Ukrainian Parliament recognises independence of Chechnya

The Ukrainian parliament has recognised the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria as an independent state that is ‘temporarily’ occupied by Russia, as well as condemning ‘the commission of genocide against the Chechen people’.

Members of the Verkhovna Rada unanimously adopted the resolution on Tuesday.

‘We declare the recognition of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria as temporarily occupied by the Russian Federation as a result of armed aggression committed in violation of the UN Charter’, the resolution reads.

It cited the declaration of independence by the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria following the collapse of the Soviet Union, and ‘the adoption of a constitution by its parliament on 12 March 1992, which established that the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria as a sovereign, independent, democratic, and legal state’.

Following their victory in the First Chechen War, the Republic of Ichkeria was de facto independent from Russia. It was reincorporated into the Russian Federation following the Second Chechen War, during Vladimir Putin’s first presidential term.

The Ukrainian parliament condemned crimes committed by the Russian Federation including ‘a policy of genocide of the Chechen people’ during the first and second Chechen wars. This, they said, imitated the 1944 Soviet deportation of the entire Chechen and Ingush people as well as the 19th-century conquest of the Caucasus by the Russian Empire.

[Read on OC Media: Opinion | Russia’s death train rolls through Chechnya and Ingushetia]

They also called on UN member states and international organisations to ensure an independent and impartial investigation into crimes committed in Chechnya and to ‘ensure that the guilty are brought to justice’.

Djamboulat Souleimanov, who heads Chechen diaspora organisation Bart-Marsho, hailed the resolution as ‘a personal diplomatic victory’ reflecting his ‘27 years of struggle’ 

‘For the entire Chechen diaspora, this is an incredible emotional upsurge and moral victory, some approximation of the materialisation of the centuries-old dream of their state’, he told OC Media.

Oleksiy Goncharenko, a Ukrainian MP and head of the parliament’s For a Free Caucasus Committee, also praised the resolution.

‘I think this is an extremely important decision. Putin has been trying to enslave the Chechen people for a very long time, he appointed his gauleiter Kadyrov to manage, and now he forces the Chechens to fight against the Ukrainians. This is a typical imperialist policy of Russia in relation to other peoples’, he wrote.