Wolves in Wolves' Clothing: The Role of the Chechen Mafia in the Formation of an Independent Chechen Republic

The path to Chechen autonomy has been tumultuous and largely unfulfilled. Over the past 200 years, internal and external forces have played significant roles in shaping a Chechen identity and shared nationality. From the onset of imperial Russian expansion into the Caucasus, Chechens have been subjected to a series of converging factors that have contributed to the eventual establishment of robust organized crime elements. Chechens have attempted several bottom-up efforts to develop a national identity. Concurrently with these efforts, Russian and then Soviet governments attempted to impose artificial territorial and political structures, producing an opposing set of forces. Soviet experiments in nation building built upon imperial policies, further pushing the Chechen society farther towards criminality. More significant than mere criminality is the involvement of Chechens within the wider Russian organized crime structure. With the relaxing of Soviet control in the late 1980s, Chechen organized crime elements blossomed into an entity with the necessary resources to support a viable independence movement. During the initial bid for independence, Chechen criminal elements provided the coordination and logistics structures needed by the emerging Chechen national leadership. As the independence movement grew, the relationship became increasingly intertwined to the point where drawing a distinct line between national entities and organized criminals became impossible. In articulating the confluence of Chechen crime elements and a national leadership, three elements bear consideration the development of the Chechen Mafia, the genesis of Chechen national identity, and the struggle for a de jure independent Chechen state. Throughout Chechnyas history, these three elements have been shaped and re-shaped by both sides of the Russo-Chechen relationship. As such, each side bears a proportional share of the responsibility for the regions current security state.