The instability of the North Caucasus traces its roots to the Russian-Circassian War. Following a century of conquest, Imperial Russia was able to crush local opposition to Russian domination. While exact figures are a matter of debate, many estimate that roughly one half of the local population of 1 or 2 million Circassians died during the course of the war, with up to 90% of the remaining survivors forcibly removed and exiled to the Ottoman Empire.
While the 1860s may seem like the distant past, the dark legacy of the Russian-Circassian War continues to haunt the region today. Russia’s current regional policies fail to address the underlying drivers of instability that were largely suppressed under the Soviet Union. At the same time, the Soviet Union’s ethno-federal structure was a direct consequence of Imperial Russian policy.
The failure to address structural issues in the North Caucasus and repeated calls for increased sovereignty or outright independence are not just limited to the early 1990s. Local rebellions followed during the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution, and when the Nazis invaded and occupied the North Caucasus, they were met by many local collaborators.[1] Stalin redrew local boundaries in the region during the 1920s, deliberately combining unrelated ethnic groups into new administrative regions[2], and following the expulsion of the Nazis, the entire populations of the Chechen, Ingush, Balkar and Karachay—nearly one million people were exiled—to Central Asia and Siberia.[3] It was not until the 1950s that these ethnic minorities were rehabilitated and allowed to return to the region.
These are only a few examples of the grievances of many small nations in the North Caucasus; to varying degrees, many of these peoples continue to resist Russian domination to this day. A mix of local clan structures, extended family ties, and Islamic practices continue to shape the region and its local policies. In recent years, with the growth of the Internet and relaxing of visa regimes, direct ties and collaboration with many Diaspora outside the region have helped to fuel the call for greater sovereignty, and even demands for independence.
[1] Assistance was more a function of Russian liberation than Nazi sympathies, and there are a number of documented cases where locals actively assisted local Jews in escaping Nazi execution.
[2] Indeed, this is what has led to the many hyphenated names of republics in the region today, including Kabardino-Balkaria and Karachay-Cherkessia. The Kabardins and Cherkess are various local names for Circassians, while the Balkars and Karachays local names for various Tartars.
[3] Official Soviet records show that about a quarter of those deported died from starvation and exposure.