Moscow’s Declaration of Ichkeria a ‘Terrorist Organization’ Reflects Its Continuing Importance and Likely Presages New Russian Moves Against Those who Support It

Paul Goble

            Staunton, April 9 – Grozny has declared Ichkeria, the name Chechens seeking independence used in the 1990s for their country and one that those opposed to Russia and the Kadyrov regime in Chechnya still use, an action that reflects its continuing importance and likely presages new Moscow moves against those who support it, rights activists say.

            On the one hand, this decision represents a change in Russian and Chechen propaganda which has consistently declared Ichkeria to have been destroyed in the second post-Soviet Chechen war, an action that highlights the continuing importance of the Ichkeria movement, including in the formation of units fighting alongside Ukrainian forces against Russia.

            But on the other hand, it formalizes what has been an increasing Russian and Chechen effort to attack those who identify with Ichkeria and their relatives not only inside Chechnya but internationally (kavkazr.com/a/otritsali-i-priznali-pochemu-ichkeriyu-obavili-v-rossii-terroristicheskoy/33728400.html).

            Now, human rights activists in the North Caucasus say, such attacks are likely to increase in number and intensity, actions that show just how worried Moscow and Grozny now are about the continuing impact of Ichkeria as a movement among Chechens and how willing they are to violate both Russian and international law in pursuing that movement and its supporters.