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Chechnya

Chechnya, officially the Chechen Republic, is a republic of Russia. It is situated in the North Caucasus of Eastern Europe, between the Caspian Sea and Black Sea. The republic forms a part of the North Caucasian Federal District, and shares land borders with Georgia to its south; with the Russian republics of Dagestan, Ingushetia, and North Ossetia-Alania to its east, north, and west; and with Stavropol Krai to its northwest. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, the Checheno-Ingush ASSR split into two parts: the Republic of Ingushetia and the Chechen Republic. The latter proclaimed the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria, which declared independence, while the former sided with Russia. Following the First Chechen War of 1994–1996 with Russia, Chechnya gained de facto independence as the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria, although de jure it remained a part of Russia. Russian federal control was restored in the Second Chechen War of 1999–2009, with Chechen politics being dominated by the former Ichkerian Mufti Akhmad Kadyrov, and later his son Ramzan Kadyrov. The republic covers an area of 17300 km2, with a population of over 1.5 million residents. It is home to the indigenous Chechens, part of the Nakh peoples, and of primarily Muslim faith. Grozny is the capital and largest city.

Origin of Chechnya's population
According to Leonti Mroveli, the 11th-century Georgian chronicler, the word Caucasian is derived from the Nakh ancestor Kavkas. According to George Anchabadze of Ilia State University:

"The Vainakhs are the ancient natives of the Caucasus. It is noteworthy, that according to the genealogical table drawn up by Leonti Mroveli, the legendary forefather of the Vainakhs was 'Kavkas', hence the name Kavkasians, one of the ethnicons met in the ancient Georgian written sources, signifying the ancestors of the Chechens and Ingush. As appears from the above, the Vainakhs, at least by name, are presented as the most 'Caucasian' people of all the Caucasians (Caucasus – Kavkas – Kavkasians) in the Georgian historical tradition."

American linguist Johanna Nichols "has used language to connect the modern people of the Caucasus region to the ancient farmers of the Fertile Crescent" and her research suggests that "farmers of the region were proto-Nakh-Daghestanians". Nichols stated: "The Nakh–Dagestanian languages are the closest thing we have to a direct continuation of the cultural and linguistic community that gave rise to Western civilisation."

Prehistory

Traces of human settlement dating back to 40,000 BC were found near Lake Kezanoi. Cave paintings, artifacts, and other archaeological evidence indicate continuous habitation for some 8,000 years. People living in these settlements used tools, fire, and clothing made of animal skins.

The Caucasian Epipaleolithic and early Caucasian Neolithic era saw the introduction of agriculture, irrigation, and the domestication of animals in the region. Settlements near Ali-Yurt and Magas, discovered in modern times, revealed tools made out of stone: stone axes, polished stones, stone knives, stones with holes drilled in them, clay dishes etc. Settlements made out of clay bricks were discovered in the plains. In the mountains there were settlements made from stone and surrounded by walls; some of them dated back to 8000 BC. This period also saw the appearance of the wheel (3000 BC), horseback riding, metal works (copper, gold, silver, iron), dishes, armor, daggers, knives and arrow tips in the region. The artifacts were found near Nasare-Cort, Muzhichi, Ja-E-Bortz (alternatively known as Surkha-khi), Abbey-Gove (also known as Nazran or Nasare).

Pre-imperial era
The German scientist Peter Simon Pallas believed that the Vainakh people (Chechens and Ingush) were the direct descendants from Alania. In 1239, the Alania capital of Maghas and the Alan confederacy of the Northern Caucasian highlanders, nations, and tribes was destroyed by Batu Khan (a Mongol leader and a grandson of Genghis Khan).

According to the missionary Pian de Carpine, a part of the Alans had successfully resisted a Mongol siege on a mountain for 12 years:

"When they (the Mongols) begin to besiege a fortress, they besiege it for many years, as it happens today with one mountain in the land of the Alans. We believe they have been besieging it for twelve years and they (the Alans) put up courageous resistance and killed many Tatars, including many noble ones."

This twelve year old siege is not found in any other report, however the Russian historian A. I. Krasnov connected this battle with two Chechen folktales he recorded in 1967 that spoke of an old hunter named Idig who with his companions defended the Dakuoh mountain for 12 years against Tatar-Mongols. He also reported to have found several arrowheads and spears from the 13th century near the very mountain at which the battle took place:

"The next year, with the onset of summer, the enemy hordes came again to destroy the highlanders. But even this year they failed to capture the mountain, on which the brave Chechens settled down. The battle lasted twelve years. The main wealth of the Chechens – livestock – was stolen by the enemies. Tired of the long years of hard struggle, the Chechens, believing the assurances of mercy by the enemy, descended from the mountain, but the Mongol-Tatars treacherously killed the majority, and the rest were taken into slavery. This fate was escaped only by Idig and a few of his companions who did not trust the nomads and remained on the mountain. They managed to escape and leave Mount Dakuoh after 12 years of siege."

In the 14th and 15th centuries, there was frequent warfare between the Chechens, Tamerlane and Tokhtamysh, culminating in the Battle of the Terek River (see Tokhtamysh–Timur war). The Chechen tribes built fortresses, castles, and defensive walls, protecting the mountains from the invaders. Part of the lowland tribes were occupied by Mongols. However, during the mid-14th century a strong Chechen Princedom called Simsim emerged under Khour II, a Chechen king that led the Chechen politics and wars. He was in charge of an army of Chechens against the rogue warlord Mamai and defeated him in the Battle of Tatar-tup in 1362. The kingdom of Simsim was almost destroyed during the Timurid invasion of the Caucasus, when Khour II allied himself with the Golden Horde Khan Tokhtamysh in the Battle of the Terek River. Timur sought to punish the highlanders for their allegiance to Tokhtamysh and as a consequence invaded Simsim in 1395.

The 16th century saw the first Russian involvement in the Caucasus. In 1558, Temryuk of Kabarda sent his emissaries to Moscow requesting help from Ivan the Terrible against the Vainakh tribes. Ivan the Terrible married Temryuk's daughter Maria Temryukovna. An alliance was formed to gain the ground in the central Caucasus for the expanding Tsardom of Russia against stubborn Vainakh defenders. Chechnya was a nation in the Northern Caucasus that fought against foreign rule continually since the 15th century. Several Chechen leaders such as the 17th century Mehk-Da Aldaman Gheza led the Chechen politics and fought off encroachments of foreign powers. He defended the borders of Chechnya from invasions of Kabardinians and Avars during the Battle of Khachara in 1667. The Chechens converted over the next few centuries to Sunni Islam, as Islam was associated with resistance to Russian encroachment.

Imperial rule
Peter the Great first sought to increase Russia's political influence in the Caucasus and the Caspian Sea at the expense of Safavid Persia when he launched the Russo-Persian War of 1722–1723. Russian forces succeeded in taking much of the Caucasian territories from Iran for several years.

As the Russians took control of the Caspian corridor and moved into Persian-ruled Dagestan, Peter's forces ran into mountain tribes. Peter sent a cavalry force to subdue them, but the Chechens routed them. In 1732, after Russia already ceded back most of the Caucasus to Persia, now led by Nader Shah, following the Treaty of Resht, Russian troops clashed again with Chechens in a village called Chechen-aul along the Argun River. The Russians were defeated again and withdrew, but this battle is responsible for the apocryphal story about how the Nokchi came to be known as "Chechens" – the people ostensibly named for the place the battle had taken place. The name Chechen was however already used since as early as 1692.

Under intermittent Persian rule since 1555, in 1783 the eastern Georgians of Kartl-Kakheti led by Erekle II and Russia signed the Treaty of Georgievsk. According to this treaty, Kartl-Kakheti received protection from Russia, and Georgia abjured any dependence on Iran. In order to increase its influence in the Caucasus and to secure communications with Kartli and other Christian regions of the Transcaucasia which it considered useful in its wars against Persia and Turkey, the Russian Empire began conquering the Northern Caucasus mountains. The Russian Empire used Christianity to justify its conquests, allowing Islam to spread widely because it positioned itself as the religion of liberation from tsardom, which viewed Nakh tribes as "bandits". The rebellion was led by Mansur Ushurma, a Chechen Naqshbandi (Sufi) sheikh—with wavering military support from other North Caucasian tribes. Mansur hoped to establish a Transcaucasus Islamic state under sharia law. He was unable to fully achieve this because in the course of the war he was betrayed by the Ottomans, handed over to Russians, and executed in 1794.

Following the forced ceding of the current territories of Dagestan, most of Azerbaijan, and Georgia by Persia to Russia, following the Russo-Persian War of 1804–1813 and its resultant Treaty of Gulistan, Russia significantly widened its foothold in the Caucasus at the expense of Persia. Another successful Caucasus war against Persia several years later, starting in 1826 and ending in 1828 with the Treaty of Turkmenchay, and a successful war against Ottoman Turkey in 1828 and 1829, enabled Russia to use a much larger portion of its army in subduing the natives of the North Caucasus.

The resistance of the Nakh tribes never ended and was a fertile ground for a new Muslim-Avar commander, Imam Shamil, who fought against the Russians from 1834 to 1859 (see Murid War). In 1859, Shamil was captured by Russians at aul Gunib. Shamil left Baysangur of Benoa, a Chechen with one arm, one eye, and one leg, in charge of command at Gunib. Baysangur broke through the siege and continued to fight Russia for another two years until he was captured and killed by Russians. The Russian tsar hoped that by sparing the life of Shamil, the resistance in the North Caucasus would stop, but it did not. Russia began to use a colonization tactic by destroying Nakh settlements and building Cossack defense lines in the lowlands. The Cossacks suffered defeat after defeat and were constantly attacked by mountaineers, who were robbing them of food and weaponry.

The tsarists' regime used a different approach at the end of the 1860s. They offered Chechens and Ingush to leave the Caucasus for the Ottoman Empire (see Muhajir (Caucasus)). It is estimated that about 80% of Chechens and Ingush left the Caucasus during the deportation. It weakened the resistance which went from open warfare to insurgent warfare. One of the notable Chechen resistance fighters at the end of the 19th century was a Chechen abrek Zelimkhan Gushmazukaev and his comrade-in-arms Ingush abrek Sulom-Beck Sagopshinski. Together they built up small units which constantly harassed Russian military convoys, government mints, and government post-service, mainly in Ingushetia and Chechnya. Ingush aul Kek was completely burned when the Ingush refused to hand over Zelimkhan. Zelimkhan was killed at the beginning of the 20th century. The war between Nakh tribes and Russia resurfaced during the times of the Russian Revolution, which saw the Nakh struggle against Anton Denikin and later against the Soviet Union.

