ABSTRACT
This chapter analyzes the historical, political, sociodemographic, and sociopsychological aspects of the development of interethnic conflict situations both around the former Checheno-Ingushetia and within it, working from the position of research on interethnic relations. The chapter traces the history of the development of the major internal and external interethnic conflicts that are stirring up not only the population of the former Checheno-Ingushetia but that of neighboring republics as well. The fates of Chechnya and Ingushetia have historically been closely intertwined. A common ethnic eponym, the Vainakh, has come into existence as the result of their linguistic and cultural similarity. The history of relations between the Cossacks and the Ingush was initially contentious. Ingush settlements in the Terek Valley continued to exist until the early 1860s, when their resident's resettled and Cossack stanitsy were founded there after the end of the Caucasus War. The attitude of the Russian population of the former Checheno-Ingushetia toward the indigenous residents has likewise changed drastically.
