Established shortly after the beginning of the Second Russo-Chechen war of 1999–2009, the Russian-backed Chechen government is actively engaged in a reinterpretation of the nation's history. The Chechen political elite that ruled the republic during its independence (1991–1999) opposes these efforts and promotes a version of history that dominated Chechen public discourse in the 1990s. Relying on qualitative methodology, this article explores Chechen memory politics of the past three decades through these two dominant clashing interpretations. The article answers the question: What Chechen collective memories are the most contested and why? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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