the leaders of the “Cossack gangs.” At the meeting, the Soviet commander explained that there were many of his relatives among the Cossacks and that he did not want to shed their blood. As a result of the discussion, the “gang” was disbanded. Then the Cheka, outraged by Oshaev’s fraternization with the “White Cossack” gangs, almost shot the future writer. However, fate turned out to be favorable to him.
Subsequently, becoming the director of the Chechen-Ingush Research Institute of History, Language and Literature, Oshaev continued to be surprised that Turkic and Russian names did not completely supplant the left bank Chechen place names. He, for example, noticed that the town of Gunashka was called by many Cossacks both in Nogai - Karnogai, and in Russian - Chernogai.
The explanation for this may be the following. The displaced Chechens were more adapted to the local climate than migrants from the depths of Russia, among whom a high percentage of morbidity and mortality was recorded.
There were cases when almost the entire Russian population, for example, Kargalinsk, Kizlyar, Holy Cross, left already inhabited places, fleeing from disease. And some villages, including the Holy Cross, were repeatedly subjected to complete devastation. This contributed to the stability of both Nakh anthropology and the predominance of Chechen toponymy.
Can't tell the difference
The Gunoy Cossacks always knew their ancestry well, and when they came to the village of Gunoy, they unmistakably showed the houses of their ancestors. Residents of Gunoy will tell tourists the legend of how the Islamic preacher Sheikh Bersa threw a Gunoy cauldron of pork from the mountain (and will show this place), after which a significant number of representatives of this teip moved to the Left Bank.
Today, genealogical ties with the Cossacks have mostly been preserved by the teips of Guna and Varanda. Only in one village of Chervlennaya in the middle of the 20th century lived several dozen Cossack families of Gunoic origin, including the Grishins, Astashkins, Gulaevs, Deniskins, Velik, Tilik, Polushkins, Tikhonovs, Metroshkins, Rogozhins.
Together with a group of experts, anthropologist L.P. Sherashidze and ethnographer I.M. Saidov, the Terek Cossacks who settled from Alpatov to Kizlyar were examined. Scientists have confirmed their ethnographic and anthropological affinity to the Chechens. It is curious that sometimes the external similarity of representatives of both ethnic groups was so strong that researchers could not distinguish Chechen children from Cossack ones.
From time immemorial, Chechens have been famous as hardy, strong, dexterous, inventive, tough and skillful warriors. The main features of the representatives of this nation have always been: pride, fearlessness, the ability to cope with any life difficulties, as well as high respect for blood kinship. Representatives of the Chechen people: Ramzan Kadyrov, Dzhokhar Dudayev.
Take it to yourself:
Origin of the Chechens
There are several versions of the origin of the name of the Chechen nation:
- Most scientists are inclined to believe that the people began to be called this way around the 13th century, after the village of Bolshoi Chechen. Later, they began to call this not only the residents of a given locality, but also all neighboring villages of a similar type.
- According to another opinion, the name “Chechens” appeared thanks to the Kabardians, who called this people “Shashan”. And, supposedly, representatives of Russia simply slightly changed this name, making it more convenient and harmonious for our language, and over time it took root and this people began to be called Chechens not only in Russia, but also in other countries.
- There is a third version - according to it, other Caucasian peoples initially called the inhabitants of modern Chechnya Chechens.
By the way, the word “Vainakh” itself translated from Nakh into Russian sounds like “our people” or “our people.”
If we talk about the origin of the nation itself, it is generally accepted that the Chechens have never been a nomadic people and their history is closely connected with the Caucasian lands. True, some scientists claim that in ancient times, representatives of this nation occupied larger territories in the northeastern Caucasus, and only then migrated en masse to the north of the Caucasus. The very fact of such a relocation of people does not raise any particular doubts, but the motives for the move are not known to scientists.
According to one version, which is partly confirmed by Georgian sources, the Chechens at a certain moment simply decided to occupy the North Caucasus space, where no one lived at that time. Moreover, there is an opinion that the name Caucasus itself is also of Vainakh origin. Allegedly, in ancient times this was the name of the Chechen ruler, and the territory received its name from his name “Caucasus”.
