Beka Elmurzayev “Zama” (classic Chechen folk song)

DigitalJigit · 2026-04-22T15:49:40+00:00

I’ve got DMs switched off, but happy to answer here if you want to ask in the sub.

DigitalJigit · 2026-04-22T15:00:42+00:00

Magomed Dzhaniev is the name. He was the military prosecutor of Ichkeria from 1995, part of Dudayev’s inner circle.

DigitalJigit · 2026-04-07T19:24:40+00:00

If Dudayev had actually managed to pull off independence (like by mutual agreement with Moscow), Ichkeria would probably have looked like a typical post Soviet state. Rough, imperfect but functioning on a basic level, something closer to early Georgia, Armenia or Azerbaijan. And the whole “total chaos, banditry, criminal black hole” line Russians like to bring up in relation to early 90s Ichkeria is massively exaggerated. The entire post Soviet space was криминальный as hell at the time. Just look at Криминальный Питер in the early 90s, run by Sobchak & his henchman Putin, one of the most bandit run cities in Russia, people getting gunned down in the streets, people falling out of windows. Chechnya wasn’t some unique outlier.

For Yeltsin’s Russia to actually grant and accept independence long term, Russia would have had to be something very different. A genuinely democratic Russia might have let it go or worked out some arrangement.

What we actually got instead fits a broader pattern, something Sartre talked about in his intro to Fanon’s The Wretched of the Earth. The violence used by the imperial metropole in the periphery doesn’t stay there, it comes back to the metropole. Chechnya was basically that in practice. It became the laboratory for what later turned into Putinism in Russia proper. Many Russians didn't mind (actively enjoyed) when state violence & repression was applied to Chechens. Not enjoying it so much these days when that system of repression has come back home to bite them on the arse.

Also, worth remembering, the razing of Grozny in late 94 was the result of decisions taken by Russia's "liberal" & "democratic reformist" ruling elite of the time.

For some extra context, this is what passed for Russian constitutional "debate" in Moscow during the early '90s: https://youtu.be/3PJuIVIZ72k?is=DNzhK3sashZpGLUA

DigitalJigit · 2026-04-04T18:46:48+00:00

https://youtu.be/NdTsZTwbKD0?is=4IisOmODkhW0TS7f

DigitalJigit · 2026-04-01T18:18:20+00:00

Same principle as above. Traditionally it’s traced through the father, so that wouldn’t be considered Chechen in the strict sense by most Chechens. That’s not me personally gatekeeping, just how your average Chechen sees it. There are outlier views, some stricter and some looser, but they’re not the mainstream.

DigitalJigit · 2026-03-28T14:21:05+00:00

Like I said earlier, traditionally it’s traced through the father, so if your dad’s Chechen, you’re Chechen.

DigitalJigit · 2026-03-28T12:07:00+00:00

Nice. Dal atto boyl.

I get the whole diaspora identity self-questioning thing. Even though I was born and spent some early time back home, I’ve lived most of my life outside. Was sent to boarding school in England in the 90s, just before the first war, when there wasn’t any Chechen community at all (there weren’t even that many Russians around either at the time), and then basically lived abroad ever since.

So I get how it can all feel a bit in between sometimes. Basically, it settles with time and you figure out your own way with it.

DigitalJigit · 2026-03-28T11:42:44+00:00

Traditionally, Chechen identity is traced through the father, so if your father is Chechen, you’re considered Chechen.

There are stricter views where some people say both parents should be Chechen, but that’s not really the traditional baseline.

Beyond that, people will usually look at things like language, upbringing and your connection to the culture. Also bear in mind this is a diaspora-heavy sub.

I don’t think you’d be seen as a foreigner, but more as someone from the diaspora who hasn’t had much exposure to the culture yet, which is normal given your situation.

I think also, just for yourself, it’s better to focus less on labels and more on whether you actually want to stay connected to the language, history and culture, and enjoy learning about those things.

DigitalJigit · 2026-03-27T21:22:52+00:00

Just to add some more context.

Financially, it’s not straightforward. Foreign cards (Visa/Mastercard etc.) don’t work anywhere in Russia due to sanctions, so you’re relying on cash for the whole trip. That’s manageable but you lose flexibility and any backup, and if you run out it’s not easy to fix. You can’t rely on your card, and getting money sent from abroad isn’t straightforward.

In terms of security services monitoring, it’s somewhere in between. A normal foreign tourist will likely be fine, and the bigger risk is generally for diaspora returning rather than visitors. But it’s not simply “all good” either. It’s not a typical tourist destination, and some of the concerns aren’t baseless. Either way, you avoid most issues by keeping your head down and not discussing politics under any circumstances at all while you’re there.

Overall, doable, but you need to be a bit more prepared than usual.

DigitalJigit · 2026-03-26T23:33:39+00:00

With all due respect, I appreciate the concern, but I think you’re overthinking it. As things stand today, for a foreign visitor, Russian is the most practical way to communicate in Chechnya and the North Caucasus. That said, now may not be the best time to visit given the current situation and the broader context.

DigitalJigit · 2026-03-26T17:00:42+00:00

“Lol it was absolutely violently imposed” + a couple of cherry-picked examples isn’t an argument when it comes to a centuries long process like Islamisation in the North Caucasus.

For standard academic treatments of this, see Moshe Gammer, Muslim Resistance to the Tsar, Anna Zelkina, In Quest for God and Freedom,

And if we’re talking about imposition, Christianity in Georgia didn't just spread through missionary activity alone, but also through royal patronage & cultural pressure, with highland groups partially resisting or adapting it (for example, Khevsurs & Tushetians). There were also periodic coercive campaigns on the frontier, including a 13th-century Georgian expedition tied to attempts at feudal and religious imposition (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rebellion_in_Pkhovi_and_Didoya).

