Chechnya's past and present

About 40 guerillas demanding Russia troops pull out of Chechnya were holding hundreds of people hostage at a theatre in Moscow yesterday. Here are key facts about the region and its struggles with Russia:

Territory: Some 15,000 square kilometres - about half the size of Belgium or a shade bigger than Connecticut. Sitting on Russia's southern flank, it has an 80-kilometre frontier with Georgia along the 5,000-metre Caucasus ridge.

Population: Before the conflict began in December 1994, some 1.1 million people - two thirds ethnic Chechens and a quarter of them Russians, concentrated in the capital, Grozny, where nearly 400,000 people lived in 1994. The city is now in ruins, most Russians have fled and many Chechens live in refugee camps in neighbouring regions. There are no reliable data but tens of thousands of civilians died in the fighting on both sides.

Religion: Chechens converted to Islam in the late 16th century. Enforced atheism under Soviet rule has given way to an Islamic revival among some Chechens. Russia has drawn attention to foreign Arab fighters in Chechnya and accuses rebels of links to radical Islamist groups like the Afghan Taliban and al Qaeda, though their influence in the region is hard to gauge.

Economy: Oil output flourished from 19th century but is now scarce and most plant has been wrecked. Region straddles key pipeline route from Caspian Sea to Black Sea ports giving it a strategic importance. Moscow accuses warlords of smuggling.

History: When Christian Georgia to the south agreed a union with Moscow in 1783, the Muslim north Caucasus were encircled and Sheikh Mansour led a jihad or holy war in the 1780s. The later Caucasus War lasted 47 years until 1864.

In 1944, Soviet dictator Josef Stalin accused Chechens of aiding German invaders and deported the entire nation to the steppes of Central Asia where many thousands died. In 1957 Nikita Khrushchev allowed them to return to their homes.

As the Soviet Union broke up, Air Force General Dzhokhar Dudayev won 80 per cent support in an election in October 1991. He declared Chechen independence and faced down a brief and bloodless military expedition from Moscow. Chechnya began to earn a reputation in Russia as a haven of bandits and smugglers.

President Boris Yeltsin ordered troops into Chechnya on December 11, 1994. Despite blunders and big losses, Russian troops took Grozny and much of the Chechen plain by spring 1995 but never held the mountains. Two big, hostage-taking raids marked the rebel response until a big rebel offensive in summer 1996 forced Moscow to negotiate a peace and withdraw, leaving aside Chechnya's status to be discussed later. It never was.

Dudayev having been killed in April 1996, Aslan Maskhadov, a former Soviet artillery colonel, was elected Chechen president in January 1997. Rival warlords created chaos, however, and his authority was undermined. Kidnappings and murders forced aid agencies and other foreigners to keep out of the province.

In summer 1999, Chechen guerillas invaded the neighbouring Russian republic of Dagestan. Russia also blamed Chechen radicals for a series of blasts in Moscow and other cities in September 1999 that killed nearly 300 people. Rebel leaders denied that. Yeltsin's new prime minister, Vladimir Putin, used the blasts to justify return of Russian army into region, seizing most areas bar the inhospitable mountains.

Despite Putin, by then president, saying in April 2000 that the military phase of the "anti-terrorist" operation was over, a war of attrition is marked by almost daily losses on both sides.

Rebels still score notable successes - a missile brought down a helicopter in August, killing 118 Russians. Russia has accused Georgia of letting rebels use bases in mountain gorges, prompting US diplomacy to try to calm down volatile region.