Having settled in the North Caucasus, the Chechens led a sedentary lifestyle and did not leave their native places unless absolutely necessary. They lived in this territory for hundreds of years (from about the 13th century).
Even when in 1944 almost the entire indigenous population was deported due to the unfair accusation of supporting the Nazis, the Chechens did not remain on “foreign” land and returned to their homeland.
Caucasian War
In the winter of 1781, Chechnya officially became part of Russia. The corresponding document was signed by many respectable elders of the largest Chechen villages, who not only put their signature on paper, but also swore on the Koran that they accepted Russian citizenship.
But at the same time, the majority of the nation’s representatives considered this document a mere formality and, in fact, intended to continue their autonomous existence. One of the most ardent opponents of Chechnya's entry into Russia was Sheikh Mansur, who had enormous influence on his fellow tribesmen, since he was not only a preacher of Islam, but was also the first imam of the North Caucasus. Many Chechens supported Mansur, which later helped him become the leader of the liberation movement and unite all the dissatisfied mountaineers into one force.
Thus began the Caucasian War, which lasted nearly fifty years. Ultimately, Russian military forces managed to suppress the resistance of the mountaineers, although extremely tough measures were taken to achieve this, including burning hostile villages. Also during that period, the Sunzhinskaya (named after the Sunzha River) line of fortifications was built.
However, the end of the war was very conditional. The established peace was extremely shaky. The situation was complicated by the fact that oil deposits were discovered on the territory of Chechnya, from which the Chechens received practically no income. Another difficulty was the local mentality, which was very different from the Russian one.
The Chechens then repeatedly staged various uprisings. But despite all the difficulties, Russia greatly valued the representatives of this nationality. The fact is that men of Chechen nationality were wonderful warriors and were distinguished not only by physical strength, but also by courage, as well as an unbending fighting spirit. During the First World War, an elite regiment was created, consisting only of Chechens and called the “Wild Division”.
The Chechens have indeed always been considered wonderful warriors, in whom composure is amazingly combined with courage and the will to win. The physical characteristics of representatives of this nationality are also impeccable. Chechen men are characterized by: strength, endurance, agility, etc.
On the one hand, this is explained by the fact that they lived in rather harsh conditions, where it was extremely difficult for a physically weak person to exist, and on the other hand, by the fact that almost the entire history of this people is associated with constant struggle and the need to defend their interests with arms in hand. After all, if we look at the events that took place in the Caucasus, both in ancient and modern times, we will see that the Chechen people always remained quite autonomous and, in case of dissatisfaction with certain circumstances, easily went into a state of war.
At the same time, the military science of the Chechens has always been very developed and fathers from early childhood taught their sons to wield weapons and ride horses. The ancient Chechens managed to do the almost impossible and create their own invincible mountain cavalry. They are also considered the founders of such military techniques as roaming batteries, the technique of blocking the enemy, or the deployment of “crawling” troops into battle. From time immemorial, the basis of their military tactics was surprise, followed by a massive attack on the enemy. Moreover, many experts agree that it was the Chechens, and not the Cossacks, who were the founders of the partisan method of warfare.
National characteristics
The Chechen language belongs to the Nakh-Dagestan branch and has more than nine dialects that are used in oral and written speech. But the main dialect is considered to be Planar, which in the 20th century formed the basis of the literary dialect of this people.
As for religious views, the overwhelming majority of Chechens profess Islam.
Chechens also attach great importance to observing the national code of honor “Konakhalla”. These ethical rules of behavior were developed in ancient times. And this moral code, to put it extremely simply, tells how a man should behave in order to be considered worthy of his people and his ancestors.
By the way, Chechens are also characterized by very strong kinship. Initially, the culture of this people developed in such a way that society was divided into various teips (tribes), belonging to which was of great importance for the Vainakhs. Attitude to one or another clan was always determined by the father. Moreover, to this day, representatives of this people, when meeting a new person, often ask where he is from and what teip.
