Chechnya receives large archive from France on Civil War history in Caucasus

Professor Mayrbek Vachagaev has handed over to the Archival Department of Chechnya 50,000 archival sheets on the history of the Caucasus. These earlier unknown documents are of great value, giving details about the events of 1917-1921 in the Caucasus, local scientists believe.

Chechnya has received a variety of materials, which allows looking at the Caucasian history with "European eyes", as Mayrbek Vachagaev, a graduate of the Department of History of the Chechen-Ingush State University and the President of the Association of Caucasian Studies (l'Association d'etudes caucasiennes) in Paris, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent. Russian historians, in all likelihood, could not even imagine the presence in France of such a massif of documents, Vachagaev has suggested.

The materials, transferred from the above Association, are priceless, especially in Chechnya, said Magomed Muzaev, the head of the Archives Department of the Chechen Government. In his opinion, the received materials open new and earlier unknown pages of history of the Chechen nation.

The materials, which came to Grozny from France, cover the period of the Civil War and the existence of such entities like the Union of Mountaineers of Northern Caucasus and the Mountain Republic, said Vadim Mukhanov, an employee of the Centre for Problems of Caucasus and Regional Security.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.