The southern Russian republic of Chechnya is surrounded on nearly all sides by Russian territory but also shares with neighbouring Georgia a remote border high in the Caucasus mountains.

Rich in oil, its economy and infrastructure were reduced to ruins by years of war between local separatists and Russian forces, combined with armed banditry and organised crime.

OVERVIEW

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Chechnya has been a thorn in Russia's mountainous southern border for nearly two centuries. The Russians finally overcame the resistance of Imam Shamil in 1859, claiming the Caucasus region for the empire after a long and bloody campaign that caught the imagination of many 19th Century Russian writers from Lermontov to Tolstoy.

Thousands of Russian soldiers remain in Chechnya

The Chechens had to wait for more than 60 years before they briefly escaped Russian dominion again in the chaos following the October revolution.

However, that period of independence was short-lived and by 1922 the republic had been forced back into the Russian fold.

World War II and the Nazi invasion presented another glimpse of freedom from Moscow's rule. When the war ended, Stalin sought vengeance. He accused the Chechens of collaborating. Their punishment was mass deportation to Siberia and Central Asia. They were allowed to return only in 1957 when Khrushchev was in power in the Kremlin.

Post-Soviet years

When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, Dzhokhar Dudayev, a former senior officer in the Soviet air force, declared independence from Russia. Yeltsin responded by sending a few hundred Interior Ministry servicemen to the republic. They were met at the airport by Chechen fighters and sent back home on buses, the first in a series of humiliations for Moscow.

This was followed by three years during which armed groups gained an increasing hold on Chechnya and Dudayev became more outspoken in his defiance of Moscow where the leadership argued over how to handle the situation.

Moscow has sought to portray life as returning to normal

In 1994 Russia sent its forces in a very poorly planned bid to bring the rebellious region back to heel. Early promises of a quick victory were soon silent as the Chechens put up fierce resistance to the Russian assault and the death toll mounted.

Amid growing public outcry over rising losses in the Russian army, Moscow withdrew its forces under a 1996 peace agreement. The deal gave Chechnya substantial autonomy but not full independence. The Chechen chief of staff, Aslan Maskhadov, was elected president.

However, Russia failed to invest in reconstruction. Maskhadov could not control brutal warlords who grew rich by organised crime and kidnapping. Many victims were murdered by their captors.

In August 1999, Chechen fighters crossed into the neighbouring Russian Republic of Dagestan to support a declaration by an Islamic body based there of an independent Islamic state in parts of Dagestan and Chechnya. This body also called on all Muslims to take up arms against Russia in a holy war. By now Vladimir Putin was Russian prime minister and Moscow was fast and firm in its reaction. Within a couple of weeks the rebellion was over.

KEY DATES 1991 USSR collapses, Dzhokhar Dudayev elected president, declares independence 1994 Russia sends forces to crush independence movement 1996 Khasavyurt accords bring ceasefire but not independence 1997 Aslan Maskhadov elected president 1999 Russia blames Chechnya for wave of bombings, sends troops back 2000 Islamic cleric Akhmad Kadyrov appointed by Kremlin to head administration 2003 New constitution gives Chechnya more autonomy but enshrines its position within Russian Federation. Akhmad Kadyrov elected president 2004 President Kadyrov killed by bomb. Kremlin-backed Alu Alkhanov succeeds him. 2005 March - Separatist leader Aslan Maskhadov killed by Russian forces, succeeded by Abdul-Khalim Saydullayev 2006 March - Ramzan Kadyrov, son of assassinated president Akhmad Kadyrov, becomes PM 2006 June - Government forces kill separatist leader Abdul-Khalim Saydullayev. Warlord Dokka Umarov takes over. 2006 July - Warlord Shamil Basayev, Russia's most wanted man, dies in explosion in neighbouring Ingushetia 2007 March - Ramzan Kadyrov becomes president

The late summer of the same year saw several explosions in Russia in which hundreds died. The Russian authorities did not hesitate to blame the Chechens.

Mr Putin sent the army back to subdue the republic by force in a second brutal campaign which, despite Russian claims of victory, has yet to reach a conclusion.

Western criticism of Russian tactics and human rights violations in Chechnya was all but silenced following the 11 September attacks on the US. Russia has since portrayed Chechen rebel forces as part of the global terror network and uses this to vindicate its methods.

A controversial referendum in March 2003 approved a new constitution, giving Chechnya more autonomy but stipulating that it remained firmly part of Russia. Moscow ruled out participation by the armed opposition and there were widespread concerns that the republic was far too unstable to ensure a valid outcome.

