The September 11 attacks on the United States caused a disaster for the Chechens , as much of the West went from passive sympathy to hostility as Russia was able to brand Chechen separatism as Islamist . As Amjad Jaimoukha puts it , The al-Qaeda attacks on the US on 11 September 2001 resulted in a major setback to the Chechen cause and robbed the Chechens of the small modicum of sympathy they had had in the West . Russia played its cards right and quickly associated Chechen legitimate struggle for independence with Muslim extremism . The raid on Beslan had , in fact , more to do with the Ingush involved than the Chechens , but was highly symbolic for both . The Ossetes and Ingush had ( and have ) a conflict over ownership of the Prigorodny District , which hit high points during the 1944 genocide , and the ethnic cleansing of Ingush by Ossetes ( the Ossetes getting assistance from the Russian military ) in 1992 – 3 . At the time of the raid , there were still over 40000 Ingush refugees in tent camps in Ingushetia and Chechnya . The Beslan school itself had been used against the Ingush - in 1992 the gym was used as a pen to round up Ingush for expulsion and/or massacre by the Ossetes . For the Chechens , the motive was revenge for the destruction of their homes and , indeed families : Beslan was the site from which missiles were launched at Chechnya . A large fraction ( overwhelming majority ) of the people involved in the hostage taking raid also direct victims of Russian abuse , including many who were victimized as children and/or , in the case of Khaula Nazirov , had their children ironically murdered by Russian troops during a raid of a school
September 11 attacks
September 11 attacks
History of Chechnya