Chechnya
Republic of Russia in the North Caucasus
Follow Chechnya on Notably News to receive short updates to your email — rarely!
| March 2025 | Chechnya blocked the Telegram app due to concerns it could be used by 'enemies'. |
| 2024 | In the Russian presidential election, Vladimir Putin won 98.99% of the vote in Chechnya, an election critics called rigged and fraudulent. |
| April 2024 | Chechnya introduces a new musical regulation mandating that all music must have a tempo between 80 and 116 beats per minute, in line with traditional Chechen cultural standards. This regulation also prohibits borrowing musical elements from other cultures. |
| September 12 2023 | The ECHR found that Lapunov had been 'detained and subjected to ill-treatment by state agents' which amounted to torture, perpetrated solely because of his sexual orientation. |
| February 15 2023 | Arsamikov was arrested at Moscow Domodedovo Airport, charged with fraud, and forcibly sent back to Chechnya. His subsequent whereabouts became unknown. |
| 2022 | The Ukrainian parliament voted to recognize the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria as territory temporarily occupied by the Russian Federation. |
| 2022 | Chechen government supported Russia's invasion of Ukraine, with the Kadyrovtsy (Chechen military force under Kadyrov's command) playing a leading role in the Siege of Mariupol. |
| May 2022 | Arsamikov returned to Chechnya to attend his father's funeral, during which police confiscated his foreign documents, preventing him from leaving. |
| February 2022 | Salekh Magamadov and Ismail Isaev were convicted under the charges. They subsequently appealed the decision, but the appeal was unsuccessful and the original conviction was upheld. |
| 2021 | Chechnya demonstrated the biggest rise in life expectancy, with an average of 73.0 years, males at 70.5 years, and females at 75.3 years. |
| 2021 | Population census revealed a significant increase to 1,510,824 residents, with Chechens comprising 96.4% (1,456,792) of the total population. |
| December 22 2021 | Mass kidnappings begin, with up to 50 family members of government critics abducted. |
| February 2021 | Chechen authorities abducted Salekh Magamadov and Ismail Isaev and forcibly returned them to Chechnya, charging them under anti-terrorism laws for allegedly providing food to terrorists. |
| February 2021 | The European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights and the Russian LGBT Network filed a 97-page charge sheet against five Chechen officials connected to Kadyrov, including his deputy prime minister, police chief, and the chair of the Chechen parliament, seeking potential prosecution for crimes against humanity in Germany. |
| 2020 | Novaya Gazeta reported that Chechen authorities had intentionally attempted to deceive Moskalkova during her investigation, revealing the extent of official obstruction of the human rights inquiry. |
| 2020 | Demographic data shows a significant spike in deaths, likely due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with 9,188 deaths compared to previous years' typical range of 6,000-7,000 annual deaths. |
| 2020 | Chechnya experienced the deepest fall in life expectancy among Russian regions. |
| July 2020 | Salekh Magamadov and Ismail Isaev, queer brothers, moved to Nizhny Novgorod, Russia in an attempt to flee the country. |
| June 30 2020 | HBO Films releases 'Welcome to Chechnya', a documentary revealing the systematic persecution of LGBTQ+ individuals in Chechnya, using innovative deepfake technology to protect survivors' identities. |
| January 26 2020 | Documentary 'Welcome to Chechnya' by David France has its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival, exposing the anti-gay purges and secret rescue efforts of LGBTQ+ individuals in Chechnya. |
| 2019 | The Russian LGBT Network had assisted more than 140 Chechen gay people in emigrating to European nations and Canada. |
| 2019 | Chechnya recorded an average life expectancy of 75.9 years, with males at 73.6 years and females at 78.0 years. |
| May 2019 | Seven assailants broke into the apartment of a Russian LGBT Network volunteer in Saint Petersburg, threatening staff with physical violence and murder. They interrogated activists about the whereabouts of a Chechen woman who had escaped and threatened David Isteev, the emergency programme coordinator. |
| May 2019 | Lapunov filed a complaint with the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), alleging Russia failed to protect him and that his case was not properly investigated by Russian authorities. |
| May 2019 | The U.S. government imposed financial sanctions on Chechen officials linked to roundups of gay men, including Abuzayed Vismuradov, commander of the 'Terek Special Rapid Response Team' unit. |
