Dramatic pictures and film from Chechnya document torture and human rights violations

Not sure what it says but the mixture of traditional chechen music, scenes from the war and wolves is interesting:
http://video.kavkazcenter.com/clips/lezginka.wmv
more films from the Chechen rebels can be seen at:
http://www.kavkaz.org.uk/eng/video/
with breaking news from Chechnya available at:
http://www.kavkaz.org.uk/eng/indexr.php?raz=10

History of Chechnya
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Chechen society has traditionally been organized around many autonomous local clans, called teips. Even today, many Chechens consider themselves loyal to their teip above all, one reason why it has been difficult to forge a united political front against Russia.

From the 7th century through the 16th century Chechens and Ingushs were Christians.

Imperial Russian forces began moving into Chechnya in 1830 to secure Russia's borders with the Ottoman Empire. The Chechens resisted fiercely, led by national hero Imam Shamil, but Chechnya was finally incorporated into the Russian Empire in 1859.

The Chechnya-Ingushetia region received status of an autonomous republic within the Soviet Union in 1936. During World War II, the Soviet government accused the Chechens of cooperating with the Nazi invaders. On orders from Stalin, the entire population of the republic was exiled to Kazakhstan. Over a quarter died. The Chechens were allowed to return only in 1957, four years after Stalin's death in 1953.

On October 27, 1991, an unofficial election was held. Less than 20% (probably 12%) of the population participated, and Jokhar Dudayev was elected. Many false ballots were made, so the number of ballots significantly exceeded number of registered voters.
On November 1, 1991 Dudayev issued a decree of Chechen independence (Указ об "Об объявлении суверенитета Чеченской Республики с 1 ноября 1991 г.")
On November 2, 1991, the 5th Assembly of People's Deputies of RSFSR (the Russian parliament of that time) took place. A resolution was issued stating that the Chechen Supreme Soviet and President are not legitimate.
On May, 1993 Chechen parliament and Muftiat (Islamic high council) made an appeal to the Chechen people to defend the old constitution and restore legitimate power. The decision of the Chechen constitutional court was that Dudayev's actions are illegal.
The civil war then started. The Russian Federal government refused to recognize Chechen independence and made several attempts to take full control of the territory of the Chechen Republic. The Federal government supported a failed coup designed to overthrow Dudayev in 1994. There were two armed conflicts involving the Federal army known as the two Chechen Wars.

First Chechen War: 1994-1996
Russian federal forces overran Groznyj in November, 1994. Although the forces achieved some initial successes, the federal military made a number of critical strategic blunders during the Chechnya campaign and was widely perceived as incompetent. Led by Aslan Maskhadov, separatists conducted successful guerrilla operations from the mountainous terrain.

By March 1995, Amir Khattab became leader of the Chechen resistance, yet Russian President Boris Yeltsin declared a unilateral cease-fire in April 1995.

In June, 1995, Chechen guerrillas occupied a hospital in the southern Russian town of Budyonnovsk, taking over 1,000 hostages. Federal forces attempted to storm the hospital twice and failed. The guerrillas were allowed to leave after freeing their hostages.

This incident, televised accounts of Chechen soldiers torturing and executing captured federal soldiers and pro-federal Chechens, and the resulting widespread demoralization of the federal army, led to a federal withdrawal and the beginning of negotiations on March 21, 1996.

Separatist President Dudayev was supposedly killed in a Russian rocket attack on April 21, 1996 (also there are versions that he was killed by his rivals in a fight for local power). Vice-president Zelimkhan Yandarbiyev became president. Negotiations on Chechen independence were repeatedly postponed by the federal government due to alleged terrorist attacks, and finally tabled in August, 1996.

Maskhadov was elected President in 1997 (only a minority of the population participated), but was unable to consolidate control as the country devolved into regional bickering among local teip leaders and organized criminal factions.

Second Chechen War: 1999-2002, post-effects now
Renegade separatist Chechen army commanders reportedly financed by Osama bin Laden led a band of soldiers into Dagestan in August, 1999. Led by Shamil Basayev and Amir Khattab, the insurgents fought Russian forces in Dagestan for a week before bing driven back into Chechnya proper. On September 9, 1999, Chechens were blamed for the bombing of an apartment complex in Moscow and several other unexplained explosions in Russia. (see:Russian Apartment Bombings). Despite a lack of evidence, Russia's new prime minister, Vladimir Putin, ordered forces back into Chechen territory on these pretexts. Currently, most of Chechnya is controlled by the federal military and republican police. In 2002, federals installed a government of pro-federal Chechens into local government offices. In 2003, referendum on constitution and presidential election were held and a government formed. Chechens who work in government jobs are very often assassinated by the Chechen separatist forces.

Many Chechen separatists have retreated into Kerigo Gorge in Georgia. Russia accuses the Georgian government of willingly harboring terrorists and demands that the Georgian government take action against the separatists - and Georgia refused this. Several separatists have been detained by Georgian authorities, but Russia claims that these are empty gestures, and has repeatedly warned Georgia that if real measures are not taken soon to control the Chechen separatists, it will invade and control them itself.

Putin announced that the Chechen war had ended in early 2002, but separatist forces still control a large portion of the mountainous southern regions of the country and regularly skirmish with federal troops and pro-federal Chechens. However, in according with the announcement, the federal army releases power to the republican police.

Amir Khattab, the prominent leader of Islamist forces, was poisoned in Chechnya in March 2002. He was replaced by Amir Abu al-Walid.
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Both the federal and separatist armies have been widely criticized by human rights groups such as Amnesty International for alleged war crimes committed during the two Chechen wars, including well-documented accusations on both sides of rape, torture, looting, and the murder of civilians.
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Official separatist Chechen news media ( http://www.kavkazcenter.com/eng/ )

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chechen_Republic