Parliamentary elections in November 2005 saw the pro-Kremlin United Russia party win over half the seats. Separatist rebels dismissed the election as a charade but President Putin said that the legal process of restoring constitutional order had been completed.

Since then there has been increased investment in reconstruction projects and the shattered city of Groznyy is being rebuilt. While Russia is keen to highlight these signs of rebirth, sporadic violence continues.

FACTS

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• Status: Republic within Russian Federation
• Population: Approximately 1 million
• Capital: Grozny
• Major languages: Chechen, Russian
• Major religions: Islam, Christianity
• Natural resources: Oil

LEADERS

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President: Ramzan Kadyrov

Ramzan Kadyrov, son of assassinated President Akhmad Kadyrov and a dominant figure in Chechen politics, was nominated for the Chechen presidency by Russian President Vladimir Putin in spring 2007 and approved almost unanimously by the Chechen parliament. He was sworn in in April.

Ramzan Kadyrov says iron rule will foster stability

His predecessor, Alu Alkhanov, had been moved to a post in the Russian government some weeks earlier.

Ramzan Kadyrov became prime minister in March 2006 after his predecessor, Sergey Abramov, was severely injured in a car crash.

Too young to run for president after the death of his father - he was then 27 and the required age under the Chechen constitution is 30 - he backed Alu Alkhanov in the 2004 election and took the job of deputy prime minister.

Mr Kadyrov has sworn to avenge his father. Human rights groups have criticised the violent activities of a powerful militia known as the "Kadyrovtsy" consisting of thousands of paramilitaries with the avowed mission of wiping out rebel forces.

Mr Kadyrov denies accusations that the force is behind many of Chechnya's killings, abductions and worst crimes, although he has admitted that there are some "rogue elements" among them.

A rebel fighter in his youth, he now speaks in praise of Russian President Vladimir Putin and is the local leader of the United Russia party.

Mr Kadyrov defends himself against critics of his record on human rights, insisting that iron rule is required to bring stability. As prime minister, he oversaw the development of numerous reconstruction projects.

He describes himself as a believer in traditional Islam.

Separatist leader: Doku Umarov

Doku Umarov succeeded Abdul-Khalim Saydullayev as Chechen rebel president when the latter was killed in a police operation in June 2006.

Separatist leader Doku Umarov

Unlike his predecessor, a Muslim cleric little-known outside Chechnya before he succeeded Aslan Maskhadov in March 2005, Mr Umarov has often been mentioned in reports on Chechen rebel activity. He has been active in operations since the mid-1990s.

In his first public statement after becoming leader, he vowed to step up attacks against police and military targets across Russia. He said he would seek to avoid civilian casualties.

His deputy, the warlord Shamil Basayev, Russia's most wanted man, died in an explosion in neighbouring Ingushetia in July 2006 just weeks after Mr Umarov became rebel leader.

Mr Umarov was born in 1964.

MEDIA

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Chechnya presents a formidable challenge to the media outlets operating there and journalists attempting to cover events on the ground.

Media freedom groups have accused Moscow of trying to muzzle independent coverage of the Chechen conflict. They say journalists who investigate alleged abuses by federal forces in Chechnya are persecuted.

One highly-publicised case was that of Andrei Babitsky, a reporter working for the US-backed Radio Free Europe, whose reporting of the Chechen war was said to have angered the Kremlin. Mr Babitsky was arrested in Grozny in 2000 and later convicted by a Russian court for using false travel documents.

Russian TV and radio stations are said to be available across much of the republic. Russia's Itar-Tass news agency reported in 2004 that these included Channel One, RTV, NTV, Ren TV and Centre TV. Chechnya's own state-run radio service resumed broadcasts in November 2001.

Several pro-rebel websites spread a different view of events in the republic to the world. They include Kavkaz Tsentr, which has had a nomadic presence on the internet as its various hosts have been urged by Moscow to close the site.

Reports on the extent and influence of rebel-run media vary. In late 2002 Kavkaz Tsentr noted that several newspapers and magazines were being published and that a radio station was on the air with daily broadcasts. Russian forces say they have closed hundreds of "underground" printing houses in the republic and destroyed "militant" broadcasting facilities.

Foreign broadcasters also target Chechnya. The US government-funded station Radio Liberty beams programmes in the Chechen and Russian languages into the republic. Moscow has expressed concerns about the broadcasts and has accused Radio Liberty of editorial "one-sidedness".

Russian TV reported in 2003 that Chechnya had eight official newspapers, three of them with republic-wide circulation.

The press