THE DEPOPULATION OF CHECHNYA….

Chechnya at the beginning of this decade was home to close to a million people. When Russian troops attacked in 1994, most of the republic’s Russian population of 300,000 fled in fear of retribution. Fewer than 50,000 Russians, mainly elderly, are believed to remain. Of the non-Russian population, at least 40,000 civilians were killed in the war of 1994-1996. In the past few weeks, 160,000 Chechens have abandoned their homes and become refugees in Ingushetia and Dagestan. The population under Russian attack today is well under half a million people, about three-tenths of 1 percent of the Russian Federation.