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Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center

Russia's Restless Frontier: The Chechnya Factor in Post-Soviet Russia

Trenin and Malashenko examine the implications of the war with Chechnya for Russia's post-Soviet evolution. Considering Chechnya's impact on Russia's military, domestic politics, foreign policy, and ethnic relations, the authors contend that the Chechen factor must be addressed before Russia can continue its development.

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By Dmitri Trenin and Alexey Malashenko
Published on Oct 29, 2003

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Russia and Eurasia

The Russia and Eurasia Program continues Carnegie’s long tradition of independent research on major political, societal, and security trends in and U.S. policy toward a region that has been upended by Russia’s war against Ukraine.  Leaders regularly turn to our work for clear-eyed, relevant analyses on the region to inform their policy decisions.

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Source: Washington

The conflict in Chechnya, going through its low- and high-intensity phases, has been doggedly accompanying Russia's development. In the last decade, the Chechen war was widely covered, both in Russia and in the West. While most books look at the causes of the war, explain its zigzag course, and condemn the brutalities and crimes associated with it, this book's focus lies beyond the Caucasus battlefield.

In Russia's Restless Frontier, Dmitri Trenin and Aleksei Malashenko examine the implications of the war with Chechnya for Russia's post-Soviet evolution. Considering Chechnya's impact on Russia's military, domestic politics, foreign policy, and ethnic relations, the authors contend that the Chechen factor must be addressed before Russia can continue its development.

Topics Covered:
•    Background of Conflict
•    Separatist Opposition
•    Governance Difficulties
•    Russian Mass Media
•    Public Conscience
•    Islamic Factor
•    Russian Military
•    Regional Conflict
•    International Ramifications
 

About the Authors

Dmitri Trenin is deputy director of the Carnegie Moscow Center, where he specializes in foreign and security policy. He is the author of The End of Eurasia: Russia on the Border Between Geopolitics and Globalization and coeditor of Ambivalent Neighbors: The EU, NATO and the Price of Membership.

Aleksei Malashenko is codirector of the Carnegie Moscow Center's Ethnicity and Nation-Building Project. He is also a professor at the Moscow Institute for International Relations and former head of Islamic Studies at the Oriental Institute of the Russian Academy of Science.

Anatol Lieven is senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment. A journalist, writer, and historian, Lieven writes on a range of security and international affairs issues. Previously, he was editor of Strategic Comments, published by the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) in London.

Advance Praise

"...a book different from any other on Chechnya…careful, balanced, nuanced, and analytically objective…. The book, in its original Russian, was badly needed by a Russian public burdened with simple and highly biased notions of the war. This updated version in English will convey to a larger audience the complex ramifications of these wars and create a heightened sesne of the stakes, as Russia, after Beslan, enters a new and more tragic phase of its struggle in Chechnya."
—Foreign Affairs

"Trenin and Malashenko offer the most comprehensive and detached analysis yet available of the meaning of the war in Chechnya for Russia's political development, security concerns, and relations with the rest of the world. It is a very important book."
—Lt. General William E. Odom, U.S. Army (Ret.)



"Dmitri Trenin and Alexei Malashenko believe that the tragic mishandling of Chechnya could put Russia's other post-Soviet achievements at risk. This is a bold, brave and persuasive argument that deserves the widest possible hearing."
—Steven Sestanovich, Council on Foreign Relations and former Ambassador at Large for the New Independent States

About the Authors

Dmitri Trenin

Former Director, Carnegie Moscow Center

Trenin was director of the Carnegie Moscow Center from 2008 to early 2022.

Alexey Malashenko

Former Scholar in Residence, Religion, Society, and Security Program

Malashenko is a former chair of the Carnegie Moscow Center’s Religion, Society, and Security Program.

Authors

Dmitri Trenin
Former Director, Carnegie Moscow Center
Alexey Malashenko
Former Scholar in Residence, Religion, Society, and Security Program
Alexey Malashenko
CaucasusRussiaSecurityForeign Policy

Carnegie does not take institutional positions on public policy issues; the views represented herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of Carnegie, its staff, or its trustees.

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