Another type of association is “tukhum”. This is the name given to teip communities created for one purpose or another: joint hunting, farming, protecting territories, repelling enemy attacks, etc.
Chechen. Lezginka.
The national Chechen cuisine, rightfully considered one of the most ancient in the Caucasus, also deserves special attention. From time immemorial, the main products that Chechens used for cooking were: meat, cheese, cottage cheese, as well as pumpkin, wild garlic (wild garlic) and corn. Special importance is also attached to spices, which, as a rule, are used in huge quantities.
Chechen traditions
Living in the harsh conditions of mountainous terrain also left its mark on the culture of the Chechens and their traditions. Life here was many times harder than on the plain.
For example, mountaineers often cultivated the land on the slopes of peaks and, in order to avoid accidents, they had to work in large groups, tying themselves with one rope. Otherwise, one of them could easily fall into the abyss and die. Often half the village gathered to carry out such work. Therefore, for a true Chechen, respectable neighborly relations are sacred. And if there was grief in the family of people living nearby, then this grief was for the entire village. If a breadwinner was lost in a neighboring house, then his widow or mother was supported by the entire village, sharing food or other necessary things with her.
Due to the fact that work in the mountains is usually very hard, the Chechens have always tried to protect members of the older generation from it. And even the usual greeting here is based on the fact that they first greet an older person, and then ask if he needs help with something. Also in Chechnya, it is considered bad manners if a young man walks past an older man doing hard work and does not offer his help.
Hospitality also plays a huge role for Chechens. In ancient times, a person could easily get lost in the mountains and die from hunger or an attack by a wolf or bear. That is why it has always been unthinkable for Chechens not to let a stranger into their house who asks for help. It doesn’t matter what the guest’s name is or whether he knows the owners, if he is in trouble, he will be provided with food and lodging for the night.
Take it to yourself:
Mutual respect is also of particular importance in Chechen culture. In ancient times, mountaineers moved mainly along thin paths encircling peaks and gorges. Because of this, it was sometimes difficult for people to disperse on such paths. And the slightest careless movement could cause a person to fall from the mountain and die. That is why Chechens, from early childhood, were taught to respect other people, and especially women and the elderly.
I must admit that for most of my life I saw the Chechens exclusively as “sworn enemies.” I even remember how, already in my youth, I sat over a map of Russia and seriously thought about how to most effectively build military fortifications on the border with the Chechen Republic in order to forever separate it from the rest of our country. And I had only one doubt - to draw this border along the left or right bank of the Terek.I was already seven years old when the First Chechen War began, and an endless stream of hellish chronicles of its events flowed from the TV screen. Footage from the Vremya program, in which Chechen militants cut off the fingers of a hostage, was forever imprinted in children’s consciousness. There are also monstrously realistic scenes from Nevzorov’s “Purgatory”. And then, after a short and “murky” truce, Putin came, and the chronicles of the Second Chechen War began to flow from the screen.
Emotions often take precedence over cold logic, so at that time I had difficulty recording precisely the political events and changes that were taking place in the situation with Chechnya. At the emotional level, there was already a clear reflex of a negative reaction to any mention of the name of this republic or simply to the word “Chechen”. Yes, I remember how on one of Victory Days they showed video footage of the explosion at the Chechen stadium where Akhmat Kadyrov died on TV. I remember a bearded guy in a tracksuit who spoke little Russian, standing next to Putin. Then I found out that his name is Ramzan Kadyrov. But against the backdrop of war newsreels imprinted in my consciousness, these events meant absolutely nothing to me.
Stop feeding the Caucasus
During my student years, when I discovered the Internet, I continued to be drawn to this topic. I read the horrific details of the “Russian genocide” in Chechnya, watched videos of Wahhabis cutting off the heads of Russian soldiers, and became even more saturated with hatred. Over time, another topic became popular on the Internet - about how billions of Russian money are being poured into Chechnya. I remember these demotivators, where they compared the skyscrapers in Grozny with the destroyed houses of some Ryazan, and the newly-minted hero of Russia Kadyrov, sitting in an expensive car, with a WWII veteran standing in the passage. And that’s why Navalny’s speech in October 2011 with the slogan “Stop feeding the Caucasus!” was met with complete admiration in my face.
