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Chechnya

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Location

The Resume

    (January 10, 1993- )
    Republic in southwestern Russia
    Capital: Grozny
    Area: 6,680 sq. mi.
    Population: 1.394 million (2016)
    Currency: Russian Ruble
    Languages: Russian, Chechan (both official)
    Declared Independence from the Soviet Union (November 1, 1991)
    First Chechen War of 1994–1996: Won de facto independence from Russia
    Second Chechen War of 1999–2009: Restored to Russian control
    First President: Akhmad Kadyrov (assumed office October 5, 2003)

Why Chechnya might be annoying:

    It has severed ties from Russia only to be annexed again on multiple occasions.
    It is socially conservative, and, as such, doesn’t offer much to tourists in terms of nightlife (that tourists have also been known to go missing or turn up dead doesn’t help much either).
    It is homeland to the Tsarnaev Brothers who perpetrated the Boston Marathon bombing.
    The Chechan terrorist group Riyadus-Salihiin perpetrated the Beslan school hostage and massacre, killing 384 people - including 186 schoolchildren (September 2004).
    Anti-gay purges have taken place there, presided over by the Russian Federation (which has included forced disappearances, secret abductions, and executions without trial).
    President Akhmad Kadyrov was assassinated by a bomb blast during a Victory Day memorial parade (May 9, 2004).
    Kadyrov’s son, Ramzan, replaced his successor, Alu Alkhanov, as President and has since presided over multiple human rights abuses.
    It aided Vladimir Putin’s military advancement on Ukraine (although there are pro-Ukraine Chechan forces that have rebelled and gone against Russia’s military).

Why Chechnya might not be annoying:

    It was the setting for several Leo Tolstoy short stories.
    There is even a village named in the writer’s honor (Tolstoy-Yurt).
    It is home to some of the oldest indigenous ethnic groups of the Caucasus mountains.
    Josef Stalin, fearing that Chechens would be disloyal, deported the entire nation to Siberia, in 1944, where hundreds of thousands died.
    A higher percentage of Chechens were killed than any other ethnic group persecuted by population transfer in the Soviet Union (estimated at nearly half a million).
    Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev let them return in 1957 - over a decade later.
    They were a thorn in the side of the Russian Empire throughout the 1830s into the ‘50s, mounting a prolonged resistance to conquest under the leadership of Muslim leader Shamil.
    Its precarious situation politically has led to waves of anti-Chechan prejudice across Russia and Western Europe.

Credit: BoyWiththeGreenHair


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Year In Review:

    For 2024, as of last weekly ranking, Out of 1 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2023, Out of 37 Votes: 32.43% Annoying