On 21 December 1917, Ingushetia, Chechnya, and Dagestan declared independence from Russia and formed a single state: "United Mountain Dwellers of the North Caucasus" (also known as the Mountainous Republic of the Northern Caucasus) which was recognized by major world powers. The capital of the new state was moved to Temir-Khan-Shura (Dagestan). Tapa Tchermoeff, a prominent Chechen statesman, was elected the first prime minister of the state. The second prime minister elected was Vassan-Girey Dzhabagiev, an Ingush statesman, who also was the author of the constitution of the republic in 1917, and in 1920 he was re-elected for the third term. In 1921 the Russians attacked and occupied the country and forcibly absorbed it into the Soviet state. The Caucasian war for independence restarted, and the government went into exile.

Soviet rule
During Soviet rule, Chechnya and Ingushetia were combined to form the Checheno-Ingush Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. In the 1930s, Chechnya was flooded with many Ukrainians fleeing a famine. As a result, many of the Ukrainians settled in Chechen-Ingush ASSR permanently and survived the famine. Although over 50,000 Chechens and over 12,000 Ingush were fighting against Nazi Germany on the front line (including Heroes of the USSR: Abukhadzhi Idrisov, Khanpasha Nuradilov, Movlid Visaitov), and although Nazi German troops advanced as far as the Ossetian ASSR city of Ordzhonikidze and the Chechen-Ingush ASSR city of Malgobek after capturing half of the Caucasus in less than a month, Chechens and Ingush were falsely accused as Nazi supporters and entire nations were deported during Operation Lentil to the Kazakh SSR (later Kazakhstan) in 1944 near the end of World War II where over 60% of Chechen and Ingush populations perished. American historian Norman Naimark writes:

"Troops assembled villagers and townspeople, loaded them onto trucks – many deportees remembered that they were Studebakers, fresh from Lend-Lease deliveries over the Iranian border – and delivered them at previously designated railheads. ... Those who could not be moved were shot. ... [A] few fighters aside, the entire Chechen and Ingush nations, 496,460 people, were deported from their homeland."

The deportation was justified by the materials prepared by NKVD officer Bogdan Kobulov accusing Chechens and Ingush in a mass conspiracy preparing rebellion and providing assistance to the German forces. Many of the materials were later proven to be fabricated. Even distinguished Red Army officers who fought bravely against Germans (e.g. the commander of 255th Separate Chechen-Ingush regiment Movlid Visaitov, the first to contact American forces at Elbe river) were deported. There is a theory that the real reason why Chechens and Ingush were deported was the desire of Russia to attack Turkey, an anti-communist country, as Chechens and Ingush could impede such plans. In 2004, the European Parliament recognized the deportation of Chechens and Ingush as an act of genocide.

The territory of the Chechen-Ingush Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic was divided between Stavropol Krai (where Grozny Okrug was formed), the Dagestan ASSR, the North Ossetian ASSR, and the Georgian SSR.

The Chechens and Ingush were allowed to return to their land after 1956 during de-Stalinisation under Nikita Khrushchev when the Chechen-Ingush ASSR was restored but with both the boundaries and ethnic composition of the territory significantly changed. There were many (predominantly Russian) migrants from other parts of the Soviet Union, who often settled in the abandoned family homes of Chechens and Ingushes. The republic lost its Prigorodny District which transferred to North Ossetian ASSR but gained predominantly Russian Naursky District and Shelkovskoy District that is considered the homeland for Terek Cossacks.

The Russification policies towards Chechens continued after 1956, with Russian language proficiency required in many aspects of life to provide Chechens better opportunities for advancement in the Soviet system.

On 26 November 1990, the Supreme Council of Chechen-Ingush ASSR adopted the "Declaration of State Sovereignty of the Chechen-Ingush Republic". This declaration was part of the reorganisation of the Soviet Union. This new treaty was to be signed 22 August 1991, which would have transformed 15 republic states into more than 80. The 19–21 August 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt led to the abandonment of this reorganisation.

With the impending dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, an independence movement, the Chechen National Congress, was formed, led by ex-Soviet Air Force general and new Chechen President Dzhokhar Dudayev. It campaigned for the recognition of Chechnya as a separate nation. This movement was opposed by Boris Yeltsin's Russian Federation, which argued that Chechnya had not been an independent entity within the Soviet Union—as the Baltic, Central Asian, and other Caucasian states such as Georgia had—but was part of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and hence did not have a right under the Soviet constitution to secede. It also argued that other republics of Russia, such as Tatarstan, would consider seceding from the Russian Federation if Chechnya were granted that right. Finally, it argued that Chechnya was a major hub in the oil infrastructure of Russia and hence its secession would hurt the country's economy and energy access.

During the Chechen Revolution, the Soviet Chechen leader Doku Zavgayev was overthrown and Dzhokhar Dudayev seized power. On 1 November 1991, Dudaev's Chechnya issued a unilateral declaration of independence. In the ensuing decade, the territory was locked in an ongoing struggle between various factions, usually fighting unconventionally.

Chechen Wars and brief independence

The First Chechen War, during which Russian forces attempted to regain control over Chechnya, took place from 1994 to 1996. Despite overwhelming numerical superiority in men, weaponry, and air support, the Russian forces were unable to establish effective permanent control over the mountainous area due to numerous successful full-scale battles and insurgency raids. The Budyonnovsk hospital hostage crisis in 1995 shocked the Russian public.

In April 1996, the first democratically elected president of Chechnya, Dzhokhar Dudayev, was killed by Russian forces using a booby trap bomb and a missile fired from a warplane after he was located by triangulating the position of a satellite phone he was using.

The widespread demoralisation of the Russian forces in the area and a successful offensive to re-take Grozny by Chechen rebel forces led by Aslan Maskhadov prompted Russian President Boris Yeltsin to declare a ceasefire in 1996, and sign a peace treaty a year later that saw a withdrawal of Russian forces.

After the war, parliamentary and presidential elections took place in January 1997 in Chechnya and brought to power new President Aslan Maskhadov, chief of staff and prime minister in the Chechen coalition government, for a five-year term. Maskhadov sought to maintain Chechen sovereignty while pressing the Russian government to help rebuild the republic, whose formal economy and infrastructure were virtually destroyed. Russia continued to send money for the rehabilitation of the republic; it also provided pensions and funds for schools and hospitals. Nearly half a million people (40% of Chechnya's prewar population) had been internally displaced and lived in refugee camps or overcrowded villages. There was an economic downturn. Two Russian brigades were permanently stationed in Chechnya.

In light of the devastated economic structure, kidnapping emerged as the principal source of income countrywide, procuring over US$200 million during the three-year independence of the chaotic fledgling state, although victims were rarely killed. In 1998, 176 people were kidnapped, 90 of whom were released, according to official accounts. President Maskhadov started a major campaign against hostage-takers, and on 25 October 1998, Shadid Bargishev, Chechnya's top anti-kidnapping official, was killed in a remote-controlled car bombing. Bargishev's colleagues then insisted they would not be intimidated by the attack and would go ahead with their offensive. Political violence and religious extremism, blamed on "Wahhabism", was rife. In 1998, Grozny authorities declared a state of emergency. Tensions led to open clashes between the Chechen National Guard and Islamist militants, such as the July 1998 confrontation in Gudermes.

The War of Dagestan began on 7 August 1999, during which the Islamic International Peacekeeping Brigade (IIPB) began an unsuccessful incursion into the neighboring Russian republic of Dagestan in favor of the Shura of Dagestan which sought independence from Russia. In September, a series of apartment bombs that killed around 300 people in several Russian cities, including Moscow, were blamed on the Chechen separatists. Some journalists contested the official explanation, instead blaming the Russian Secret Service for blowing up the buildings to initiate a new military campaign against Chechnya. In response to the bombings, a prolonged air campaign of retaliatory strikes against the Ichkerian regime and a ground offensive that began in October 1999 marked the beginning of the Second Chechen War. Much better organized and planned than the First Chechen War, the Russian armed forces took control of most regions. The Russian forces used brutal force, killing 60 Chechen civilians during a mop-up operation in Aldy, Chechnya on 5 February 2000. After the re-capture of Grozny in February 2000, the Ichkerian regime fell apart.

Post-war reconstruction and insurgency

Chechen separatists continued to fight Russian troops and conduct terror attacks. In October 2002, 40–50 Chechen rebels seized a Moscow theater and took about 900 civilians hostage. The crisis ended with 117 hostages and up to 50 rebels dead, mostly due to an unknown aerosol pumped into the building by Russian special forces to incapacitate the people inside.

In response to these attacks, Russia tightened its grip on Chechnya and expanded its anti-terrorist operations throughout the region. Russia installed a pro-Russian Chechen regime. In 2003, a referendum was held on a constitution that reintegrated Chechnya within Russia but provided limited autonomy. According to the Chechen government, the referendum passed with 95.5% of the votes and almost 80% turnout. The Economist was skeptical of the results, arguing that "few outside the Kremlin regard the referendum as fair".

In September 2004, separatist rebels occupied a school in the town of Beslan, North Ossetia, demanding recognition of the independence of Chechnya and a Russian withdrawal. 1,100 people (including 777 children) were taken hostage. The attack lasted three days, resulting in the deaths of over 331 people, including 186 children. After the 2004 school siege, Russian president Vladimir Putin announced sweeping security and political reforms, sealing borders in the Caucasus region and revealing plans to give the central government more power. He also vowed to take tougher action against domestic terrorism, including preemptive strikes against Chechen separatists. In 2005 and 2006, separatist leaders Aslan Maskhadov and Shamil Basayev were killed.

Since 2007, Chechnya has been governed by Ramzan Kadyrov. Kadyrov's rule has been characterized by high-level corruption, a poor human rights record, widespread use of torture, and a growing cult of personality. Allegations of anti-gay purges in Chechnya were initially reported on 1 April 2017.

In April 2009, Russia ended its counter-terrorism operation and pulled out the bulk of its army. The insurgency in the North Caucasus continued even after this date. The Caucasus Emirate had fully adopted the tenets of a Salafist jihadist group through its strict adherence to the Sunni Hanbali obedience to the literal interpretation of the Quran and the Sunnah.

The Chechen government has been outspoken in its support for the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, where a Chechen military force, the Kadyrovtsy, which is under Kadyrov's personal command, has played a leading role, notably in the Siege of Mariupol. Meanwhile, a substantial number of Chechen separatists have allied themselves to the Ukrainian cause and are fighting a mutual Russian enemy in the Donbas. In June 2022, the US State Department advised citizens not to travel to Chechnya, due to terrorism, kidnapping, and risk of civil unrest.