I don’t know what made me pay such close attention to the Caucasian topic from year to year. But I always paid attention to new and new news feeds in which the word “Chechnya” sounded. And sometimes in the flow of information I came across good reviews about this region. The blogs contained reports from those who visited there and spoke well of the republic. And at some point, at the next blogger event, I saw the first Chechen in my life - the LiveJournal ambassador from this republic, Zaura - and he didn’t really look like the reckless thug that my fantasy depicted.
Over the years, I have acquired a very valuable trait - if information about something is contradictory, then you need to personally verify it, form your own opinion, and find the original source. So, for example, in the spring of 2014, at the first opportunity I rushed to Crimea to see with my own eyes the events of the “Crimean spring”, to communicate with the local population (and, first of all, with the Crimean Tatars), because the media was filled with diametrically opposed opinions on the topic of the Crimean referendum and the annexation of the peninsula to Russia.
The same story happened with Chechnya. I decided that I definitely had to visit the republic myself, look with my own eyes at the Chechens, at how they live, in order to form my own personal opinion. Moreover, this was not supposed to be a “popular” press tour, during which guests are shown exclusively the best sides of life, but something closer to reality. Just get in the car and drive around Chechnya.
Unexpectedly, in this desire I found the support of Natasha, who also wanted to go there. To be honest, I didn’t even discuss what her motivation was (now I’m writing these lines and I understand that I’ve never asked her about it). At first, I doubted whether it was worth taking the girl into this “enemy camp.” But over time, we added a trip to Chechnya to our list of road trips, and when in September after the wedding we were choosing a route for a road rally (we wanted somewhere to the south), we chose not Crimea or Sochi, but Chechnya. To be honest, even our parents were not told the specific purpose of our trip until recently, resorting to the vague wording “to the Caucasus.”
First impressions
The first day in Chechnya was the most stressful for me. At noon we arrived in Grozny, parked our car in the center and just went to look for a place where we could have lunch. No city map, no navigation, nothing. As in any of our journeys, everything is purely on a whim. I didn’t let go of Natasha’s hand and was ready at any moment for some kind of provocation against us. Honestly, it’s funny to remember now, but I walked through Grozny with one thought - one more lane and I’ll have to protect my woman. We found some establishment similar in ambience and service to the Belgorod Potapych, and I kept turning my head around, tracking any glance in our direction and trying in vain to understand what the people around were talking about.
It didn’t “let me go” even at night, when we checked into some hotel on the outskirts of the city (all the others were booked for the next two days due to the Russian Judo Championship taking place in Grozny). I seriously thought that someone might break into our room. But the more time we spent in Chechnya, the more absurd my fantasies seemed to me.
I couldn't wrap my head around the awareness of the surrounding calm. "How did it happen!?"- my inner voice exclaimed - “ There was a war going on here for a decade, everything was in ruins, and Russians were getting their heads cut off! How is this even possible - a measured, quiet life, as if nothing had happened? Where does this goodwill towards us come from? Is this all sincere? Where's the catch?. I looked for this very “trick” in every look, in every intonation in the conversation with us. And I didn’t find it.
The more we discovered Chechnya, the more I was surprised that this was a normal region of our country. If you step aside from these elaborate skyscrapers of “Grozny City” and just look at the city and its surroundings, you will see an ordinary well-groomed corner of Russia. Clean, tidy. It is not true that “federal money is poured in for show.” A colossal amount of work has really been done here to restore the entire republic. I can’t imagine how it was possible to eliminate all the consequences of hostilities in such a short time. But the republic is nice to look at. Good roads, neat houses.
And at some point they let me go. I allowed myself to exhale. A beautiful, calm Chechnya opened before my eyes, with sympathetic people living their daily lives. But you can’t get out of your head everything that I read and watched before? After all, my fears are not groundless? After all, Lermontov's “An angry Chechen crawls ashore, sharpens his dagger” It was written a century and a half ago, and is there any justification for this century-old enmity?
