The Russian - Chechen conflict is a long running one and still poses a problem in the contemporary context. Current situation is the outcome of historical events, which I am going to examine briefly.

- Conflict starts even from the 19th century, when Russian Empire annexed the areas of the North Caucasus by force. We can somehow call it "COLONIZATION ".

- Then during the WW2 Chechen and Ingush units were accused for collaboration with German Nazi, and as a result Stalin deported more than half a million of people to Siberia and Kazakhstan in 1944.

- Chechen conflict as a struggle for independence started in the 1980s with the beginning of "perestroika". On 6th September in 1991 there was a revolution in Chechnya and Dudaev captured the power. With the help of fake elections he became a president and claimed about Chechen's independence. From 1991 to 1994, thousands of people of non-Chechen ethnicity left the republic amidst reports of violence and discrimination against the non-Chechen population. Situation there became very unstable and even dangerous. When Russia invaded Chechnya, a bloody war ensued. Intending to crash separatist forces, this was Yeltsin’s first major confrontation. However, the supposed awesome Russian military strength inherited from the Soviet Union, turned into a disaster. Grozny was devastated. About 80 000 people died, mostly Chechen civilians, and in 1996, Russia withdrew defeated. Dudaev was killed in 1995.

- In mid-November 1996, Yeltsin and Maskhadov sighned an agreement on economic relations and reparations to Chechens who had been „affected“ by the war. On 12 of may in 1997 Maskhadov and Yeltsin signed a formal treaty „on peace and the principles of Russian – Chechen relations“ that Maskhadov predicted would demolish „any basis to create ill-feelings between Moscow and Grozny“. After Chechnya got so called independence, the number of crimes increased repidly. Country was actually ruled by mobsters. Chechen’s terrorist attacks in Caucasus and also in Russia (under the ideology of Islam) led to the second Chechen war. Chechens themselfs gave a very good reason for newly elected Russian president Vladimir Putin to send troops to Chechnya. Also russian civilians supported such radical actions, not only because they were fritened after terrorist attacks, but also math media was doing its job very thoroughly. Propaganda techniques such as media management of images and of views seen in debates, were employed in an attempt to convince a population for the need for war in 1999. The Second Chechen war lasted from 1999 till 2000, but the insurgency phase continued until 2009.

- The 2003 Chechen referendum that approved new constitution can be viewed as a step forward into solution of this problematic relations. Although new constitution guaranteed Chechnya more autonomy, it also stressed the fact that the country remained firmly part of Russian Federation. Following presidencies of Akhmad Kadyrov and his successor Alu Alkhanov were pro-Moscow oriented. More over Putin and Kadyrov were friends.
The current Chechen president, who was elected in 2007 at the age of 30, also has Putin’s support. Although he has been credited for brining some peace and stability in the region, at the same time he was blamed for human rights violation, corruption and policy of so called “Chechenization” that was stressed against other non-Chechen ethnics living on Chechen territory. The series of bombing attacks that have increased in presence during past ten years is a sign of dissatisfaction of Chechen people with current political situation in the country. Also Russian citizens rebel against Putin’s subsidies for Chechnya. In recent years, Moscow has financed more than 90 percent of Chechnya’s budget, according to Russia’s Finance Ministry. In April, Kadyrov, asked for almost $17 billion in additional federal money for infrastructure projects like rebuilding homes damaged or destroyed in the war. People point out that while there are still regions in central Russia that lack adequate plumbing and regular electricity, Kadyrov has overseen a construction boom in Chechnya, complete with a multimillion-dollar stadium, an enormous mosque named after his father and a high-rise business center that includes an apartment complex more than 40 stories tall in the capital, Grozny.
There is also the matter of Kadyrov’s fleet of luxury cars, his private zoo and his racehorses.
Most Chechens, meanwhile, are deeply impoverished. Unemployment in parts of the North Caucasus is as high as 55 percent, according to the North Caucasus Federal District administration. Some independent experts say the figure is above 80 percent. “All the expenditures are made without any control,” said Navalny, the anti-corruption crusader. “We see an absolutely impoverished population and a few bearded men who drive around in Mercedes that cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. This is leading to tensions.”
Immense social disparities, in fact, are among the reasons experts say violence continues to plague the region. “Russia has effectively lost the war,” said Andrei A. Piontkovsky, a prominent Moscow-based analyst. “Moreover, Russia pays reparations as the losing side.”
“The most frightening thing,” he said, “is that there is no escape from this situation. It is a situation that Putin created, step by step, over 12 years.”
The New York Times, Russian Anger Grows Over Chechnya Subsidies, from http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/09/world/europe/chechnyas-costs-stir-anger-as-russia-approaches-elections.html?_r=3&ref=global-home&pagewanted=all&, reviewed 11.01.2013