Geography

Situated in the eastern part of the North Caucasus in Eastern Europe, Chechnya is surrounded on nearly all sides by Russian Federal territory. In the west, it borders North Ossetia and Ingushetia, in the north, Stavropol Krai, in the east, Dagestan, and to the south, Georgia. Its capital is Grozny. Chechnya is well known for being mountainous, but it is in fact split between the more flat areas north of the Terek, and the highlands south of the Terek.
 * Area: 17,300 km2
 * Borders:
 * Internal:
 * Dagestan (NE)
 * Ingushetia (W)
 * North Ossetia–Alania (W)
 * Stavropol Krai (NW)
 * Foreign:
 * Georgia (Kakheti and Mtskheta-Mtianeti) (S)

Rivers:
 * Terek
 * Sunzha
 * Argun

Climate
Despite a relatively small territory, Chechnya is characterized by a variety of climate conditions. The average temperature in Grozny is 11.2 °C.

Cities and towns with over 20,000 people

 * Grozny (capital)
 * Shali
 * Urus-Martan
 * Gudermes
 * Argun
 * Kurchaloy
 * Achkoy-Martan

Administrative divisions
The Chechen Republic is divided into 15 districts and 3 cities of republican significance.

Demographics
According to the 2021 Census, the population of the republic is 1,510,824, up from 1,268,989 in the 2010 Census. As of the 2021 Census, Chechens at 1,456,792 make up 96.4% of the republic's population. Other groups include Russians (18,225, or 1.2%), Kumyks (12,184, or 0.8%) and a host of other small groups, each accounting for less than 0.5% of the total population The birth rate was 25.41 in 2004. (25.7 in Achkhoi Martan, 19.8 in Groznyy, 17.5 in Kurchaloi, 28.3 in Urus Martan and 11.1 in Vedeno).

The languages used in the Republic are Chechen and Russian. Chechen belongs to the Vaynakh or North-central Caucasian language family, which also includes Ingush and Batsb. Some scholars place it in a wider North Caucasian languages.

Life expectancy
Despite its difficult past, Chechnya has a high life expectancy, one of the highest in Russia. But the pattern of life expectancy is unusual, and in according to numerous statistics, Chechnya stands out from the overall picture. In 2020, Chechnya had the deepest fall in life expectancy, but in 2021 it had the biggest rise. Chechnya has the highest excess of life expectancy in rural areas over cities.

Vital statistics

 * Source: Fedstat (Суммарный коэффициент рождаемости)

Ethnic groups
(in the territory of modern Chechnya)

Islam

Sunni Islam is the predominant religion in Chechnya, practiced by 95% of those polled in Grozny in 2010. Most of the population is Sunni and follows either the Shafi'i or the Hanafi schools of fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence). The Shafi'i school of jurisprudence has a long tradition among the Chechens, and thus it remains the most practiced. Many Chechens are also Sufis, of either the Qadiri or Naqshbandi orders.

Following the end of the Soviet Union, there has been an Islamic revival in Chechnya, and in 2011 it was estimated that there were 465 mosques, including the Akhmad Kadyrov Mosque in Grozny accommodating 10,000 worshippers, as well 31 madrasas, including an Islamic university named Kunta-haji, the Kurchaloy Islamic Institute named Akhmad Kadyrov, and a Center of Islamic Medicine in Grozny which is the largest such institution in Europe. A supreme Islamic administrative territorial organisation in Chechnya is the Spiritual Administration of the Muslims of the Chechen Republic or the Muftiate of the Chechen Republic.

Christianity
From the 11th to 13th centuries (i.e. before Mongol invasions of Durdzuketia), there was a mission of Georgian Orthodox missionaries to the Nakh peoples. Their success was limited, though a couple of highland teips did convert (conversion was largely by teips). However, during the Mongol invasions, these Christianized teips gradually reverted to paganism, perhaps due to the loss of trans-Caucasian contacts as the Georgians fought the Mongols and briefly fell under their dominion.

The once-strong Russian minority in Chechnya, mostly Terek Cossacks and estimated as numbering approximately 25,000 in 2012, are predominantly Russian Orthodox, although currently only one church exists in Grozny. In August 2011, Archbishop Zosima of Vladikavkaz and Makhachkala performed the first mass baptism ceremony in the history of the Chechen Republic in the Terek River of Naursky District in which 35 citizens of Naursky and Shelkovsky districts were converted to Orthodoxy. As of 2020, there are eight Orthodox churches in Chechnya, the largest is the temple of the Archangel Michael in Grozny.

Politics
Since 1990, the Chechen Republic has had many legal, military, and civil conflicts involving separatist movements and pro-Russian authorities. Chechnya has enjoyed a period of relative stability under the Russian-appointed government, although there is still some separatist movement activity. Its regional constitution entered into effect on 2 April 2003, after an all-Chechen referendum was held on 23 March 2003. Some Chechens were controlled by regional teips, or clans, despite the existence of pro- and anti-Russian political structures.

Regional government

The former separatist religious leader (mufti) Akhmad Kadyrov, looked upon as a traitor by many separatists, was elected president with 83% of the vote in an internationally monitored election on 5 October 2003. Incidents of ballot stuffing and voter intimidation by Russian soldiers and the exclusion of separatist parties from the polls were subsequently reported by Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) monitors. On 9 May 2004, Kadyrov was assassinated in Grozny football stadium by a landmine explosion that was planted beneath a VIP stage and detonated during a parade, and Sergey Abramov was appointed acting prime minister after the incident. However, since 2005 Ramzan Kadyrov (son of Akhmad Kadyrov) has been the caretaker prime minister, and in 2007 was appointed as the new president. Many allege he is the wealthiest and most powerful man in the republic, with control over a large private militia (the Kadyrovites). The militia, which began as his father's security force, has been accused of killings and kidnappings by human rights organisations such as Human Rights Watch.

Separatist government
Ichkeria was a member of the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organisation between 1991 and 2010. Former president of Georgia, Zviad Gamsakhurdia, deposed in a military coup of 1991 and a participant of the Georgian Civil War, recognized the independence of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria in 1993. Diplomatic relations with Ichkeria were also established by the partially recognised Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan under the Taliban government on 16 January 2000. This recognition ceased with the fall of the Taliban in 2001. However, despite Taliban recognition, there were no friendly relations between the Taliban and Ichkeria—Maskhadov rejected their recognition, stating that the Taliban were illegitimate. Ichkeria also received vocal support from the Baltic countries, a group of Ukrainian nationalists, and Poland; Estonia once voted to recognize, but the act never was followed through due to pressure applied by both Russia and the EU.

The president of this government was Aslan Maskhadov, and the foreign minister was Ilyas Akhmadov, who was the spokesman for the president. Maskhadov had been elected for four years in an internationally monitored election in 1997, which took place after signing a peace agreement with Russia. In 2001, he issued a decree prolonging his office for one additional year; he was unable to participate in the 2003 presidential election since separatist parties were barred by the Russian government, and Maskhadov faced accusations of terrorist offenses in Russia. Maskhadov left Grozny and moved to the separatist-controlled areas of the south at the onset of the Second Chechen War. Maskhadov was unable to influence a number of warlords who retain effective control over Chechen territory, and his power was diminished as a result. Russian forces killed Maskhadov on 8 March 2005, and the assassination was widely criticized since it left no legitimate Chechen separatist leader with whom to conduct peace talks. Akhmed Zakayev, deputy prime minister and a foreign minister under Maskhadov, was appointed shortly after the 1997 election and is currently living under asylum in England. He and others chose Abdul Khalim Saidullayev, a relatively unknown Islamic judge who was previously the host of an Islamic program on Chechen television, to replace Maskhadov following his death. On 17 June 2006, it was reported that Russian special forces killed Abdul Khalim Saidullayev in a raid in the Chechen town of Argun. On 10 July 2006, Shamil Basayev, a leader of the Chechen rebel movement, was killed in a truck explosion during an arms deal.

The successor of Saidullayev became Doku Umarov. On 31 October 2007, Umarov abolished the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria and its presidency and in its place proclaimed the Caucasus Emirate with himself as its Emir. This change of status has been rejected by many Chechen politicians and military leaders who continue to support the existence of the republic.

During the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Ukrainian parliament voted to recognize the "Chechen Republic of Ichkeria as territory temporarily occupied by the Russian Federation".

Human rights
Тhe Internal Displacement Monitoring Center reports that after hundreds of thousands of ethnic Russians and Chechens fled their homes following inter-ethnic and separatist conflicts in Chechnya in 1994 and 1999, more than 150,000 people still remain displaced in Russia today.

Нuman rights groups criticized the conduct of the 2005 parliamentary elections as unfairly influenced by the central Russian government and military.

In 2006, Human Rights Watch reported that pro-Russian Chechen forces under the command of Ramzan Kadyrov, as well as federal police personnel, used torture to get information about separatist forces. "If you are detained in Chechnya, you face a real and immediate risk of torture. And there is little chance that your torturer will be held accountable", said Holly Cartner, Director of the Europe and Central Asia division of the Human Rights Watch.

In 2009, the US government financed American organization Freedom House included Chechnya in the "Worst of the Worst" list of most repressive societies in the world, together with Burma, North Korea, Tibet, and others. Memorial considers Chechnya under Kadyrov to be a totalitarian regime.

On 1 February 2009, The New York Times released extensive evidence to support allegations of consistent torture and executions under the Kadyrov government. The accusations were sparked by the assassination in Austria of a former Chechen rebel who had gained access to Kadyrov's inner circle, 27-year-old Umar Israilov.

On 1 July 2009, Amnesty International released a detailed report covering the human rights violations committed by the Russian Federation against Chechen citizens. Among the most prominent features was that those abused had no method of redress against assaults, ranging from kidnapping to torture, while those responsible were never held accountable. This led to the conclusion that Chechnya was being ruled without law, being run into further devastating destabilization.

On 10 March 2011, Human Rights Watch reported that since Chechenization, the government has pushed for enforced Islamic dress code. The president Ramzan Kadyrov is quoted as saying "I have the right to criticize my wife. She doesn't [have the right to criticize me]. With us [in Chechen society], a wife is a housewife. A woman should know her place. A woman should give her love to us [men]... She would be [man's] property. And the man is the owner. Here, if a woman does not behave properly, her husband, father, and brother are responsible. According to our tradition, if a woman fools around, her family members kill her... That's how it happens, a brother kills his sister or a husband kills his wife... As a president, I cannot allow for them to kill. So, let women not wear shorts...". He has also openly defended honor killings on several occasions.

On 9 July 2017, Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta reported that a number of people were extrajudicially executed on the night of 26 January 2017. It published a list of 27 names of the people known to be dead, but stressed that the list is "not all [of those killed]"; the newspaper asserted that 50 people may have been executed. Some of the dead were gay, but not all. The killings appeared to have been precipitated by the death of a policeman; according to the author of the report, Elena Milashina, the victims were executed for engaging in terrorism.