A look from the other side
I began to ask myself more and more questions in search of understanding the situation. At night, when you stand and listen to the silence of the Caucasus mountains, you get to look at the situation from the side opposite to the one from which you have always looked at it. You know, I end up with a huge text that only a few will read, and only 0.01% of them will accept my point of view, but I will write it and let it be useful even for just one of you.
I looked at the history of Russian-Chechen relations from the Chechen side. Have you ever thought about what that looked like for them? The Chechens, or as they were originally called - Nokhchi - lived here for hundreds of years. The invasion of the Mongol horde drove them from the plains into the mountains, where they survived for centuries in difficult conditions. The Russians, meanwhile, having thrown off the burden of invaders, began to build an Empire. Having taken Kazan and Astrakhan, their gaze turned towards the Caucasus. When the Chechens began to return to their ancestral lands, they were faced with the fact that the Terek Cossacks had already settled there. The empire was growing, and now it had already set the goal of taking Georgia, lying beyond the Caucasian ridge, under its influence. And let’s admit, the annexation of “strategically important territories” did not always proceed peacefully. Yes, there was an imposition of one's will. And the Chechens had every right not to always agree with the rules that were established for them. The response to disobedience was often punitive measures on the part of the Russians.
At the beginning of the 19th century, the Caucasian War began, which lasted about 50 years. Half a century, just imagine! For entire generations of mountaineers, war became a way of life. You can read in detail about the prerequisites and chronology of the conquest of the North Caucasus, for example, on Wikipedia. Imagine that some people came to your home and said that you will now live by their rules, or they will fight with you. Will you resist if you disagree? The Chechens decided that they would. Such a character trait. Did they have the right to do this? Everyone will answer this question for themselves.
And even after the main resistance forces were broken and the region was annexed to the Russian Empire, riots broke out here every now and then. Yes, you just need to honestly admit to yourself that it was we, the Russians, who came to the region located one and a half thousand kilometers from Moscow and decided that this was also our land. It was not the Chechens who started this hostility. It's strange, but this simple thought had never occurred to me before. At first, the Russians needed control over the Caucasus, which was considered the Empire's sphere of influence. And at the end of the 19th century, oil reserves were found in the region, and this also predetermined Russia’s interest in it.
After the February revolution, the communists skillfully converted the mountaineers’ hatred of “imperialism”, using them in the fight against the same Cossacks who supported the whites. They did not disdain tricks like slogans “Long live Soviet power and Sharia!” and promises to return the original Caucasian lands to their peoples. And after the dirty deed was done, they began to tighten the screws in their own way. Yes, in November 1920, the creation of the Mountain Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic was proclaimed with its capital in Vladikavkaz, consisting of six administrative districts, one of which was the Chechen National District (two years later transformed into the Chechen Autonomous Region). It looked as if, after a century of the war for independence, the Chechens had finally achieved the emergence of their own territorial entity. But at the same time, the Soviet (and for the locals, the same “Russian”) government began to dictate its own living conditions.
Surplus appropriation. Collectivization. A gradual struggle against religious institutions that did not fit into the concept of “building communism.” Naturally, such interference in the local way of life met with resistance, which was harshly suppressed by the troops of the Soviet government. In total, from 1920 to 1941, 12 major armed uprisings and more than 50 less significant ones occurred on the territory of Chechnya and Ingushetia. Some particularly rebellious villages were deported outside the North Caucasus.
Naturally, during the Great Patriotic War, not all Chechens rushed to defend the Soviet Union (although many fought courageously for it). Some saw this war as an opportunity to gain long-awaited independence. As a result, everything developed into one of the dirtiest pages of Soviet history - the deportation of the Chechen-Ingush people.
