Security, Oil, and Internal Politics: The Causes of the Russo-Chechen Conflicts

This article aims to answer the following research question: What were the factors behind the Kremlin's decision to invade the Chechen Republic in 1994 and 1999? To answer this question, the author focuses on three independent variables: the strategic variable related to Russian national security; the economic variable centered on the Caspian Oil pipeline passing through Chechen territories; and Russian domestic politics. The author argues that a combination of these three factors, despite their varying importance, led to the outbreak of the Russo-Chechen wars in the 1990s.