In December 2021, up to 50 family members of critics of the Kadyrov government were abducted in a wave of mass kidnappings beginning on 22 December.

In a case study published in 2021, Freedom House reported that Kadyrov also conducts a total transnational repression campaign against Chechen exiles outside of Russia, including assassinations of critics and digital intimidation.

LGBT rights
Although homosexuality is officially legal in Chechnya per Russian law, it is de facto illegal. Chechen authorities have reportedly arrested, imprisoned and killed persons based on their perceived sexual orientation.

In 2017, it was reported by Novaya Gazeta and human rights groups that Chechen authorities had set up concentration camps, one of which is in Argun, where gay men are interrogated and subjected to physical violence. On 27 June 2018, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe noted "cases of abduction, arbitrary detention and torture ... with the direct involvement of Chechen law enforcement officials and on the orders of top-level Chechen authorities" and expressed dismay "at the statements of Chechen and Russian public officials denying the existence of LGBTI people in the Chechen Republic". Kadyrov's spokesman Alvi Karimov told Interfax that gay people "simply do not exist in the republic" and made an approving reference to honor killings by family members "if there were such people in Chechnya". In a 2021 Council of Europe report into anti-LGBTI hate crimes, rapporteur Foura ben Chikha described the "state-sponsored attacks carried out against LGBTI people in Chechnya in 2017" as "the single most egregious example of violence against LGBTI people in Europe that has occurred in decades".

On 11 January 2019, it was reported that another "gay purge" had begun in the country in December 2018, with several men and women being detained. The Russian LGBT Network believes that around 40 people were detained and two killed.

Economy
During the First Chechen War, the Chechen economy fell apart. In 1994, the separatists planned to introduce a new currency, but the change did not occur due to the re-taking of Chechnya by Russian troops in the Second Chechen War.

The economic situation in Chechnya has improved considerably since 2000. According to the New York Times, major efforts to rebuild Grozny have been made, and improvements in the political situation have led some officials to consider setting up a tourism industry, though there are claims that construction workers are being irregularly paid and that poor people have been displaced.

Chechnya's unemployment was 67% in 2006 and fell to 21.5% in 2014.

Total revenue of the budget of Chechnya for 2017 was 59.2 billion rubles. Of these, 48.5 billion rubles were grants from the federal budget of the Russian Federation.

In late 1970s, Chechnya produced up to 20 million tons of oil annually, production declined sharply to approximately 3 million tons in the late 1980s, and to below 2 million tons before 1994, first (1994–1996) second Russian invasion of Chechnya (1999) inflicted material damage on the oil-sector infrastructure, oil production decreased to 750,000 tons in 2001 only to increase to 2 million tons in 2006, by 2012 production was 1 million tons.

Culture
The culture of Chechnya is based on the native traditions of Chechen people. Chechen mythology along with art have helped shape the culture for over 1,000 years.

From April 2024, all music must have a tempo between 80 and 116 beats per minute, to comply with Chechen traditions. Borrowing musical culture from other peoples is not allowed.

title: Chechnya


text:
Talk:Chechnya

"Chichan" listed at Redirects for discussion
The redirect [//en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Chichan&redirect=no Chichan] has been listed at redirects for discussion to determine whether its use and function meets the redirect guidelines. Readers of this page are welcome to comment on this redirect at  until a consensus is reached. signed,Rosguill talk 21:55, 5 April 2023 (UTC)

Flag of Israel overlay breaking the page
Someone clearly overlayed an image of the flag of Israel on mobile to break the functionality of the mobile page. I have no clue how to edit it out so I'm asking an experienced Wikipedia editor to fix it. Thanks! 96.224.19.11 (talk) 02:56, 16 September 2023 (UTC)

 * This is the result of vandalism, which has been reverted. I've purged the cache so it should be fixed now. Nardog (talk) 04:02, 16 September 2023 (UTC)

January 2024
@Mellk Regarding Akhmad Kadyrov, his description as "former Mufti" is factually correct and provides additional context about his background and influence in Chechnya. Taken directly from his page: "Akhmad-Khadzhi Abdulkhamidovich Kadyrov was a Russian politician and revolutionary who served as Chief Mufti of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria in the 1990s". Secondly, there is a lack of concrete evidence proving Kadyrov's participation in armed conflict to classify him definitively as a rebel.

The term "restored" implies a continuity of Russian control over Chechnya following the USSR's dissolution. Therefore, using "restored" inaccurately suggests a return to a previous state of Russian control which it did not have post USSR, ignoring the de-facto independence Chechnya exercised in those years. A term like "achieved" or "established" would more accurately reflect the reality that Russian control was an establishment of authority rather than a reinstatement of an uninterrupted status quo. Ola Tønningsberg (talk) 14:37, 28 January 2024 (UTC)

 * Saying "former rebel" is much more clearer that he switched sides. In regards to the term "restored", Chechnya declared independence in late 1991. It was part of the Russian SFSR. See for example: "Though the Republic split from the Chechno-Ingush ASSR and declared its independence from Russia in 1991, it was not until 1994 that the central government attempted to re-establish federal control over the region." Mellk (talk) 14:59, 28 January 2024 (UTC)
 * In that case writing "former Ichkerian mufti" is appropriate to indicate he switched sides. Ola Tønningsberg (talk) 02:16, 31 January 2024 (UTC)

Love u Ramzan kadro..from Pakistan
Pakistan 202.47.63.118 (talk) 17:22, 11 April 2024 (UTC)

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Talk:Chechnya


text:
Canonization

Canonization is the declaration of a deceased person as an officially recognized saint, specifically, the official act of a Christian communion declaring a person worthy of public veneration and entering their name in the canon catalogue of saints, or authorized list of that communion's recognized saints.

Catholic Church
Canonization is a papal declaration that the Catholic faithful may venerate a particular deceased member of the church. Popes began making such decrees in the tenth century. Up to that point, the local bishops governed the veneration of holy men and women within their own dioceses; and there may have been, for any particular saint, no formal decree at all. In subsequent centuries, the procedures became increasingly regularized and the Popes began restricting to themselves the right to declare someone a Catholic saint. In contemporary usage, the term is understood to refer to the act by which any Christian church declares that a person who has died is a saint, upon which declaration the person is included in the list of recognized saints, called the "canon".

Biblical roots
In the Roman Martyrology, the following entry is given for the Penitent Thief: "At Jerusalem, the commemoration of the good Thief, who confessed Christ on the cross, and deserved to hear from Him these words: 'This day thou shalt be with Me in paradise.'

Historical development
The Roman Rite's Canon of the Mass contains only the names of apostles and martyrs, along with that of the Blessed Virgin Mary and, since 1962, that of Saint Joseph her spouse.

By the fourth century, however, "confessors"—people who had confessed their faith not by dying but by word and life—began to be venerated publicly. Examples of such people are Saint Hilarion and Saint Ephrem the Syrian in the East, and Saint Martin of Tours and Saint Hilary of Poitiers in the West. Their names were inserted in the diptychs, the lists of saints explicitly venerated in the liturgy, and their tombs were honoured in like manner as those of the martyrs. Since the witness of their lives was not as unequivocal as that of the martyrs, they were venerated publicly only with the approval by the local bishop. This process is often referred to as "local canonization".

This approval was required even for veneration of a reputed martyr. In his history of the Donatist heresy, Saint Optatus recounts that at Carthage a Catholic matron, named Lucilla, incurred the censures of the Church for having kissed the relics of a reputed martyr whose claims to martyrdom had not been juridically proved. And Saint Cyprian (died 258) recommended that the utmost diligence be observed in investigating the claims of those who were said to have died for the faith. All the circumstances accompanying the martyrdom were to be inquired into; the faith of those who suffered, and the motives that animated them were to be rigorously examined, in order to prevent the recognition of undeserving persons. Evidence was sought from the court records of the trials or from people who had been present at the trials.

Augustine of Hippo (died 430) tells of the procedure which was followed in his day for the recognition of a martyr. The bishop of the diocese in which the martyrdom took place set up a canonical process for conducting the inquiry with the utmost severity. The acts of the process were sent either to the metropolitan or primate, who carefully examined the cause, and, after consultation with the suffragan bishops, declared whether the deceased was worthy of the name of "martyr" and public veneration.

Though not "canonizations" in the narrow sense, acts of formal recognition, such as the erection of an altar over the saint's tomb or transferring the saint's relics to a church, were preceded by formal inquiries into the sanctity of the person's life and the miracles attributed to that person's intercession.

Such acts of recognition of a saint were authoritative, in the strict sense, only for the diocese or ecclesiastical province for which they were issued, but with the spread of the fame of a saint, were often accepted elsewhere also.

Nature
In the Catholic Church, both in the Latin and the constituent Eastern churches, the act of canonization is reserved to the Apostolic See and occurs at the conclusion of a long process requiring extensive proof that the candidate for canonization lived and died in such an exemplary and holy way that they are worthy to be recognized as a saint. The Church's official recognition of sanctity implies that the person is now in Heaven and that they may be publicly invoked and mentioned officially in the liturgy of the Church, including in the Litany of the Saints.

In the Catholic Church, canonization is a decree that allows universal veneration of the saint. For permission to venerate merely locally, only beatification is needed.

Procedure prior to reservation to the Apostolic See

For several centuries the bishops, or in some places only the primates and patriarchs, could grant martyrs and confessors public ecclesiastical honor; such honor, however, was always decreed only for the local territory of which the grantors had jurisdiction. Only acceptance of the cultus by the Pope made the cultus universal, because he alone can rule the universal Catholic Church. Abuses, however, crept into this discipline, due as well to indiscretions of popular fervor as to the negligence of some bishops in inquiring into the lives of those whom they permitted to be honoured as saints.

In the Medieval West, the Apostolic See was asked to intervene in the question of canonizations so as to ensure more authoritative decisions. The canonization of Saint Udalric, Bishop of Augsburg by Pope John XV in 993 was the first undoubted example of papal canonization of a saint from outside of Rome being declared worthy of liturgical veneration for the entire church.

Thereafter, recourse to the judgment of the Pope occurred more frequently. Toward the end of the 11th century, the Popes began asserting their exclusive right to authorize the veneration of a saint against the older rights of bishops to do so for their dioceses and regions. Popes therefore decreed that the virtues and miracles of persons proposed for public veneration should be examined in councils, more specifically in general councils. Pope Urban II, Pope Calixtus II, and Pope Eugene III conformed to this discipline.