On January 29, 1944, People's Commissar of Internal Affairs of the USSR Lavrentiy Beria approved the “Instructions on the procedure for the eviction of Chechens and Ingush,” and on January 31, a decree was issued on the deportation of Chechens and Ingush to the Kazakh and Kyrgyz SSR. On February 20, Beria arrived in Grozny and personally led the operation, where, under the guise of “exercises in mountainous areas,” an army of 100 thousand people was transferred. On February 21, he issued an order to the NKVD for the deportation of the Chechen-Ingush population.
493 thousand Chechens were loaded onto freight trains and taken to Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. Everyone - old people, children, women - was rounded up like cattle in the winter and taken a thousand kilometers away from their native land. According to official data, 780 people were killed during the operation - those who categorically resisted or were inactive. According to “unofficial” data, we will never know how many victims there were. About 1,200 more people died during transport. 44.5 thousand people from among the deportees died in the first year of exile (almost every tenth).
The restriction on the movement of Chechens and Ingush was strictly in force until the death of Stalin, and only after that they began to gradually return to the territory of the republic. However, they did not have any benefits to restore life in their homeland, and they were completely forbidden to settle in a number of mountain villages.
At the same time, Chechnya was inhabited by Russians. I, too, had never thought about this before, but imagine what happened - the Chechens fought for decades with the Russians for the right to live independently, in the end they were all deported from their native land, and when they began to return there, those same people live in their place Russians. Dubious ground for friendly relations... Nevertheless, the Soviet government managed to keep this tension under control, and even by the time of the collapse of the USSR, every fourth resident of Chechnya was Russian.
Naturally, when the USSR began to burst at the seams, and the Baltic states and Central Asia began to fall away from it, talk about independence again came to the fore in Chechnya. And the local population, who had not seen anything good in an alliance with the Russians for at least two hundred years, naturally supported this idea with enthusiasm. I admit that it would be worth doing this, but for some reason the leaders of the new Russia decided that the same 90% Russian Crimea or Donbass can easily exist outside our state, but Chechnya must once again be taken under control. Naturally, by force! And another meat grinder began.
When I now, through the prism of time and knowledge, begin to think about what this war was about on our part, I do not find a logical answer. Why did the Russian guys die? For a land that has always been foreign to us? Which they always wanted to have contrary to the wishes of the people who inhabited it? It was some kind of hell unleashed by the hands of politicians, and the truth in it was once again not on the side of the Russians.
No matter how much I love my country and its history, over time, looking from the outside, I had to admit to myself that in this whole story with the “evil Chechens”, we, the Russians, were the bad guys. And all the negativity that we received from century to century appeared because we wanted to possess what does not belong to us. Did the Chechens have the right to resist these ambitions? Yes, they did. And because of their character, they would resist until the last living person.
“But there was one nation that did not succumb to the psychology of submission at all - not loners, not rebels, but the entire nation. These are Chechens"- Solzhenitsyn wrote in his “Archipelago”. And you, being in Chechnya, see this pride in literally every person, which seems to be absorbed with mother’s milk. A pride that no weapon can knock out of them.
Current Chechnya
I can talk for a very long time about what happened and why everything happened this way and not otherwise. But the past cannot be undone, so I will move on to the present. Whatever they say, in today's realities we have a unique situation - it seems that for the first time in several centuries we live in peace with the Chechen people in the same state. In an incredibly short period of time, we managed to restore everything that was destroyed and create an infrastructure that allows the republic to live no worse than other regions of Russia. For the first time, the Russians gave the Chechens the opportunity to live the way they want - without aggressively imposing their will, taking into account their interests.
I understand why you can see portraits of Akhmat Kadyrov and Putin on every corner in Chechnya - because these two people were able to come to an agreement and bring peace to their land. “So that there is no war”, “a peaceful sky above”, “so that there is a home and work” - these are the key wishes of the residents of Chechnya. We can say that in our historical era there has been a new birth of the Chechens as a nation, and this will not be an exaggeration. They received the legal right to live on their land the way they want. And when we began to communicate with them as human beings, another side of the Chechen people opened up before us.