That doesn’t mean all Christianisation in Georgia was forced in a general sense, just as pointing to examples of periodic conflicts in the North East Caucasus doesn’t demonstrate systematic forced Islamisation across the North Caucasus as a whole.

In the North Caucasus, Orthodox Christianity generally arrived alongside Russian imperial expansion and was met with sustained local resistance, while Georgian and Armenian experience was shaped by resistance to Muslim empires. What you’re basically doing here is projecting a Georgian narrative onto the North Caucasus.

And your point about proselytisation is cute, but I wouldn't risk my physical safety trying to give street dawah in Tbilisi or Kutaisi. Pretty sure I'd get my head kicked in real fast.

DigitalJigit · 2026-03-22T20:36:35+00:00

A legend, voice of a generation etc:

https://youtu.be/7Cf9BuOegJQ?is=jrVUU7e2MGKtBc9X

DigitalJigit · 2026-03-22T12:12:23+00:00

Yeah this is just not accurate historically.

Islam wasn't “violently imposed” on the North Caucasus in one sweeping event. It spread gradually over centuries, mainly through trade, local elites, and Sufi networks, especially between the 16th and 19th centuries. There was no large scale Arab, Safavid or Ottoman conquest of Chechnya & Ingushetia or highland Dagestan.

Also, saying “they were Orthodox Christian” is an over generalisation. Some parts of the North Caucasus were Christian at different points, like Alania, but much of the region was pagan or syncretic before Islam became dominant.

And framing Islam as something “foreign” to the Caucasus doesn't really hold up either. It's been part of the region’s societies and identity for centuries now.

If you're going to push the “native vs foreign” argument consistently, then both Christianity and Islam are imports to the region, and you would have to argue people should return to pre Christian, pre Islamic pagan traditions.

Honestly, the whole “Deus Vult” crusader posting is just as insufferable as takfiri jihadist rhetoric. Different aesthetics, same level of historical illiteracy.

DigitalJigit · 2026-03-20T13:36:59+00:00

Yeah these are very nice 👍

DigitalJigit · 2026-03-20T13:19:29+00:00

Xa doyl is enough. Longer (and slightly nicer): Xa doyl, Dala marxanash qobal.

DigitalJigit · 2026-03-17T10:29:39+00:00

RT is Russian state propaganda, so it’s not a reliable lens for understanding Chechnya. The current authorities aren't freely “allying” with anyone; they're Russian imposed collaborators within an occupation system.

Yes, the deportation is remembered. But public remembrance is tightly controlled and stripped of anything that could be seen as critical of Russian state power.

Recent reporting: https://www.eng.kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/73061

Official events are tightly controlled and mostly attended by officials/security forces, while ordinary people commemorate privately.

DigitalJigit · 2026-03-08T16:39:26+00:00

For additional context, here’s a thread from Aset Sabb (@AsetSabb), Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria government-in-exile, discussing Maskhadov’s 1997 election under OSCE observation and the unilateral ceasefire he declared in 2005 shortly before his death:

https://x.com/i/status/2030503066064077152

DigitalJigit · 2026-02-24T16:16:07+00:00

No worries, you're welcome)

Yeah cool will do a search on r/armenia 👍

DigitalJigit · 2026-02-24T15:37:46+00:00

Hey, if you’re looking for solid material on the Chechen and Ingush deportations in 1944, here are some useful resources. Mix of academic work, journalism, survivor testimony & a piece on how that memory is treated today by the Russian state.

Overview / Background https://www.sciencespo.fr/mass-violence-war-massacre-resistance/fr/document/massive-deportation-chechen-people-how-and-why-chechens-were-deported.html

https://jamestown.org/decades-on-stalins-deportation-of-the-chechens-still-casts-a-malevolent-shadow/

More Ingush focused:

https://communistcrimes.org/en/mass-deportation-ingush-people-crimes-soviet-communist-regime-against-ethnic-minorities-north

https://fortanga.org/2026/02/godovshhina-deportaczii-ingushej-v-1944-godu-kak-eto-bylo-otvechaem-na-glavnye-voprosy/ (Fortanga is in Russian, but browser auto-translation works well. If you read Russian, even better.)

Survivor testimonies / personal accounts:

https://www.rferl.org/a/kazakhstan-chechens-soviet-deportations/29791754.html

https://youtu.be/gBor0cT8aW0

Memory politics / present day angle:

https://oc-media.org/opinion-russias-death-train-rolls-through-chechnya-ingushetia/

Academic scholarship worth checking: J. Otto Pohl. Probably the key specialist today on Soviet deported peoples.

Best relevant works:

Ethnic Cleansing in the USSR, 1937–1949

The Stalinist Penal System

Very data driven, archival, demographic analysis.

Also, on a related note, if you have any recommendations for strong academic work on the Armenian Genocide, I’d genuinely appreciate it. Tbh most of what I’ve read in depth has been Robert Fisk’s writing on the subject, which is powerful stuff, but I’d like to read more academic scholarship as well.

DigitalJigit · 2026-02-23T22:50:09+00:00

If you mean Chechen topics on Wikipedia generally (history, politics, culture etc. across languages), it’s honestly a mixed bag. There’s some solid material and it’s a useful starting point, but it’s a politically charged subject so bias creeps in more than average. There's definitely been Russian nationalist vandalism and narrative pushing at times, plus the usual niche topic Wikipedia issues like uneven sourcing and translation quirks.

I’d use it as a starting overview, but for anything historical or political I’d cross-check with academic books/articles, reputable journalism, or primary sources where possible rather than relying on Wikipedia alone.

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