Exclusive reservation to the Apostolic See
Hugh de Boves, Archbishop of Rouen, canonized Walter of Pontoise, or St. Gaultier, in 1153, the final saint in Western Europe to be canonized by an authority other than the Pope: "The last case of canonization by a metropolitan is said to have been that of St. Gaultier, or Gaucher, [A]bbot of Pontoise, by the Archbishop of Rouen. A decree of Pope Alexander III [in] 1170 gave the prerogative to the [P]ope thenceforth, so far as the Western Church was concerned." In a decretal of 1173, Pope Alexander III reprimanded some bishops for permitting veneration of a man who was merely killed while intoxicated, prohibited veneration of the man, and most significantly decreed that "you shall not therefore presume to honor him in the future; for, even if miracles were worked through him, it is not lawful for you to venerate him as a saint without the authority of the Catholic Church." Theologians disagree as to the full import of the decretal of Pope Alexander III: either a new law was instituted, in which case the Pope then for the first time reserved the right of beatification to himself, or an existing law was confirmed.

However, the procedure initiated by the decretal of Pope Alexander III was confirmed by a bull of Pope Innocent III issued on the occasion of the canonization of Cunigunde of Luxembourg in 1200. The bull of Pope Innocent III resulted in increasingly elaborate inquiries to the Apostolic See concerning canonizations. Because the decretal of Pope Alexander III did not end all controversy and some bishops did not obey it in so far as it regarded beatification, the right of which they had certainly possessed hitherto, Pope Urban VIII issued the Apostolic letter Caelestis Hierusalem cives of 5 July 1634 that exclusively reserved to the Apostolic See both its immemorial right of canonization and that of beatification. He further regulated both of these acts by issuing his Decreta servanda in beatificatione et canonizatione Sanctorum on 12 March 1642.

Procedure from 1734 to 1738 to 1983
In his De Servorum Dei beatificatione et de Beatorum canonizatione of five volumes the eminent canonist Prospero Lambertini (1675–1758), who later became Pope Benedict XIV, elaborated on the procedural norms of Pope Urban VIII's Apostolic letter Caelestis Hierusalem cives of 1634 and Decreta servanda in beatificatione et canonizatione Sanctorum of 1642, and on the conventional practice of the time. His work published from 1734 to 1738 governed the proceedings until 1917. The article "Beatification and canonization process in 1914" describes the procedures followed until the promulgation of the Codex of 1917. The substance of De Servorum Dei beatifιcatione et de Beatorum canonizatione was incorporated into the Codex Iuris Canonici (Code of Canon Law) of 1917, which governed until the promulgation of the revised Codex Iuris Canonici in 1983 by Pope John Paul II. Prior to promulgation of the revised Codex in 1983, Pope Paul VI initiated a simplification of the procedures.

Since 1983
The Apostolic constitution Divinus Perfectionis Magister of Pope John Paul II of 25 January 1983 and the norms issued by the Congregation for the Causes of Saints on 7 February 1983 to implement the constitution in dioceses, continued the simplification of the process initiated by Pope Paul VI. Contrary to popular belief, the reforms did not eliminate the office of the Promoter of the Faith (Latin: Promotor Fidei), popularly known as the Devil's advocate, whose office is to question the material presented in favor of canonization. The reforms were intended to reduce the adversarial nature of the process. In November 2012 Pope Benedict XVI appointed Monsignor Carmello Pellegrino as Promoter of the Faith.

Candidates for canonization undergo the following process: 1. Servant of God (Servus Dei): The process of canonization commences at the diocesan level. A bishop with jurisdiction, usually the bishop of the place where the candidate died or is buried, although another ordinary can be given this authority, gives permission to open an investigation into the virtues of the individual in response to a petition of members of the faithful, either actually or pro forma. This investigation usually commences no sooner than five years after the death of the person being investigated. The Pope, qua Bishop of Rome, may also open a process and has the authority to waive the waiting period of five years, e.g., as was done for St. Teresa of Calcutta by Pope John Paul II, and for Lúcia Santos and for Pope John Paul II himself by Pope Benedict XVI. Normally, an association to promote the cause of the candidate is instituted, an exhaustive search of the candidate's writings, speeches, and sermons is undertaken, a detailed biography is written, and eyewitness accounts are collected. When sufficient evidence has been collected, the local bishop presents the investigation of the candidate, who is titled "Servant of God" (Latin: Servus Dei), to the Congregation for the Causes of the Saints of the Roman Curia, where the cause is assigned a postulator, whose office is to collect further evidence of the life of the Servant of God. Religious orders that regularly deal with the Congregation often designate their own Postulator General. At some time, permission is then granted for the body of the Servant of God to be exhumed and examined. A certification non-cultus is made that no superstitious or heretical worship, or improper cult of the Servant of God or her/his tomb has emerged, and relics are taken and preserved.

2. Venerable (Venerabilis; abbreviated "Ven.") or "Heroic in Virtue": When sufficient evidence has been collected, the Congregation recommends to the Pope that he proclaim the heroic virtue of the Servant of God; that is, that the Servant of God exercised "to a heroic degree" the theological virtues of faith, hope, and charity and the cardinal virtues of prudence, justice, fortitude, and temperance. From this time the one said to be "heroic in virtue" is entitled "Venerable" (Latin: Venerabilis). A Venerable does not yet have a feast day, permission to erect churches in their honor has not yet been granted, and the Church does not yet issue a statement on their probable or certain presence in Heaven, but prayer cards and other materials may be printed to encourage the faithful to pray for a miracle wrought by their intercession as a sign of God's will that the person be canonized.

3. Blessed (Beatus or Beata; abbreviated "Bl."): Beatification is a statement of the Church that it is "worthy of belief" that the Venerable is in Heaven and saved. Attaining this grade depends on whether the Venerable is a martyr:• For a martyr, the Pope has only to make a declaration of martyrdom, which is a certification that the Venerable gave their life voluntarily as a witness of the Faith or in an act of heroic charity for others.

• For a non-martyr, all of them being denominated "confessors" because they "confessed", i.e., bore witness to the Faith by how they lived, proof is required of the occurrence of a miracle through the intercession of the Venerable; that is, that God granted a sign that the person is enjoying the beatific vision by performing a miracle for which the Venerable interceded. Presently, these miracles are almost always miraculous cures of infirmity, because these are the easiest to judge given the Church's evidentiary requirements for miracles; e.g., a patient was sick with an illness for which no cure was known; prayers were directed to the Venerable; the patient was cured; the cure was spontaneous, instantaneous, complete, and enduring; and physicians cannot discover any natural explanation for the cure. The satisfaction of the applicable conditions permits beatification, which then bestows on the Venerable the title of "Blessed" (Latin: Beatus or Beata). A feast day will be designated, but its observance is ordinarily only permitted for the Blessed's home diocese, to specific locations associated with them, or to the churches or houses of the Blessed's religious order if they belonged to one. Parishes may not normally be named in honor of beati.

4. Saint (Sanctus or Sancta; abbreviated "St." or "S."): To be canonized as a saint, ordinarily at least two miracles must have been performed through the intercession of the Blessed after their death, but for beati confessors, i.e., beati who were not declared martyrs, only one miracle is required, ordinarily being additional to that upon which beatification was premised. Very rarely, a Pope may waive the requirement for a second miracle after beatification if he, the Sacred College of Cardinals, and the Congregation for the Causes of Saints all agree that the Blessed lived a life of great merit proven by certain actions. This extraordinary procedure was used in Pope Francis' canonization of Pope John XXIII, who convoked the first part of the Second Vatican Council.

Canonization is a statement of the Church that the person certainly enjoys the beatific vision of Heaven. The title of "Saint" (Latin: Sanctus or Sancta) is then proper, reflecting that the saint is a refulgence of the holiness (sanctitas) of God himself, which alone comes from God's gift. The saint is assigned a feast day which may be celebrated anywhere in the universal Church, although it is not necessarily added to the General Roman Calendar or local calendars as an "obligatory" feast; parish churches may be erected in their honor; and the faithful may freely celebrate and honor the saint.

Although recognition of sainthood by the Pope does not directly concern a fact of Divine revelation, nonetheless it must be "definitively held" by the faithful as infallible pursuant to, at the least, the Universal Magisterium of the Church, because it is a truth related to revelation by historical necessity.

Equipollent canonization
Popes have several times permitted to the universal Church, without executing the ordinary judicial process of canonization described above, the veneration as a saint, the "cultus" of one long venerated as such locally. This act of a Pope is denominated "equipollent" or "equivalent canonization" and "confirmation of cultus". In such cases, there is no need to have a miracle attributed to the saint to allow their canonization. According to the rules Pope Benedict XIV (regnat 17 August 1740 – 3 May 1758) instituted, there are three conditions for an equipollent canonization: (1) existence of an ancient cultus of the person, (2) a general and constant attestation to the virtues or martyrdom of the person by credible historians, and (3) uninterrupted fame of the person as a worker of miracles.

Protestant denominations
The majority of Protestant denominations do not formally recognize saints because the Bible uses the term in a way that suggests all Christians are saints. However, some denominations do, as shown below.

Anglican Communion
The Church of England, the Mother Church of the Anglican Communion, canonized Charles I as a saint, in the Convocations of Canterbury and York of 1660.

United Methodist Church
The General Conference of the United Methodist Church has formally declared individuals martyrs, including Dietrich Bonhoeffer (in 2008) and Martin Luther King Jr. (in 2012).

Eastern Orthodox Church

Various terms are used for canonization by the autocephalous Eastern Orthodox Churches: канонизация ("canonization") or прославление ("glorification", in the Russian Orthodox Church), კანონიზაცია (kanonizats’ia, Georgian Orthodox Church), канонизација (Serbian Orthodox Church), canonizare (Romanian Orthodox Church), and Канонизация (Bulgarian Orthodox Church). Additional terms are used for canonization by other autocephalous Eastern Orthodox Churches: αγιοκατάταξη (Katharevousa: ἁγιοκατάταξις) agiokatataxi/agiokatataxis, "ranking among saints" (Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, Church of Cyprus, Church of Greece), kanonizim (Albanian Orthodox Church), kanonizacja (Polish Orthodox Church), and kanonizace/kanonizácia (Czech and Slovak Orthodox Church).

The Orthodox Church in America, an Eastern Orthodox Church partly recognized as autocephalous, uses the term "glorification" for the official recognition of a person as a saint.

Oriental Orthodox Church
Within the Armenian Apostolic Church, part of Oriental Orthodoxy, there had been discussions since the 1980s about canonizing the victims of the Armenian genocide. On 23 April 2015, all of the victims of the genocide were canonized.