Yes, we are very different from them both in mentality and in the stage of development of society. But it is important to realize that attempts to impose our will, to reshape them to the standards we are accustomed to are doomed to failure. Chechens have a completely different way of life, character, religion, and system of relationships in society from ours. But this does not mean that they need to change their way of life by force. At the same time, their proud character contains those features that captivate with their sincerity and perseverance. By coming to them in peace, you receive peace in return.
Returning to the title of this post, I will summarize my conclusions. My attitude towards Chechens can be expressed in one word - respect. I admire both the resilience of their character, commitment to their values, and the strength to forgive past grievances and move on. And I am very often ashamed of my compatriots who continue to produce these hostile clichés towards the Chechens. In this regard, the residents of the republic have taken a much greater step forward, having learned to leave in the past all the troubles that Russian ambitions brought to their land.
Chechnya is beautiful. I sincerely hope that the good neighborly relations that we have with its people now will strengthen. We have no other options for peaceful life with these people in one state.
In March, Norwegian authorities began forcibly deporting Chechen emigrants from the country. 50 families, including women and children, have already been expelled to Russia. A year ago, Austria did the same. One of the reasons for deportation is the aggressive behavior of immigrants towards the indigenous inhabitants of the country that gave them refuge. The same claims are made against people from the southern regions in Russia itself. Why do hot Caucasian guys who boast of strict moral rules in their homeland behave like they’re in a stable when they’re away?
— German, Chechen guys in Russian cities behave, to put it mildly, provocatively. For what?
“Chechen big boys are running amok—children of high-ranking officials and rich people, golden youth in jeeps and Lamborghinis.” They are always in sight and behave rudely... At 20 years old, where does he get such a car? Who is he? Surely the son of some person. He was accustomed to permissiveness in his homeland and, having arrived in Russia, he lives in the same way according to his own laws, or rather, without any laws. Because he knows: if anything happens, dad, dad’s friend or relative will come, wave some serious money, make calls where necessary, pay if necessary, and get away with any matter. Everyone sees: if something happened to a Russian, no one will help him. And all reserves are being pulled up to protect the young native of the Caucasus. Hence the exclusivity and non-jurisdiction of Russian laws.
These untouchables are mainly seen in Moscow. A guy from a poor Chechen family cannot afford Moscow. And those who do find themselves in the capital are childishly drawn to the majors: to ride along Tverskaya in the back seat of a jeep, to feel cool. The majors form their retinue from them - brigades of “sixes”. They cannot say: “My father is a hundred times richer than yours, so you must serve me.”
They say: “We are from the Caucasus, we are brothers, the Caucasus will defeat everyone, Russia is under us...” They use these spells to create a heroic aura around themselves. Simple-minded guys from among the poor tribesmen fall for this. And then: “We are Islam, Allah Akbar!” What is “Allah Akbar” if you drink vodka?! If you are rowdy and pester other people's wives? What kind of Muslim are you in this case and what does religion have to do with it? All this would not have happened if the authorities had a tough policy - not towards nations, but towards any citizens.
If you have committed an offense, answer. It doesn’t matter who your dad is. In reality, things are being hampered along ethnic lines. Not so long ago, this was done by completely official officials like the Chechen Ombudsman Nurdi Nukhazhiev, who, together with his team, repeatedly went to showdowns where, in his opinion, the honor of Chechen youth was being violated. This greatly angered the local population and inflamed passions. The leitmotif of these flying brigades was: “Our boys could do nothing wrong!” Why couldn't they? Let’s say the guilty “boy” lives in the Stavropol Territory. So what if he’s Chechen? There are local Russian law enforcement agencies, they will sort it out. Who authorized the ombudsman to defend someone on behalf of an ethnic community? And what do national structures have to do with it? Some guys did something - we need to talk not with the community, but with the police and the prosecutor's office.
“Everyone was outraged by the story when a student, the son of a businessman, drove an SUV in Moscow around the Eternal Flame. Did you want to insult or show off?
- These are the same major things. I rode in a jeep, not a six. The same “son” is one of those who come to Moscow supposedly to study. These guys organize a race and spree, and then come up to the teacher: “Listen, if you don’t give me a good grade, my dad will call the right person and they will kick you out of work.” The more they are allowed, the more impudent they become. They don’t want to do anything with their own hands—neither study nor work. For what? After all, if dad gives 10 thousand dollars a month for pocket expenses, there is no problem.
