The failure of the Chechen separatist movement has made it imperative to find a working policy for the volatile Russian North Caucasus. There is a risk of extremist retaliation against the West, which would mean that the present terrorist threat in Russia becomes a transnational threat. The paper describes the prospects for Russia in dealing with the failure of the independent Chechen state.
The conflict between Chechnya and the Russian Federation shows few signs of being resolved soon. Russia has again embarked on war as the means to subdue the region, despite the fact that the Chechens regularly have risen against their Russian rulers since the region was first fully conquered by the tsarist armies in the 19th century. In 1944, the Soviet Union attempted to eliminate the Chechen resistance by deportation and genocide. Will Russia again resort to genocide in the North Caucasus?
