🇷🇺 *THE WOUNDS OF THE 1944 DEPORTATION STILL FESTER IN CHECHNYA AND BEYOND* The violent and traumatic experience of deportation was a driving force behind the declaration of Chechnya’s independence in 1991. The Chechens did not want to have a repetition of this experience and therefore sought the protection of their statehood through international law. However, Russia’s aggression in 1994 against Chechnya shattered these hopes. Even after achieving victory against Russia in 1996, the Chechens found themselves abandoned by the world, meaning it was for Moscow to decide what came next. Three years later, the second Russian aggression against Chechnya followed. During the war, which lasted until 2009, Yeltsin’s successor, Vladimir Putin, installed an authoritarian regime led by the Kadyrov family. To demonstrate his loyalty to the Kremlin, in 2011, Ramzan Kadyrov, who inherited the presidency of Chechnya from his father Akhmat after his assassination in 2004, forbade the commemoration of the deportation on February 23. Instead, he forced people to celebrate the Russian holiday, the Day of the Motherland Defender. *Read full article here* 👇🏼 https://independentpress.cc/the-wounds-of-the-1944-deportation-still-fester-in-chechnya-and-beyond/2025/02/23/ --------------------------------- 🔴 Get short and instant News alerts by joining *INDEPENDENT PRESS* WhatsApp Channel: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VaAtNxX8fewmiFmN7N22