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Introduction
In the geopolitical context of the Soviet Unions involvement in the Caucasus, the engagement in conflicts on the territories of both the Northern Caucasus and the Southern Caucasus was marked by USSRs interests. It had its impact on the post-Soviet situation in the territories of the Caucasus. While Russia has had its ambitions concerning conquering the Caucasus for several centuries, it continued to invade the states in the region during the Soviet Union period and after it. In particular, this essay will focus on two conflicts occurring in two different parts of the Caucasus to demonstrate that Russian tactics were aimed at maintaining its control over the whole region. Firstly, the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in the Southern Caucasus will be analyzed; secondly, the Chechnya conflict in the Northern Caucasus will be explored to compare Russian involvement in both. Overall, it is argued that post-Soviet Russia has built its international dominance tactics based on former Soviet administrative division approaches to integrate the peoples of the Caucasus in its context for further dominance.
The Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict
The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict was a three-decade-long issue between Azerbaijan and Armenia, in which the two countries fought for the region. The two states were long connected within the same political entity, the Soviet Union, the collapse of which was concurrent with the states obtaining of independence (Coene, 2009e). After lengthy conflicts with the involvement of Russia and Turkey, the war that started in 1988 stopped but without an actual peace treaty (Welt& Bowen, 2021). Azerbaijans victory as the result of the last 45 days of the war was followed by a ceasefire agreement signed in 2020 between the two countries with the involvement of Russia. However, it is important to note that the core reason for the continuous tensions between the two states lies in the Soviet politics of korenizatsia and an earlier politics of the Russian Empires forced migration.
During the time of the Russian Empire, its rulers were particularly interested in controlling the Southern Caucasus. For that purpose, the tactics of forced movement of the people between different regions were used. According to Coene (2009b), such an approach allowed the Russian Empire to induce massive movement of the Armenian people into the territory of Azerbaijanian Nagorno-Karabakh. Moreover, during the Soviet period, similar politics under the title of korenizatsia was used to eliminate tensions between different nationalities and induce similarity between them. Indeed, with the creation of the Soviet Union, the Soviet Socialist Republics were considered to be independent, which is why the representative of native peoples of the territories were appointed to governing positions under korenizatsia (Coene, 2009b, p. 133). Similarly, the native languages of the republics were promoted across government administrations to make an illusion of Soviets recognition of their independence (Coene, 2009d). However, it contradicted the reality since the territories of Azerbaijan and Armenia (as well as other republics) were occupied by the Russian army and every decision was taken in Moscow (Coene, 2009, p. 133). Thus, forced migration and elusive nationalization were tactics of Russia to control.
As a result, the people of Armenia claimed the Nagorno-Karabakh to be inherently their land due to the dominance of the Armenian population on its territories. In the Soviet Union, the party voted in July 1921 to include Karabakh in the Armenian SSR, but the following day this decision was revoked, and Karabakh received a degree of autonomy under the Azerbaijani SSR (Coene, 2009a, p. 146). Thus, being historically Azerbaijanian land, Nagorno Karabakh within the Soviet paradigm was never included in this entity.
As the conflict intensified with the proclamation of the independence of Nagorno Karabakh in 1991, Russias involvement in the conflict was persistent. For decades Russia supported Armenia in its occupation of Nagorno Karabakh. According to experts, Armenia has retained such ties to Russia due to a widespread belief in Armenia that only Russia can provide security guarantees against Azerbaijan and Turkey (Welt& Bowen, 2021, p. 5). However, regardless of the implied benefits for Armenia, Russia tried to maintain its control over the Southern Caucasus. It was only in 2020 that Azerbaijan managed to sign a ceasefire agreement with Armenia, which, however, might be seen as a temporary decision. Indeed, the avoidance of peace and pursuit of a ceasefire agreement allowed Russia to send its peace-making troops to Nagorno-Karabakh, thus imposing its sustained military control over the territory of the South Caucasus.
Conflict in Chechnya
The conflicts in Chechnya are also characterized by the geopolitical involvement of Russia in the post-Soviet territory to extend its overall influence in the Northern Caucasus. The conflicts between Chechens and other North Caucasian people against the oppression of the Russian Empire created the basis for the ongoing tension that is not resolved until now. According to Coene (2009b), Chechens fought against the Russian Empire in the Caucasus war in the nineteenth century. The inclusion of the Northern Caucasus into the Russian Empire was marked by a significant burden on the population of Chechnya and other states. In particular, it was intensified under the influence of the administrative reforms that tsar Russia imposed on the newly acquired territories. The relocation of people across the territory of the empire was initiated to blur the line between cultures and religions and ultimately unite all the nations under the empires rule (Coene, 2009b). It allowed for hindering the national identity of the Chechen people and influencing them by Russian dominance to infer that they were not independent of the empire.
Such a tactic was further used by the Soviet Union throughout its history. The state orchestrated mass deportations in an attempt to forcibly submit border republics to central Soviet authority (Solanki, 2021, p. 1). Yeltsins and Putins politics in Chechnya in the 1990s ultimately destroyed Chechnyas independence, which has become particularly dependent on the Russian Federation. Such a forced involvement in the territory to control the Caucasus was related to international relations during the early 1990-s. Russia witnessed the expansion of Turkish, US and Iranian influence in the South Caucasus, and understood that it was losing the region and could lose or see a destabilized North Caucasus as well (Coene, 2009c, p. 173). As for the present, the issue of Chechnya is not resolved since Russia has its dependent government in Chechnya with the pro-Russian leader Kadyrov. Moreover, the latest events in Ukraine in February and March 2022 are likely to have destabilizing effects on Russia, putting it at risk of disintegrating as a federation.
Conclusion
The comparison of two distinctive conflicts that occurred in the Caucasus under the impact of the Soviet Union and later the Russian Federation demonstrates significant similarities in Russian tactics of dominance. Similar approaches to obtaining influence in the countries by relocating populations and manipulating peace-making as an occupational method were observed in both the Nagorno-Karabakh and Chechen conflicts. Overall, the analysis of these two wars vividly demonstrates that the current politics employed by Russia in Eastern Europe and Ukraine, in particular, is the result of its post-colonial ambitions. It aims to conquer and occupy politically and economically profitable territories to serve its interests on the international level.
References
Coene, F. (2009a). Conflicts. In The Caucasus: An introduction (pp. 139-168). Routledge.
Coene, F. (2009b). History. In The Caucasus: An introduction (pp. 89-138). Routledge.
Coene, F. (2009c). International politics. In The Caucasus: An introduction (pp. 169-186). Routledge.
Coene, F. (2009d). Population and society. In The Caucasus: An introduction (pp. 55-88). Routledge.
Coene, F. (2009e). Territorial division, government and administration. In The Caucasus: An introduction (pp. 29-54). Routledge.
Solanki, K. (2021). Dynamics of belonging, tradition, and conflict in Chechnya. Emory Journal of Asian Studies, 1-12.
Welt, C., & Bowen, A. S. (2021). Azerbaijan and Armenia: The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Library of Congress Washington DC.
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