| May 2019 | LGBT activists laid a giant rainbow flag on the steps of the Russian embassy in London, delivering a 65,000-signature petition calling for an investigation into the purge on the International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia. |
| March 2019 | At the 40th Session of the Human Rights Council, 31 countries issued a joint statement calling for a swift, thorough, and impartial investigation into the alleged persecution of LGBTQ+ individuals in Chechnya, with the United States under the Trump administration notably refusing to sign. |
| January 2019 | A protest was held outside the Russian Consulate in New York City in solidarity with gay and lesbian people facing a 'second wave' of persecution in Chechnya. |
| January 2019 | The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) expressed concern about additional arrests following an anti-purge in Chechnya and called on Russia to halt the detention and abuse of gay and bisexual people. |
| January 2019 | Ali Baskhanov, a pro-government group leader, uploaded a YouTube video threatening Igor Kochetkov with death if he came to Chechnya, calling him a 'son of the devil'. |
| January 2019 | Dzhambulat Umarov, the Chechen Minister of National Policy, claimed that gay people's 'sick imagination' was responsible for purge reports. |
| January 27 2019 | On International Holocaust Remembrance Day, approximately 100 people protested outside the Embassy of Russia in London in solidarity with persecuted LGBT individuals. |
| January 11 2019 | Public report confirms the continuation of the anti-gay purge that began in December 2018, with multiple gay men and women being detained. |
| January 11 2019 | Reports of another 'gay purge' beginning in December 2018, with around 40 people detained and two killed, according to the Russian LGBT Network. |
| 2018 | Idris Arsamikov fled to the Netherlands after experiencing torture in Chechnya. |
| December 2018 | Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs Chrystia Freeland ordered an airlift that brought 57 LGBT Chechen refugees to Canada. |
| December 2018 | An OSCE report confirms the persecution of LGBT persons in Chechnya, which was being ignored by authorities. |
| December 2018 | Another 'gay purge' begins in Chechnya, with the Russian LGBT Network reporting around 40 people detained and two killed. |
| November 2018 | A gay Chechen man fled to the United States after being attacked in Moscow, applying for asylum in May 2019. |
| September 2018 | OSCE reports continuing cases of LGBT persecution, with new incidents documented in September and October. |
| June 27 2018 | The Council of Europe notes cases of abduction, detention, and torture of LGBTI individuals with involvement of Chechen law enforcement. |
| 2017 | British MEPs urged Prime Minister Theresa May and Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson to meet with the Russian ambassador. Boris Johnson publicly condemned the Chechen government's persecution of gay men, describing the actions as 'outrageous' and 'abhorrent'. |
| December 2017 | The U.S. Department of the Treasury imposed Magnitsky Act sanctions on Chechen officials Ramzan Kadyrov and Ayub Katayev for 'gross violations of internationally recognized human rights', freezing their assets and restricting their U.S. travel. |
| September 2017 | During meetings in Chechnya, Moskalkova was deliberately misled by local authorities who presented her with two men identified as survivors, who were actually the siblings of two men killed in extrajudicial killings. |
| September 2017 | The Washington Post reported limited US assistance for LGBT Chechens seeking refuge, with only a small number successfully finding sanctuary. |
| August 2017 | The Dutch government changed its policy to allow almost automatic asylum-seeker status for LGBT persons from Chechnya. |
| August 2017 | A US federal judge granted asylum to the Chechen transgender woman who fled in April 2016, recognizing the dangerous situation for LGBT persons in Russia. |
| July 2017 | The Russian LGBT Network announced the resumption of persecutions against gay Chechens, expressing skepticism about the Russian government's claims of conducting a genuine investigation into previous human rights violations. |
| July 2017 | Ramzan Kadyrov publicly denied the existence of gay people in Chechnya during a television interview, stating 'We don't have any gays. If there are any, take them to Canada.' He referred to men who reported torture as 'devils' and 'subhuman'. |
| June 2017 | The Russian LGBT Network reported having evacuated 42 men from Chechnya to other parts of Russia, providing them temporary safety from detention. |
|
We are only showing the most recent entries for this topic. |
|
This contents of the box above is based on material from the Wikipedia articles Chechnya & Anti-gay purges in Chechnya, which are released under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.