In 2002, English freelance journalist Roddy Scott accompanied a group of Chechen rebels that were traveling from Georgia’s Pankisi Gorge into Chechnya and then over to Ingushetia to battle the Russians. These photos were found on his camera, the last photos he would take.





The rebels were an armed force commanded by Hamzat Gelayev (1964-2004), former prime minister of Ichkeria, which he had recruited from the Pankisi gorge, and consisted of not just Chechens, but volunteers from all over the Caucasus.

May 21st is Circassian Day of Mourning, commemorating the Circassian genocide during the Russo-Circassian War of 1763–1864. Tsarist Russia pursued a policy of complete annihilation of North Caucasian people without exception, including women and children, during the Caucasus War. Circassians also refer to the genocide as "Tsitsekun", which originates from the Ubykh language. Tevfik Esenç, the last speaker of Ubykh, stated that it means "a massacre so evil that only Satan could think of it". The word comes from "tsʼətsʼa" (people) and "kʷʼə-" (to kill).

Pictures from the deportation of Chechen and Ingush people, February 23 1944. Also known as Operation Lentil, it was the Soviet forced transfer of the whole of the Chechen and Ingush populations of the North Caucasus to Central Asia. A summary of how the deportation happened, background and reasons, from "Operation Lentil: Soviet Ethnic Cleansing of the Chechens" (2019) by Tom Shattuck

Who are the Caucasians? Thread🪡

The Caucasus is a region that mainly encompasses the countries Georgia, Azerbaijan, Armenia and the republics Adygea, Ingushetia, Chechnya, North Ossetia-Alania, Dagestan, Kabardino-Balkaria and Karachay-Cherkessia in Russia. What makes the Caucasus special is its placement in Eurasia, between the Russian, Ottoman and Persian empires. Caucasian culture has therefore been influence by Slavic, European, Turkic, Semitic and Persian cultures, in addition to its own unique cultures.