ABSTRACT
This chapter presents all basic political, economic, and demographic data on a territorial unit of the Russian Federation. The Chechen Republic is located on the northern slopes of the Caucasus Mountains and on the adjoining Chechen Plain and borders Stavropol Krai and the republics of North Ossetia, Ingushetia, and Dagestan, as well as Georgia. The Russians conquered the Chechen territory at the end of the nineteenth century despite stiff resistance by the Chechens. Chechnya boasts considerable supplies of natural resources, including construction materials, mineral waters, and most importantly, oil and gas. Oil and gas extraction and processing, as well as the petrochemical industry, were once the most important and well-developed industries in the republic. Asian Maskhadov was the brilliant chief-of-staff who led the irregular Chechen troops to victory over the much better armed Russian forces during the 1994–96 war in the separatist republic. Maskhadov is a plainsman from the Nadterechnii Region with a quiet and reserved personality.