— You said: “Chechnya is the last real male society left in Russia. This is a man's world." Why does Chechnya today give birth to male destroyers, and not those who build and develop thought?
“Today in Chechnya, labor itself has lost its value. Half of the working-age population is unemployed. And everywhere there is terrible inequality. The thoughts are: work hard all day and night, you won’t even earn enough to pay for your child’s textbooks. And the neighbor with whom we grew up on the same street has several cars, a two-story house and 40 security people. He buys all his sons a jeep for their 16th birthday. He's an official and he's tough. And you walk around with your butt naked: At the same time, social stratification is not typical for Chechens - in mountain society there was no such gap between rich and poor. For people, this is a severe psychological shock that now you are nobody, a slave, and your neighbor is a master and kicks you like straw under your feet. Few people want to become farm laborers.
— Representatives of more than 180 nationalities and ethnic groups coexist in Russia. Be that as it may, people get along with each other. Why are only Chechens opposing themselves to everyone else? Why are they “outside the system”?
— They say that the Chechens do not find a common language not only with the Russians in Russia and in Chechnya itself, but even with their neighbors - the Ingush, Dagestanis, Kabardians, Ossetians, that they allegedly have a conflict with everyone. But this is a myth. The nation “Caucasian” is a collective definition, but there is no single “Caucasian community”. Yes, in the Caucasus, people of different cultures and different religions often do not find a common language. But it’s unlikely that the Chechens are in a special place here. The same thing, for example, is observed in Ingushetia and in multinational Dagestan, where each region has its own nationality - Avars, Laks, Kumyks - and sometimes in a neighboring village they speak a different dialect.
— What is happening to Chechen culture? The Ossetians have Valery Gergiev and Kosta Khetagurov, the Abkhazians have Fazil Iskander and Ksenia Georgiadi. Dagestan has Rasul Gamzatov, Kabardino-Balkaria has Yuri Temirkanov. What about Chechnya?
— Chechnya has cultural and ethnic isolation. Although there were famous Chechens - dancer Makhmud Esambaev, composer Adnan Shakhbulatov. There are even now - writers Kanta Ibragimov, Sultan Yashurkaev, poet Apti Bisultanov. True, the last two are now working in exile - in Europe. And this is not surprising: out of 3 million Chechens, only 1 million live in their homeland. The rest are in Russia or abroad. It is difficult to be a national writer in Chechnya itself and even a Chechen writer in Russia today: this is not possible, this is not possible - there is no freedom of speech.
- “You have to be rich, not smart. If we have money, we’ll buy the rest.” Is this the psychology of the entire North Caucasus?
— And most of Russia too. But the shock reforms of the 90s resonated in Chechnya in their own way. In Chechen society there is no mechanism to counter the “modest charm” of capital. People have no immunity against the power of money. This is a problem for all peoples of our country, but especially for small, outlying peoples. All moral guidelines have been knocked down. There is only one thing left: “The main thing is money, not labor.” That is, there is no need to work, there is no need to study, it is not necessary to be moral and obey the laws. In this sense, we are like the Chukchi: they brought vodka - and there was widespread drunkenness. Luxury has the same effect on us.
- So who is oppressing whom now: the Russians are the Chechens or vice versa?
- Everyone has their own truth. The Russians also have majors, who, however, do not come from Moscow to Grozny. But questions still remain. Why do Chechens always have complaints against Russia, only sometimes against the authorities in their own republic and never against themselves? This also applies to the entire Russian people, who are forever oppressed by some evil historical forces. We have a common problem: it seems that everyone around us is to blame - we are offended, but we ourselves are good. Psychological compensation as a reaction to an unfair life. And a sign that it’s time to get rid of infantilism.
Dossier
German Sadulayev was born in 1973 in the village of Shali, Chechen-Ingush Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, into the family of a Chechen and a Terek Cossack woman.