ABSTRACT
During the latter half of August 1991 the Chechen quest for independence received indirect and unintentional encouragement from an unexpected quarter. The abortive attempt by hard-line conservative elements of the Soviet government to seize power and reinstate highly centralised communist rule backfired, accentuating the transitional nature of the state as it moved away from the constraints of post-totalitarianism. Gorbachev’s democratic experiment had instigated a profound transformation of the Soviet political and economic environment, which far exceeded his intentions of merely revitalising, as well as modernising, the socialist ideals he still believed in.
