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Revision as of 18:46, 9 June 2006
Grozny or Groznyy (Russian: Гро́зный) is the capital of the Chechen Republic in Russia. It is located at 43°19′N 45°41′E / 43.317°N 45.683°E.
Name
"Grozny" means "fearsome" or "frightening" in Russian. The city may sometimes be referred to as Dzhokhar or Djohar (Chechen: Djovkhar Ghaala); it was named so after Dzhokhar Dudaev, the first president of the separatist Chechen Republic of Ichkeria. As of December 2005, the Chechen parliament voted to rename the city Akhmadkala, proposition which was rejected by Ramzan Kadyrov.
According to the 2002 All-Russia population census, the city had a population of 210,720 people, a little more than half of the population a decade before.
History
Russian fort and a Soviet regional capital
The Groznaya fortress was founded in 1818 as a Russian military outpost. It was turned into the town of Grozny in 1870. Most of the residents there were Terek Cossacks. (The change of the name ending follows the rules for adjectives when the modified noun was changed from the feminine gender ("threatening fortress") to masculine ("threatening town").) The town grew slowly until the early 20th century. It then became a major industrial centre and one of the Soviet Union's first oil production centres. In addition to the oil drilled in the city itself, it sits in the geographical centre of Russia's network of oil fields.
In 1922 it was capital of Chechen Autonomous Oblast (Chechen AO), at this time most of the population was still Russian, but of Cossack descent. As Cossacks were viewed as a potential threat to the Soviet nation, Moscow actively encouraged the migration of Chechens into the city from the mountains. In (1934) the Chechen-Ingush AO was formed which then grew into the Chechen-Ingush ASSR (1936). In 1944 the whole population of Chechens and Ingush was deported after an accusation by Beria and Stalin of collaboration with the Nazis. Grozny became capital of the Grozny Oblast of RSFSR, and the city at the time was again wholly Russian. In 1957 Chechen-Ingush ASSR was restored, and the Chechens were allowed to return. Once again migration of non-Russians into Grozny continued whilst the ethnic Russian population, in turn, moved to other parts of the USSR, notably the Baltic states. By the late 1960s, Chechens and Ingush outnumbered ethnic Russians.
First Chechen War
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Grozny became the seat of a separatist government led by Dzhokhar Dudaev. At this time of quasi-anarchy, most of the remaining Russian minority were forcibly expelled by groups of criminals and militants, adding to a harrasment and discrimination from the new authorities led by the city mayor Bislan Gantamirov. These events are perceived by some as an act of an ethnic cleansing (and even genocide) although officially this was never confirmed by the Russian state and the International community.
The covert Russian attempts of overthrowing Dudayev by a means of an armed Chechen opposition resulted in a repeated failed assaults on the city. The last one on 26 November 1994 ended with capture of some 70 Russian Army tankists secretly hired as a merceneries by the FSK (former KGB, soon renamed FSB); Dudayev's televised threat to execute them was sometimes cited as one of the reasons of Boris Yeltsin's decision to launch the open intervention.
During the First Chechen War Grozny was the place of an intense battle from December 1994 to February 1995, ultimately ending with the capture of the city by the Russian military (First battle of Grozny, 1994-1995). Guerrilla units operating from nearby mountains managed to harass and demoralize the Russian Army, including the March 1996 raid on Grozny, leading to political and public pressure for a Russian withdrawal. In August 1996 a raiding force of 1,500 to 3,000 militants recaptured the city in a surprise attack, and surrounded or routed its entire garrison of 10,000 MVD troops while fighting off attempts of their rescue by the Russian Army units from the Khankala base. The battle ended with a final ceasefire and Grozny was once again in the hands of Chechen separatists.
Intense fighting and carpet bombing by the Russian Air Force destroyed much of the city. Numerous buildings, including the Presidential Palace, were reduced to a burnt shell, and debris littered the streets. Thousands of combatants on both sides as well as civilians died in the fighting. Reportedly, most of the civilians were lonely ethnic Russians, as many of the Chechens took refuge with their village-dwelling family members, while the Russian population was concentrated in the most devastated downtown area and were often unable to evacuate; their unclaimed bodies were collected and buried in mass graves on the city outskirts.
The name was changed to Djohar in 1997 by the President of the separatist Ichkeria republic, Aslan Maskhadov. By this time most of the remaining Russian minority fled.
Second Chechen War
Grozny was once again the scene of fighting after the outbreak of the Second Chechen War, including the third battle of Grozny (1999-2000) which caused as much as several thousands of fatalities.
During the early phase of the siege on October 25, 1999 Russian forces launched five SS-21 ballistic missiles at the crowded central bazaar and a maternity ward, killing more than 140 people and injuring hundreds in the Grozny marketplace massacre. On August 19, 2002 a Mi-26 military helicopter was shot down near Khankala base resulting in the deaths of some 130 Russian soldiers, the biggest helicopter aviation disaster in the world to date.
The federal government representatives in Chechnya are based in Grozny; their headquarters building was blown up on December 27, 2002 by Chechen suicide bombers, leaving 72 people dead and 200 injured. Most of the city's infrastructure is slowly being restored (such as the Russian Orthodox Archangel Mikhail Church, destroyed by a Russian fighter-bomber in 1995) although many continue to live in ruined buildings without heating and running water. Also unclear are the fates of the Russian refugees as hardly any have returned currently, and only several hundred abandoned, impoverished and mostly elderly Russian civilians remain, most of them with nowhere to go and some insane from the war. On May 2, 2006 President Vladimir Putin said "If money is again received at the end of the year, nothing is going to be done in Grozny again." about rebuilding work.
Features
The city is divided into four administrative city districts: Leninsky, Zavodskoy, Staropromyslovsky, and Oktyabrsky. All of the districts are residential, but Staropromyslovsky district is also the city's main oil drilling area, and Oktyabrsky district hosts most of the city's industry. However, nearly all of Grozny was destroyed or seriously damaged during the Chechen Wars.
Grozny was also known for its modern architecture and as a spa town. It has a university and is home to FC Terek Grozny. The city lies on the Sunzha River.
Notable people from Grozny include Lyudmila Turishcheva.