Editing Chechnya (section)

===Soviet rule===
{{Main|Chechnya and Ingushetia in the Soviet Union}}

Under the [[Soviet Union]], Chechnya and Ingushetia were combined to form the [[Checheno-Ingush Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic]]. In the 1930s, Chechnya was flooded with many Ukrainians fleeing a [[Holodomor|famine]]. As a result, many of the Ukrainians settled in Chechen-Ingush ASSR permanently and survived the famine.<ref>{{cite news |last=Umarova |first=Amina |url=http://www.rferl.org/content/chechnya-ukraine-holodomor-survivors/25177285.html |title=Chechnya's Forgotten Children of the Holodomor |work=Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty |date=23 November 2013 |access-date=14 March 2014}}</ref> Although over 50,000 Chechens and over 12,000 Ingush were fighting against [[Nazi Germany]] on the front line (including [[Hero of the Soviet Union|Heroes of the USSR]]: [[Abukhadzhi Idrisov]], [[Khanpasha Nuradilov]], [[Movlid Visaitov]]), and although Nazi German troops advanced as far as the Ossetian ASSR city of Ordzhonikidze and the Chechen-Ingush ASSR city of [[Malgobek]] after capturing half of the Caucasus in less than a month, Chechens and Ingush were falsely accused as Nazi supporters and entire nations were [[Population transfer in the Soviet Union|deported]] during [[Operation Lentil (Caucasus)|Operation Lentil]] to the [[Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic|Kazakh SSR]] (later [[Kazakhstan]]) in 1944 near the end of [[World War II]] where over 60% of Chechen and Ingush populations perished.<ref name="Encarta 2008">Lieven, Dominic. "Russia: Chechnya". ''Microsoft Encarta 2008''. Microsoft.</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3509933.stm |title=Remembering Stalin's deportations |work=BBC News |date=23 February 2004 |access-date=19 April 2013}}</ref> American historian [[Norman Naimark]] writes:

{{blockquote|Troops assembled villagers and townspeople, loaded them onto trucks&nbsp;– many deportees remembered that they were Studebakers, fresh from Lend-Lease deliveries over the Iranian border&nbsp;– and delivered them at previously designated railheads.&nbsp;... Those who could not be moved were shot.&nbsp;... [A] few fighters aside, the entire Chechen and Ingush nations, 496,460 people, were deported from their homeland.<ref>''Fires of Hatred: Ethnic Cleansing in Twentieth-Century Europe'', Cambridge, Massachusetts and London: Harvard University Press, 2001, pp. 96–97.</ref>}}

The deportation was justified by the materials prepared by [[NKVD]] officer [[Bogdan Kobulov]] accusing Chechens and Ingush in a mass conspiracy preparing rebellion and providing assistance to the German forces. Many of the materials were later proven to be fabricated.<ref name="Yakovlev">[[Alexander Nikolaevich Yakovlev]]. ''Time of darkness''. Moscow, 2003, {{ISBN|5-85646-097-9}}, pp. 205–206.</ref> Even distinguished [[Red Army]] officers who fought bravely against Germans (e.g. the commander of 255th Separate Chechen-Ingush regiment [[Movlid Visaitov]], the first to contact [[United States|American]] forces at Elbe river) were deported.{{sfn|Bugay|1996|p=106}} There is a theory that the real reason why Chechens and Ingush were deported was the desire of Russia to attack Turkey, an anti-communist country, as Chechens and Ingush could impede such plans.<ref name="ling">{{cite web |url=http://linguistics.berkeley.edu/~ingush/ingush_people.html |title=The Ingush People |publisher=Linguistics.berkeley.edu |date=28 November 1992 |access-date=14 March 2014}}</ref> In 2004, the [[European Parliament]] recognized the deportation of Chechens and Ingush as an act of [[genocide]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Chechnya: European Parliament recognizes the genocide of the Chechen People in 1944|url=http://www.unpo.org/article/438 |work=Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization|date=2 November 2009 }}</ref>

The territory of the Chechen-Ingush Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic was divided between [[Stavropol Krai]] (where [[Grozny Okrug]] was formed), the [[Dagestan ASSR]], the [[North Ossetian ASSR]], and the [[Georgian SSR]].

The Chechens and Ingush were allowed to return to their land after 1956 during [[de-Stalinisation]] under [[Nikita Khrushchev]]<ref name="Encarta 2008"/> when the Chechen-Ingush ASSR was restored but with both the boundaries and ethnic composition of the territory significantly changed. There were many (predominantly Russian) migrants from other parts of the [[Soviet Union]], who often settled in the abandoned family homes of Chechens and Ingushes. The republic lost its [[Prigorodny District, Republic of North Ossetia–Alania|Prigorodny District]] which transferred to North Ossetian ASSR but gained predominantly Russian [[Naursky District]] and [[Shelkovskoy District]] that is considered the homeland for [[Terek Cossacks]].

The [[Russification]] policies towards Chechens continued after 1956, with [[Russian language]] proficiency required in many aspects of life to provide Chechens better opportunities for advancement in the Soviet system.<ref name="ling"/> On 26 November 1990, the Supreme Council of Chechen-Ingush ASSR adopted the "Declaration of State Sovereignty of the Chechen-Ingush Republic". This declaration was part of the reorganisation of the Soviet Union. This new treaty was to be signed 22 August 1991, which would have transformed 15 republic states into more than 80. The 19–21 August [[1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt]] led to the abandonment of this reorganisation.<ref>James Hughes. "The Peace Process in Chechnya", in Richard Sakwa (ed.), ''Chechnya: From Past to Future'', p. 271.</ref>

With the impending dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, an independence movement, the [[All-National Congress of the Chechen People|Chechen National Congress]], was formed, led by ex-[[Soviet Air Force]] general and new Chechen President [[Dzhokhar Dudayev]]. It campaigned for the recognition of Chechnya as a separate nation. This movement was opposed by [[Boris Yeltsin]]'s [[Russian Federation]], which argued that Chechnya had not been an independent entity within the Soviet Union—as the Baltic, Central Asian, and other Caucasian states such as Georgia had—but was part of the [[Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic]] and hence did not have a right under the Soviet constitution to secede. It also argued that other [[republics of Russia]], such as [[Tatarstan]], would consider seceding from the Russian Federation if Chechnya were granted that right. Finally, it argued that Chechnya was a major hub in the oil infrastructure of Russia and hence its secession would hurt the country's economy and energy access.{{citation needed|date=January 2014}}

During the [[Chechen Revolution]], the Soviet Chechen leader [[Doku Zavgayev]] was overthrown and Dzhokhar Dudayev seized power. On 1 November 1991, Dudaev's Chechnya issued a unilateral declaration of independence. In the ensuing decade, the territory was locked in an ongoing struggle between various factions, usually fighting unconventionally.