Why has the Russian government sent troops to Chechnya?

Answer 1

One of the reasons Russia invaded Chechnya in 1994 was because Russia wanted control of the vast reserves of oil there as well as the available pipelines. Russia also wanted to discourage other republics from seceding from the Russian Federation the way Chechnya did.

Answer 2

Chechnya was part of the joint Chechen-Ingush autonomous republic of Soviet Russia from 1936 until 1991, when it declared itself independent and Ingushetia separated from the republic. The Russian government refused to recognize Chechnya's independence, and in December 1994 Russian troops invaded the republic. Fighting between Russian and Chechen forces, which continued until August 1996, resulted in more than 40,000 deaths and caused the displacement of hundreds of thousands of people. Renewed fighting between Russian and Chechen forces beginning in 1999 left thousands more dead and the republic in ruins under Russian military occupation. In 2003 a new constitution affirmed Chechnya's status as a republic within the Russian Federation.

Source:

By the time of John Kohan's report of March 1993 from Grozny, Chechnya and Russia were in a dangerous standoff. Chechnya and Russia were in a dangerous standoff. Dudayev upped the stakes by ignoring the Russian State elections of December 1993 and issuing its own constitution. In November, a coalition of anti-Dudayev forces, backed by Moscow, tried to effect a coup and launched attacks on key targets (TIME, Dec. 12, 1994) but were defeated. In early December, Boris Yeltsin ordered his Ministry of Defense "to disarm illegal armed formations on the territory of the Chechen Republic" and on Dec. 11, Russian troops invaded Chechnya (TIME, Dec. 26, 1994).

Source:

The conflict between Russia and Chechnya has a long history. Russian Imperialism in the Caucasus lasted several centuries and met its most determined and well-organized resistance on the territory of Chechnya and the bordering regions of Dagestan. There, for a quarter of a century, Shamil's Islamic proto-state fought the Russian army until 1864. The Republic of the North Caucasus, that included Chechnya, declared independence soon after the Bolshevik revolution in May 1918 (after September 1919 it was called the North Caucasian Emirate) and fought a brutal war against the Tsarist army commanded by General Denikin.[1] According to Denikin... only the Chechens from the Bolshevik-backed mountainous regions resisted the Tsarist forces, while the Chechens from the plains fought on the side of the anti-Bolshevik army.[2] After Denikin's defeat, the Red Army entered Chechnya in early 1920, and a new rebellion erupted, this time against the Bolsheviks. This revolt was not suppressed until fall 1921.[3]

Source:

Chechnya has a population of 624,600 (2002 estimate), equivalent to around two thirds of the population of the Chechen-Ingush Republic (1989 estimate, 1,270,429). The republic has an average population density of 42 people per sq km (108 per sq mi), and some 66 per cent of the population is rural. Groznyy, the largest urban centre as well as the capital, had a population of about 401,000 in the early 1990s, before the start of the war with the Russian army, but this had fallen to 372,742 in 1995. Other significant towns include Gudermes, Shali, and Urus-Martan.

Source:

To improve physical rehabilitation in Chechnya, the ICRC has started a two-year training program in prosthetics and orthotics for Chechen staff who will work at the Grozny Prosthetic/Orthotic Center. In 2002, three students completed the initial six months of training and commenced work, and another five started their training in November. The Ministry of Labor and Social Development started reconstruction of the orthopedic center in 2002 and installed electricity and heating. The ICRC supplied the equipment. Prosthetic production commenced at the end of January and 30 amputees were fitted with new limbs before the official opening of the Ministry of Labor and Social Development-run center on 24 April 2003. The center will have the capacity to fit more than 300 amputees a year once training of staff is complete.[49]

Source:

Following the breakdown of the Soviet Union, pro-independence factions within Chechnya declared sovereignty and began constructing an independent government. Moscow, fearing further claims of secession in other federal republics, sent troops to Chechnya in 1994. Armed conflict between Russian troops and Chechen pro-independence fighters resulted in the displacement of as many as 250,000 people into neighboring Ingushetia and Dagestan. This displacement triggered a humanitarian catastrophe because of the significant drain on the resources of the host countries and the infrastructural damage in Chechnya. In mid-1996 a ceasefire was drawn with an agreement between the Chechen and Russian leaders to reconsider Chechen independence after five years of stabilization.