Abstract
This empirical chapter consists of three main parts, each detailing the mechanism relating to the discussed socio-cultural codes: retaliation, hospitality, and silence. The chapter shows that during the First Russo-Chechen War, the code of retaliation served as an important source of violent mobilization as thousands of Chechens sought to retaliate against killings and humiliation inflicted on them and their relatives. During the Second Russo-Chechen War, Moscow deployed in COIN operations thousands of pro-Moscow ethnic-Chechen paramilitary units, kadyrovtsy, which pitched kadyrovtsy and their relatives against insurgents, their families, and their supporters. This reversed the asymmetry of values, previously to the insurgents’ advantage, because part of the local population, related to kadyrovtsy, started relying on the same socio-cultural codes to retaliate against their enemies and provide support to the kadyrovtsy while denying it to insurgents.
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- 1.
For a detailed analysis of blood revenge as an effective trigger of violent mobilization, see Souleimanov, E. and Aliyev, H. (2015) ‘Blood revenge and violent mobilization: Evidence from the Chechen Wars’, International Security, 40(2), pp. 158–180.
- 2.
Interview conducted by the authors with ‘Idris’, 2011.
- 3.
Interview conducted by the authors with ‘Said’, 2012.
- 4.
Interview conducted by the authors with ‘Aslambek’, 2013.
- 5.
Interview conducted by the authors with ‘Ramzan’, 2012.
- 6.
Interview conducted by the authors with ‘Aslambek’, 2013.
- 7.
Interview conducted by the authors with ‘Magomed’, 61, 2012.
- 8.
Interview conducted by the authors with Abdullah Istamulov, a Grozny-based Chechen political scientist, Prague, June 2014.
- 9.
Interview conducted by the authors with ‘Zelimkhan’, 2011.
- 10.
Interview conducted by the authors with ‘Ibrahim’, 2009.
- 11.
Therefore, with the in-depth causes of radicalization indiscernible, the Islamist symbolism of the Chechen resistance, easily recognizable on the surface, has gained much media attention outside Chechnya, allowing Russian authorities to portray the conflict as an ‘integral part of global Jihad’.
- 12.
Interview conducted by the authors with ‘Magomed’, 61, 2012.
- 13.
This would at least lead to one’s ostracization in local communities or even to assassination by either insurgents or the locals.
- 14.
Interviews conducted by the authors with Chechen villagers, witnesses of the First and Second Chechnya Wars, 2011.
- 15.
Online interview conducted by the authors with Mayrbek Vachagayev, a Paris-based Chechen historian and Jamestown Foundation analyst, formerly a prominent figure in Chechnya’s separatist establishment, May 2014.
- 16.
Online interview conducted by the authors with Mayrbek Vachagayev, May 2014.
- 17.
Interviews conducted by the authors with members of Chechen émigré communities, 2009–12.
- 18.
Interview conducted by the authors with ‘Islam’, 2012.
- 19.
Kafyrovtsy, alluding to Kadyrov, his clan, and paramilitaries as infidels (kafir) is a widespread pejorative term for kadyrovtsy, used by the opponents of the pro-Moscow regime in and outside Chechnya.
- 20.
Interview conducted by the authors with ‘Mairbek’, 2012.
- 21.
Interview conducted by the authors with ‘Musa’, a former inhabitant of the village of Kesaloy, Shatoy district, 2011.
- 22.
Interviews conducted by the authors with Chechens, witnesses of the First and Second Chechnya Wars, 2011–2012.
- 23.
Online interview conducted by the authors with Mairbek Vatchagaev, June 2014.
- 24.
Online interview conducted by the authors with Mairbek Vatchagaev, June 2014.
- 25.
Alexander Goltz (2011) Itogi, 16 January.
- 26.
Interviews conducted by the authors with Chechens, witnesses of the First and Second Chechnya Wars, 2011–2012.
- 27.
Interview conducted by the authors with ‘Beslan’, 2012.
- 28.
Interviews conducted by the authors with Chechens, witnesses of the First and Second Chechnya Wars, 2011–2012.
- 29.
Online interview conducted by the authors with Magomed Toriyev, a Prague-based ethnic-Ingush journalist, a native of Grozny, with the North Caucasus Service of the Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, December 2014.
- 30.
Online interview conducted by the authors with Zara Murtazaliyeva, formerly a prominent Chechen political prisoner and activist, now based in Paris, December 2014.
- 31.
Interviews conducted by the authors with Chechens, witnesses of the First and Second Chechnya Wars, 2011–2012.
- 32.
Most interviewees coalesced over sheltering insurgents in their villages as an extremely dangerous endeavor because it could be easily detected. Interviews conducted by the authors with Chechens, witnesses of the First and Second Chechnya Wars, 2011–2012.
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Souleimanov, E.A., Aliyev, H. (2017). The Case Study. In: How Socio-Cultural Codes Shaped Violent Mobilization and Pro-Insurgent Support in the Chechen Wars . Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-52917-2_4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-52917-2_4
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