Counter-terror Operation in Chechnya Completed: What Next?

Yevgeny Volk / April 20, 2009

Last week the Kremlin formally announced its decade-long anti-terror operation in Chechnya over. In practical terms, it translates into puling out the federal forces and repealing stringent restrictions related to freedom of movement for civilians in Chechnya. This measure aroused little enthusiasm in Russia, though.

In point of fact, the internal conditions in Chechnya and the North Caucasus at large are continuing highly explosive. Actually, peace in Chechnya has been reached owing to massive infusions of cash by Moscow into the breakaway republic’s political and economic infrastructure. The Kremlin managed to outbid the separatists, use them to marginalize or eliminate the implacable opposition, and raise the living standards of the populace at the expense of federal appropriations.

Thus, the Kremlin has achieved a partial stabilization in Chechnya and its major ruling clans’ loyalty. In return, these clans were given both economic benefits and an unprecedented amount of political autonomy commensurable with actual independence minus its formal attributes. (more…)