ABSTRACT
The Chechen conflict of 1993-6 has focused attention on the existence of national minorities within the Russian Federation, which have their own identities, cultures, traditions, institutions and territories but which, unlike the 15 republics which previously constituted the Soviet Union, were unwilling or unable to take advantage of the collapse of communism in order to establish their own separate, independent states. In addition to the Chechen war, there have been serious outbreaks of inter-ethnic violence in North Ossetia, and rather less serious ones in Tannu-Tuva and Sakha (formerly Yakutia). Demands for political sovereignty and freedom from interference and exploitation have been most marked in Sakha and Tatarstan. National political parties, both moderate and extreme, have sprung up almost everywhere since the collapse of communism, while members of minority nationalities all over the Russian Federation have increased their interest in their own national histories and cultures.