Catholic Church

 * Divinus Perfectionis Magister – Apostolic Constitution of Pope John Paul II (English)
 * Congregation for the Causes of Saints – Vatican Website
 * Historical Sketch of Canonization – Friarsminor.org

title: Canonization


text:
Carboxylic acid

In organic chemistry, a carboxylic acid is an organic acid that contains a carboxyl group (\sC(\dO)\sOH) attached to an R-group. The general formula of a carboxylic acid is often written as R\sCOOH or R\sCO2H, sometimes as R\sC(O)OH with R referring to an organyl group (e.g., alkyl, alkenyl, aryl), or hydrogen, or other groups. Carboxylic acids occur widely. Important examples include the amino acids and fatty acids. Deprotonation of a carboxylic acid gives a carboxylate anion.

Examples and nomenclature
Carboxylic acids are commonly identified by their trivial names. They often have the suffix -ic acid. IUPAC-recommended names also exist; in this system, carboxylic acids have an -oic acid suffix. For example, butyric acid (CH3CH2CH2CO2H) is butanoic acid by IUPAC guidelines. For nomenclature of complex molecules containing a carboxylic acid, the carboxyl can be considered position one of the parent chain even if there are other substituents, such as 3-chloropropanoic acid. Alternately, it can be named as a "carboxy" or "carboxylic acid" substituent on another parent structure, such as 2-carboxyfuran.

The carboxylate anion (R\sCOO− or R\sCO2−) of a carboxylic acid is usually named with the suffix -ate, in keeping with the general pattern of -ic acid and -ate for a conjugate acid and its conjugate base, respectively. For example, the conjugate base of acetic acid is acetate.

Carbonic acid, which occurs in bicarbonate buffer systems in nature, is not generally classed as one of the carboxylic acids, despite that it has a moiety that looks like a COOH group.

Solubility
Carboxylic acids are polar. Because they are both hydrogen-bond acceptors (the carbonyl \sC(\dO)\s) and hydrogen-bond donors (the hydroxyl \sOH), they also participate in hydrogen bonding. Together, the hydroxyl and carbonyl group form the functional group carboxyl. Carboxylic acids usually exist as dimers in nonpolar media due to their tendency to "self-associate". Smaller carboxylic acids (1 to 5 carbons) are soluble in water, whereas bigger carboxylic acids have limited solubility due to the increasing hydrophobic nature of the alkyl chain. These longer chain acids tend to be soluble in less-polar solvents such as ethers and alcohols. Aqueous sodium hydroxide and carboxylic acids, even hydrophobic ones, react to yield water-soluble sodium salts. For example, enanthic acid has a low solubility in water (0.2 g/L), but its sodium salt is very soluble in water.
 * Solubility in different environments.jpg

Boiling points
Carboxylic acids tend to have higher boiling points than water, because of their greater surface areas and their tendency to form stabilized dimers through hydrogen bonds. For boiling to occur, either the dimer bonds must be broken or the entire dimer arrangement must be vaporized, increasing the enthalpy of vaporization requirements significantly.
 * Carboxylic acid dimers.png|alt=|none]]

Acidity
Carboxylic acids are Brønsted–Lowry acids because they are proton (H+) donors. They are the most common type of organic acid.

Carboxylic acids are typically weak acids, meaning that they only partially dissociate into [H3O]+ cations and R\sCO2− anions in neutral aqueous solution. For example, at room temperature, in a 1-molar solution of acetic acid, only 0.001% of the acid are dissociated (i.e. 10−5 moles out of 1 mol). Electron-withdrawing substituents, such as -CF3 group, give stronger acids (the pKa of acetic acid is 4.76 whereas trifluoroacetic acid, with a trifluoromethyl substituent, has a pKa of 0.23). Electron-donating substituents give weaker acids (the pKa of formic acid is 3.75 whereas acetic acid, with a methyl substituent, has a pKa of 4.76) Deprotonation of carboxylic acids gives carboxylate anions; these are resonance stabilized, because the negative charge is delocalized over the two oxygen atoms, increasing the stability of the anion. Each of the carbon–oxygen bonds in the carboxylate anion has a partial double-bond character. The carbonyl carbon's partial positive charge is also weakened by the -1/2 negative charges on the 2 oxygen atoms.

Odour
Carboxylic acids often have strong sour odours. Esters of carboxylic acids tend to have fruity, pleasant odours, and many are used in perfume.

Characterization
Carboxylic acids are readily identified as such by infrared spectroscopy. They exhibit a sharp band associated with vibration of the C=O carbonyl bond (νundefined) between 1680 and 1725 cm−1. A characteristic νO–H band appears as a broad peak in the 2500 to 3000 cm−1 region. By 1H NMR spectrometry, the hydroxyl hydrogen appears in the 10–13 ppm region, although it is often either broadened or not observed owing to exchange with traces of water.

Occurrence and applications
Many carboxylic acids are produced industrially on a large scale. They are also frequently found in nature. Esters of fatty acids are the main components of lipids and polyamides of aminocarboxylic acids are the main components of proteins.

Carboxylic acids are used in the production of polymers, pharmaceuticals, solvents, and food additives. Industrially important carboxylic acids include acetic acid (component of vinegar, precursor to solvents and coatings), acrylic and methacrylic acids (precursors to polymers, adhesives), adipic acid (polymers), citric acid (a flavor and preservative in food and beverages), ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (chelating agent), fatty acids (coatings), maleic acid (polymers), propionic acid (food preservative), terephthalic acid (polymers). Important carboxylate salts are soaps.

Industrial routes
In general, industrial routes to carboxylic acids differ from those used on a smaller scale because they require specialized equipment.
 * Carbonylation of alcohols as illustrated by the Cativa process for the production of acetic acid. Formic acid is prepared by a different carbonylation pathway, also starting from methanol.
 * Oxidation of aldehydes with air using cobalt and manganese catalysts. The required aldehydes are readily obtained from alkenes by hydroformylation.
 * Oxidation of hydrocarbons using air. For simple alkanes, this method is inexpensive but not selective enough to be useful. Allylic and benzylic compounds undergo more selective oxidations. Alkyl groups on a benzene ring are oxidized to the carboxylic acid, regardless of its chain length. Benzoic acid from toluene, terephthalic acid from para-xylene, and phthalic acid from ortho-xylene are illustrative large-scale conversions. Acrylic acid is generated from propene.
 * Oxidation of ethene using silicotungstic acid catalyst.
 * Base-catalyzed dehydrogenation of alcohols.
 * Carbonylation coupled to the addition of water. This method is effective and versatile for alkenes that generate secondary and tertiary carbocations, e.g. isobutylene to pivalic acid. In the Koch reaction, the addition of water and carbon monoxide to alkenes or alkynes is catalyzed by strong acids. Hydrocarboxylations involve the simultaneous addition of water and CO. Such reactions are sometimes called "Reppe chemistry."
 * HC\tCH + CO + H2O → CH2\dCH\sCO2H

 * Hydrolysis of triglycerides obtained from plant or animal oils. These methods of synthesizing some long-chain carboxylic acids are related to soap making.
 * Fermentation of ethanol. This method is used in the production of vinegar.
 * The Kolbe–Schmitt reaction provides a route to salicylic acid, precursor to aspirin.

Laboratory methods
Preparative methods for small scale reactions for research or for production of fine chemicals often employ expensive consumable reagents.
 * Oxidation of primary alcohols or aldehydes with strong oxidants such as potassium dichromate, Jones reagent, potassium permanganate, or sodium chlorite. The method is more suitable for laboratory conditions than the industrial use of air, which is "greener" because it yields less inorganic side products such as chromium or manganese oxides.
 * Oxidative cleavage of olefins by ozonolysis, potassium permanganate, or potassium dichromate.
 * Hydrolysis of nitriles, esters, or amides, usually with acid- or base-catalysis.
 * Carbonation of a Grignard reagent and organolithium reagents:
 * RLi + CO2 → RCO2−Li+
 * RCO2−Li+ + HCl → RCO2H + LiCl

 * Halogenation followed by hydrolysis of methyl ketones in the haloform reaction
 * Base-catalyzed cleavage of non-enolizable ketones, especially aryl ketones:
 * R\sC(\dO)\sAr + H2O → R\sCO2H + ArH

Less-common reactions
Many reactions produce carboxylic acids but are used only in specific cases or are mainly of academic interest.
 * Disproportionation of an aldehyde in the Cannizzaro reaction
 * Rearrangement of diketones in the benzilic acid rearrangement
 * Involving the generation of benzoic acids are the von Richter reaction from nitrobenzenes and the Kolbe–Schmitt reaction from phenols.

Reactions

The most widely practiced reactions convert carboxylic acids into esters, amides, carboxylate salts, acid chlorides, and alcohols. Carboxylic acids react with bases to form carboxylate salts, in which the hydrogen of the hydroxyl (–OH) group is replaced with a metal cation. For example, acetic acid found in vinegar reacts with sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) to form sodium acetate, carbon dioxide, and water:
 * CH3COOH + NaHCO3 → CH3COO−Na+ + CO2 + H2O

Carboxylic acids also react with alcohols to give esters. This process is widely used, e.g. in the production of polyesters. Likewise, carboxylic acids are converted into amides, but this conversion typically does not occur by direct reaction of the carboxylic acid and the amine. Instead esters are typical precursors to amides. The conversion of amino acids into peptides is a significant biochemical process that requires ATP.

The hydroxyl group on carboxylic acids may be replaced with a chlorine atom using thionyl chloride to give acyl chlorides. In nature, carboxylic acids are converted to thioesters.

Reduction
Like esters, most carboxylic acids can be reduced to alcohols by hydrogenation, or using hydride transferring agents such as lithium aluminium hydride. Strong alkyl transferring agents, such as organolithium compounds but not Grignard reagents, will reduce carboxylic acids to ketones along with transfer of the alkyl group.

Vilsmaier reagent (N,N-Dimethyl(chloromethylene)ammonium chloride [ClHC\dN+(CH3)2]Cl−) is a highly chemoselective agent for carboxylic acid reduction. It selectively activates the carboxylic acid to give the carboxymethyleneammonium salt, which can be reduced by a mild reductant like lithium tris(t-butoxy)aluminum hydride to afford an aldehyde in a one pot procedure. This procedure is known to tolerate reactive carbonyl functionalities such as ketone as well as moderately reactive ester, olefin, nitrile, and halide moieties.

