The political genesis of the conflict in Chechnya, 1990–1994

This analysis deals with the political causes of the first Russo‐Chechen war of the 1990s. It examines these causes in the larger context of post‐Soviet nationalities’ policy and the struggle for power in Yeltsin's Kremlin. Chechen President Dudayev's failure to provide effective governance created pro‐Russian Federation Chechen factions but Moscow's clumsiness in handling them by December 1994 left Yeltsin with only one option — full‐scale military intervention.