As soon as the nationality of Dzhokhar and Tamarlan Tsarnaev was announced in the aftermath of the Boston bombings, misinformed statements stereotyping the Chechen people spread through Facebook, Twitter, and other social media. Not only did such updates and tweets draw a connection between the suspects and Islamic extremism that has not been confirmed, but they also revealed how ill-informed the public is regarding a region that has been troubled by years of violence. The history of Chechnya, where the brothers Tsarnaev are originally from, reveals a largely unconsidered angle from which the Boston bombings can be examined.
Historically under Tsarist and then Soviet rule, the Muslim republic of Chechnya declared its independence in 1991, when the Soviet Union collapsed. Unlike the case of the central Asian republics, however, Russia had always been keen to maintain control over this small enclave between the Black Sea and the Caspian. Between 1994 and 1996, and again in 1999, Russian forces brought war to the region against Chechen rebels, but — in spite of systematic attacks on both exponents of the separatist movement and civilians — the Kremlin was never able to completely subdue this territory. In the words of Elena Bonner, widow of Russian dissident Andrei Sakharov, Moscow’s violence in Chechnya has gone as far as to make it “one great concentration camp.”
Today, Chechnya hosts a traditionally Muslim population of about 1.3 million. After Akhmed Zakayev, head of the legitimate government of Chechnya, was last exiled in 2007, Moscow sent Ramzan Kadyrov to form a puppet government in the Republic. A radicalized Islamist fringe led by Dokka Umarov, however, has since resisted the authority of the formal government by staging violent attacks both in Chechnya and closer to the Kremlin. The attack that gave Chechnya international exposure, however, happened three years before 2007, when the Beslan school hostage crisis tragically culminated in 380 deaths. Russian president Putin has exploited the actions of this extremist movement to stigmatize the Chechen people and justify his strong hand in the region. In addition to this, the Kremlin is also strongly suspected to be behind the deaths of multiple dissidents who attempted to expose his crimes in Chechnya, like investigative journalist Anna Politkosvkaya, who was murdered in 2006.
What, then, does the tormented past and present of Chechnya have to with the Boston attacks? As far as the investigations go, there is no connection between the crimes of the brothers Tsarnaev and the extremist Chechen Muslim movement. In fact, the two men have been described as self-radicalized, even though they seem to have declared their support for Chechnya’s independence through social media platforms. There is, however, a subtler link between Chechen politics and the extremism shown by the two perpetrators, one that connects the American attitude toward the Chechen refugees and the personal attitudes of the Tsarnaev brothers.
Many members of the Chechen diaspora have sought refuge in Eastern Europe and central Asia. The Tsarnaev family itself emigrated to neighboring Kyrgyzstan to escape the Kremlin’s abuses. A very limited number of Chechen refugees, however, have ever been admitted to the United States, which allocates only an extremely small proportion of its asylum program to this region. According to Olga Khazan of The Atlantic, only 4 percent of refugee allocation is designated to Europe and Central Asia. Coupled with the general disinterest of the West, and particularly of the United States, in the Chechen situation, this factor — in addition to Moscow’s treatment of the Chechens — might have contributed to the sense of alienation experienced by the brothers Tsarnaev, who declared that they never felt truly integrated in American society. The self-radicalization that has led to the tragic events of the past week, then, can be seen, to a certain extent, as the result of this profound marginalization.
It is plausible that the Boston bombings will have dire repercussions for the Chechen people as a whole. Soon after the attacks, Putin personally called Obama to offer his support and cooperation. Moreover, he used the crimes of two young men as a scapegoat, playing up the threat that Chechnya represents for Russia and using it as a justification for his crimes in the region. Therefore, it will not be surprising to see Moscow adopt even more assertive policies towards Chechnya as a result of the bombings.
Rather than being a pretext to further stereotype a faith and a whole population, the Boston attacks should bring global attention to a real humanitarian emergency that has been overlooked or even ignored for two decades now. This is not to say that justice should not make the brothers Tsarnaev responsible for their crimes, but these crimes might have been triggered by years of injustice that should not be forgotten.