Specialized reactions

 * As with all carbonyl compounds, the protons on the α-carbon are labile due to keto–enol tautomerization. Thus, the α-carbon is easily halogenated in the Hell–Volhard–Zelinsky halogenation.
 * The Schmidt reaction converts carboxylic acids to amines.
 * Carboxylic acids are decarboxylated in the Hunsdiecker reaction.
 * The Dakin–West reaction converts an amino acid to the corresponding amino ketone.
 * In the Barbier–Wieland degradation, a carboxylic acid on an aliphatic chain having a simple methylene bridge at the alpha position can have the chain shortened by one carbon. The inverse procedure is the Arndt–Eistert synthesis, where an acid is converted into acyl halide, which is then reacted with diazomethane to give one additional methylene in the aliphatic chain.
 * Many acids undergo oxidative decarboxylation. Enzymes that catalyze these reactions are known as carboxylases (EC 6.4.1) and decarboxylases (EC 4.1.1).
 * Carboxylic acids are reduced to aldehydes via the ester and DIBAL, via the acid chloride in the Rosenmund reduction and via the thioester in the Fukuyama reduction.
 * In ketonic decarboxylation carboxylic acids are converted to ketones.
 * Organolithium reagents (>2 equiv) react with carboxylic acids to give a dilithium 1,1-diolate, a stable tetrahedral intermediate which decomposes to give a ketone upon acidic workup.
 * The Kolbe electrolysis is an electrolytic, decarboxylative dimerization reaction. It gets rid of the carboxyl groups of two acid molecules, and joins the remaining fragments together.

Carboxyl radical
The carboxyl radical, •COOH, only exists briefly. The acid dissociation constant of •COOH has been measured using electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy. The carboxyl group tends to dimerise to form oxalic acid.

title: Carboxylic acid


text:
Chernobyl

Chernobyl (, ; Чернобыль, ) or Chornobyl (Чорнобиль, ) is a partially abandoned city in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, situated in the Vyshhorod Raion of northern Kyiv Oblast, Ukraine. Chernobyl is about 90 km north of Kyiv, and 160 km southwest of the Belarusian city of Gomel. Before its evacuation, the city had about 14,000 residents (considerably less than neighboring Pripyat). While living anywhere within the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone is technically illegal today, authorities tolerate those who choose to live within some of the less irradiated areas, and an estimated 150 people live in Chernobyl in 2020.

First mentioned as a ducal hunting lodge in 1193, the city has changed hands multiple times over the course of history. Jews moved into the city in the 16th century, and a now-defunct monastery was established in the area in 1626. By the end of the 18th century, Chernobyl was a major centre of Hasidic Judaism under the Twersky Dynasty, which left Chernobyl after the city was subjected to pogroms in the early 20th century. The Jewish community was later murdered during the Holocaust. Chernobyl was chosen as the site of Ukraine's first nuclear power plant in 1972, located 15 km north of the city, which opened in 1977. Chernobyl was evacuated on 5 May 1986, nine days after a catastrophic nuclear disaster at the plant, which was the largest nuclear disaster in history. Along with the residents of the nearby city of Pripyat, which was built as a home for the plant's workers, the population was relocated to the newly built city of Slavutych, and most have never returned.

The city was the administrative centre of Chernobyl Raion (district) from 1923. After the disaster, in 1988, the raion was dissolved and administration was transferred to the neighbouring Ivankiv Raion. The raion was abolished on 18 July 2020 as part of the administrative reform of Ukraine, which reduced the number of raions of Kyiv Oblast to seven. The area of Ivankiv Raion was merged into Vyshhorod Raion.

Although Chernobyl is primarily a ghost town today, a small number of people still live there, in houses marked with signs that read, "Owner of this house lives here", and a small number of animals live there as well. Workers on watch and administrative personnel of the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone are also stationed in the city. The city has two general stores and a hotel.

During the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Chernobyl was temporarily captured and occupied by Russian forces between 24 February and 2 April. After its capture, it was reported that radiation levels temporarily rose, due to human activities, including earthworks, which disturbed the dust.

Etymology
The city's name is the same as one of the Ukrainian names for Artemisia vulgaris, mugwort or common wormwood: чорнобиль (or more commonly полин звичайний, 'common artemisia'). The name is inherited from or, a compound of  + , the parts related to чорний and било , 'stalk', so named in distinction to the lighter-stemmed wormwood A. absinthium.

The name in languages used nearby is:
 * Чорнобиль,
 * Чарнобыль,
 * Черно́быль,.

The name in languages formerly used in the area is: In English, the Russian-derived spelling Chernobyl has been commonly used, but some style guides recommend the spelling Chornobyl, or the use of romanized Ukrainian names for Ukrainian places generally.
 * Czarnobyl,
 * טשערנאָבל,.

History

The Polish Geographical Dictionary of the Kingdom of Poland of 1880–1902 states that the time the city was founded is not known.

Identity of Ptolemy's "Azagarium"
Some older geographical dictionaries and descriptions of modern Eastern Europe mention "Czernobol" (Chernobyl) with reference to Ptolemy's world map (2nd century AD). Czernobol is identified as Azagarium "oppidium Sarmatiae" (Lat., "a city in Sarmatia"), by the 1605 Lexicon geographicum of Filippo Ferrari and the 1677 Lexicon Universale of Johann Jakob Hofmann. According to the Dictionary of Ancient Geography of Alexander Macbean (London, 1773), Azagarium is "a town of Sarmatia Europaea, on the Borysthenes" (Dnieper), 36° East longitude and 50°40' latitude. The city is "now supposed to be Czernobol, a town of Poland, in Red Russia [ Red Ruthenia], in the Palatinate of Kiow [ Kiev Voivodeship], not far from the Borysthenes."

Whether Azagarium is indeed Czernobol is debatable. The question of Azagarium's correct location was raised in 1842 by Habsburg-Slovak historian, Pavel Jozef Šafárik, who published a book titled "Slavic Ancient History" ("Sławiańskie starożytności"), where he claimed Azagarium to be the hill of Zaguryna, which he found on an old Russian map "Bolzoj czertez" (Big drawing) near the city of Pereiaslav, now in central Ukraine.

In 2019, Ukrainian architect Boris Yerofalov-Pylypchak published a book, Roman Kyiv or Castrum Azagarium at Kyiv-Podil.

12th to 18th century
The archaeological excavations that were conducted in 2005–2008 found a cultural layer from the 10–12th centuries AD, which predates the first documentary mention of Chernobyl.

Around the 12th century Chernobyl was part of the land of Kievan Rus′. The first known mention of the settlement as Chernobyl is from an 1193 charter, which describes it as a hunting lodge of Knyaz Rurik Rostislavich. In 1362 it was a crown village of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Around that time the town had own castle which was ruined at least on two occasions in 1473 and 1482. The Chernobyl castle was rebuilt in the first quarter of the 16th century being located nearby the settlement in a hard to reach area. With revival of the castle, Chernobyl became a county seat. In 1552 it accounted for 196 buildings with 1,372 residents, out of which over 1,160 were considered city dwellers. In the city were developing various crafts professions such as blacksmith, cooper among others. Near Chernobyl has been excavated bog iron, out of which was produced iron. The village was granted to Filon Kmita, a captain of the royal cavalry, as a fiefdom in 1566. Following the Union of Lublin, the province where Chernobyl is located was transferred to the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland in 1569. Under the Polish Crown, Chernobyl became a seat of eldership (starostwo). During that period Chernobyl was inhabited by Ukrainian peasants, some Polish people and a relatively large number of Jews. Jews were brought to Chernobyl by Filon Kmita, during the Polish campaign of colonization. The first mentioning of Jewish community in Chernobyl is in the 17th century. In 1600 the first Roman Catholic church was built in the town. Local population was persecuted for holding Eastern Orthodox rite services. The traditionally Eastern Orthodox Ukrainian peasantry around the town were forcibly converted, by Poland, to the Ruthenian Uniate Church. In 1626, during the Counter-reformation, a Dominican church and monastery were founded by Lukasz Sapieha. A group of Old Catholics opposed the decrees of the Council of Trent. The Chernobyl residents actively supported the Khmelnytsky Uprising (1648–1657).

With the signing of the Truce of Andrusovo in 1667, Chernobyl was secured after the Sapieha family. Sometime in the 18th century, the place was passed on to the Chodkiewicz family. In the mid-18th century the area around Chernobyl was engulfed in a number of peasant riots, which caused Prince Riepnin to write from Warsaw to Major General Krechetnikov, requesting hussars to be sent from Kharkiv to deal with the uprising near Chernobyl in 1768. The 8th Lithuanian Infantry Regiment was stationed in the town in 1791. By the end of the 18th century, the town accounted for 2,865 residents and had 642 buildings.

18th century to Soviet times: demography and events
Following the Second Partition of Poland, in 1793 Chernobyl was annexed by the Russian Empire and became part of Radomyshl county (uezd) as a supernumerary town ("zashtatny gorod"). Many of the Uniate Church converts returned to Eastern Orthodoxy.

In 1832, following the failed Polish November Uprising, the Dominican monastery was sequestrated. The church of the Old Catholics was disbanded in 1852.

Until the end of the 19th century, Chernobyl was a privately owned city that belonged to the Chodkiewicz family. In 1896 they sold the city to the state, but until 1910 they owned a castle and a house in the city.

In the second half of the 18th century, Chernobyl became a major centre of Hasidic Judaism. The Chernobyl Hasidic dynasty had been founded by Rabbi Menachem Nachum Twersky. The Jewish population suffered greatly from pogroms in October 1905 and in March–April 1919; many Jews were killed or robbed at the instigation of the Russian nationalist Black Hundreds. When the Twersky Dynasty left Chernobyl in 1920, it ceased to exist as a center of Hasidism.

Chernobyl had a population of 10,800 in 1898, including 7,200 Jews. In the beginning of March 1918 Chernobyl was occupied in World War I by German forces in accordance with the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk

Soviet times (1920–1991)
Ukrainians and Bolsheviks fought over the city in the ensuing Civil War. In the Polish–Soviet War of 1919–20, Chernobyl was taken first by the Polish Army and then by the cavalry of the Red Army. From 1921 onwards, it was officially incorporated into the Ukrainian SSR.

Between 1929 and 1933, Chernobyl suffered from killings during Stalin's collectivization campaign. It was also affected by the famine that resulted from Stalin's policies. The Polish and German community of Chernobyl was deported to Kazakhstan in 1936, during the Frontier Clearances.

During World War II, Chernobyl was occupied by the German Army from 25 August 1941 to 17 November 1943. When the Germans arrived, only 400 Jews remained in Chernobyl; they were murdered during the Holocaust.

In 1972, the Duga-1 radio receiver, part of the larger Duga over-the-horizon radar array, began construction 11 km west-northwest of Chernobyl. It was the origin of the Russian Woodpecker and was designed as part of an anti-ballistic missile early warning radar network.

On 15 August 1972, the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant (officially the Vladimir Ilyich Lenin Nuclear Power Plant) began construction about 15 km northwest of Chernobyl. The plant was built alongside Pripyat, an "atomograd" city founded on 4 February 1970 that was intended to serve the nuclear power plant. The decision to build the power plant was adopted by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union on recommendations of the State Planning Committee that the Ukrainian SSR be its location. It was the first nuclear power plant to be built in Ukraine.

Independent Ukraine (1991–present)
With the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, Chernobyl remained part of Ukraine within the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone which Ukraine inherited from the Soviet Union.

Russian occupation (February–April 2022)
During the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Russian forces captured the city on 24 February. After its capture, Ukrainian officials reported that the radiation levels started to rise due to recent military activity causing radioactive dust to ascend into the air. Hundreds of Russian soldiers were suffering from radiation poisoning after digging trenches in a contaminated area, and one died. On 31 March it was reported that Russian forces had left the exclusion zone. Ukrainian authorities reasserted control over the area on 2 April.

Geography
Chernobyl is located about 90 km north of Kyiv, and 160 km southwest of the Belarusian city of Gomel.

Climate
Chernobyl has a humid continental climate (Dfb) with very warm, wet summers with cool nights and long, cold, and snowy winters.

Chernobyl nuclear reactor disaster

On 26 April 1986, one of the reactors at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant exploded after unsanctioned experiments on the reactor by plant operators were done improperly. The resulting loss of control was due to design flaws of the RBMK reactor, which made it unstable when operated at low power, and prone to thermal runaway where increases in temperature increase reactor power output.

Chernobyl city was evacuated nine days after the disaster. The level of contamination with caesium-137 was around 555 kBq/m2 (surface ground deposition in 1986).

Later analyses concluded that, even with very conservative estimates, relocation of the city (or of any area below 1500 kBq/m2) could not be justified on the grounds of radiological health. This however does not account for the uncertainty in the first few days of the accident about further depositions and weather patterns. Moreover, an earlier short-term evacuation could have averted more significant doses from short-lived isotope radiation (specifically iodine-131, which has a half-life of about eight days). The long-term health effects of the Chernobyl disaster are a subject of some controversy.

In 1998, average caesium-137 doses from the accident (estimated at 1–2 mSv per year) did not exceed those from other sources of exposure. Current effective caesium-137 dose rates as of 2019 are 200–250 nSv/h, or roughly 1.7–2.2 mSv per year, which is comparable to the worldwide average background radiation from natural sources.

The base of operations for the administration and monitoring of the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone was moved from Pripyat to Chernobyl. Chernobyl currently contains offices for the State Agency of Ukraine on the Exclusion Zone Management and accommodations for visitors. Apartment blocks have been repurposed as accommodations for employees of the State Agency. The length of time that workers may spend within the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone is restricted by regulations that have been implemented to limit radiation exposure. Today, visits are allowed to Chernobyl but limited by strict rules.

In 2003, the United Nations Development Programme launched a project, called the Chernobyl Recovery and Development Programme (CRDP), for the recovery of the affected areas. The main goal of the CRDP's activities is supporting the efforts of the Government of Ukraine to mitigate the long-term social, economic, and ecological consequences of the Chernobyl disaster.

The city has become overgrown and many types of animals live there. According to census information collected over an extended period of time, it is estimated that more mammals live there now than before the disaster.

Notably, Mikhail Gorbachev, the final leader of the Soviet Union, stated in respect to the Chernobyl disaster that, "More than anything else, (Chernobyl) opened the possibility of much greater freedom of expression, to the point that the (Soviet) system as we knew it could no longer continue."

Notable people

 * Aaron Twersky of Chernobyl (1784–1871), rabbi
 * Aleksander Franciszek Chodkiewicz (1776–1838), Polish politician and lithographer
 * Alexander Krasnoshchyokov (1880–1937), politician
 * Andriy Smalko (1981–), football player
 * Arnold Lakhovsky (1880–1937), artist
 * Jan Mikołaj Chodkiewicz (1738–1781), Polish nobleman, father of Rozalia Lubomirska
 * Ekaterina Scherbachenko (1977–), opera singer
 * Grigory Irmovich Novak (1919–1980), Jewish Soviet weightlifter
 * Joshua ben Aaron Zeitlin (1823–1888), scholar and philanthropist
 * Markiyan Kamysh (1988–), novelist and son of a liquidator
 * Rozalia Lubomirska (1768–1794), Polish noblewoman guillotined during the French Revolution
 * Volodymyr Pravyk (1962–1986), firefighter and liquidator

title: Chernobyl


text:
Talk:Catalyst

Defined
The definition in my chemistry class is "Substances that alter the rate of a reaction without being consumed by the reaction." I think it is also important to stress that they sometimes slow down reactions. The biology misconception is that ALL catalysts SPEED up reactions. This has been mentioned before and is very misleading.

Chris C.

Compare the definition of catalyst, which refers only to accelerating a chemical reaction, to the Wikipedia definition of enzyme, which refers to "facilitate or otherwise accelerate." I think it is important to emphasize in both definitions that the catalyst/enzyme enables interactions that under normal circumstances would not take place without it. I think one mischaracterizes the fundamental concept of a catalyst/enzyme to refer to it only as an accelerant. A catalyst/enzyme is fundamentally an "interface" that enables interactions between diverse components, be they chemicals, proteins, ideas, etc.

-- Nick Gall

What is meant by "an active part"? In most cases the catalyst does react chemically with one or more of the reactants to form an intermediate (possibly an adsorbed species). Subsequently, the intermediate reacts to give the desired product and the catalyst, thus regenerating the catalyst. Since the catalyst is actually participating in the reactions, I would say that it does play an active part, but it is regenerated in subsequent reactions. --Matt Stoker

Exactly. In my original definition, I said something to the effect that a catalyst participates, but is otherwise unconsumed.

I guess that was too concise for whomever decided to add the more verbose, and incorrect, text. -- dja

"net" is probably fine. I was thinking "overall" might be more precise, but I'm not sure.

--Matt Stoker

Also, I've been wondering to what extent reaction mechanisms should be discussed in this entry, or in Kinetics, or. . . somewhere else? I think some of our struggles with the description of a catalyst center around the difference between the bulk view of reactions versus a molecular understanding of those reactions. In the bulk sense, they are unconsumed. In the microscopic (ie, microscopic reversability) sense, they are consumed and regenerated. This is close to, but not quite fully, a semantic distinction.

Thoughts?

--dja

Personally, I think a simple generic reaction mechanism (as is currently in the page) is appropriate at least for the initial general discussion. More detailed discussions of reaction mechanisms would probably fit nicely in Kinetics, especially if someone could take the time to demonstrate how some important kinetic equations (eg. Eleay-Rideal and Langmuir-Hinshelwood type equations) result from elementary reactions.

One additional thought I have been pondering is whether it would be appropriate to give some examples of important industrial catalysts and catalytic processes. Would this be more appropriate under Catalyst or Catalysis, also what level of detail is appropriate?

--Matt Stoker (sorry I omitted this label initially)

In keeping with the spirit of wiki and wikipedia as I see it, as much detail as you can pump out is encouraged. Put it out there, and if necessary, it can be refactored later.

The concern I have about where to focus on reaction mechanisms is that, phenomologically, catalysis can happen, and be observed, without any reference to reaction mechanisms--you throw some stuff in, and the reaction goes faster. Understanding what a catalyst *is* doesn't *require* much of an understanding of molecularity--look at biological catalysis for examples of just how widely this is true, where the reaction mechanisms are beyond the current ken of people who've been working on the problems for ages. Even so, they can observe and quantititate the rates with/without catalyst, with just bulk stoichiometry.

Granted, if you want to understand what the catalyst is doing beyond speeding the reaction, you need to get into molecular detail, and using reaction mechanisms to model happens is key to that.

Anyway, as with open source code, he who writes the stuff determines where it goes (at least, initially).

Just my 2 cents. You're putting some great stuff in here, so don't let my quibbling get in the way of that.

-- dja

Catalyst inhibitor
The article is generally well written and accurate, but there is just one more thing I would add. I was thought to believe that a catalyst "alters the rate of reaction." That is, a catalyst can either accelerate a chemical reaction or slow it down. A catalyst that slows down a chemical reaction is called an inhibitor. This has an important role in medicine. Since I'm not an expert on the subject, it would be great if someone could elaborate on this new and more accurate definition, as well as provide examples of its uses. A link to the "Inhibitor" page in Wikipedia would also be helpful.

NamelessOne

I've gotten into arguments twice over the years that lead me to believe the definition of "catalyst" needs to be changed. I refer to the situation in which a sequence of reactions occurs in the reactor, wherein a catalyst of one reaction is a reactant in a later reaction and therefore cannot be recovered intact & quantitatively.

An example is saponification, which is commonly described as the base-catalyzed hydrolysis of an ester. The product of that reaction will include one or more acids, and the acid so produced will then neutralize the base catalyst stoichiometrically. So does one avoid referring to the base as a catalyst? Or does the definition of either "catalyst" or "reaction" need to change to keep the terms useful?

People invented the word "ribozyme" to keep the word "enzyme" as referring to a protein -- for a while the term "RNA enzyme" was used by those who wanted to expand the definition of "enzyme", and "catalytic RNA" by those who wanted to keep the distinction -- so clearly there's precedent for trying to keep the terms useful. (Heh -- of course the etymology, "in yeast", betrays obsolescence!)

robgood@bestweb.net

Catalyst Fouling
In actual chemical reactions on an industrial scale, it common for the catalyst to foul (become less effective) over time requiring it to be replaced with new ever so often. Some reaction mechanisms, or elementry reaction steps, require for one or more components to adsorb to the surface of a solid metal catalyst, react, and then desorb from the surface allowing other molecules to adsorb to the surface. (Look into Langmuir-Hinshelwood kinetics for more details.) Over time this process can cause the surface of the catalyst that works to decrease, lowering the effiency.

I believe that means that catalyst can be transformed.

Also, using the Ziegler-Natta catalyst in the production of high density polyethylene the catalyst initiates the polymerazation step and is in inturn trapped into the polymer matrix from which it can't slip free. Although the catalyst is unchaged, it can not be extracted and used again.

BeastRHIT

Speeds up reaction?
I think it would be more precise to say: A catalyst increases the rate of a reaction thus leading to a faster achievement of equilibrium compared to its uncatalyzed way, in which the catalyst itself stays unaltered and is not used up.

Nickel and Margarine
Do they really use nickel in the manufacture of margarine? I thought that nickel was quite toxic to people .. --Dirk Beetstra 20:02, 22 May 2006 (UTC)

Merger
It would be far better if this article is made into a redirect to Canalysis, and all the information put there. This is because a catalyst is part of the more general concept of catalysis. Catalysis is process that comprises the catalyst, the reactants, the products, the reaction conditions, and the reaction mechanism. A n d r e a s   (T) 16:13, 1 November 2006 (UTC)

Move discussion in progress
There is a move discussion in progress on Talk:Catalysis which affects this page. Please participate on that page and not in this talk page section. Thank you. —RMCD bot 15:46, 24 June 2021 (UTC)

title: Talk:Catalyst