On December 26^th, 1991 the Soviet Union was dissolved and the 15 constituent republics gained full independence. What followed next was economic collapse across the ex-Soviet republics, mass poverty and armed conflict in several of the newly formed states as disputes arose over borders drawn up during Soviet times and ethnic nationalism was rekindled

As the communist internal market for goods produced in the Soviet Union ceased to exist, so industries across the former Soviet Union collapsed, not advanced enough to compete on the world stage. In Armenia, a centre for electronic manufacturing during the Soviet Union, the joke was that they produced the largest pocket calculators in the world.

Much of the old soviet industry was either left to rot or the capital plant sold off. The situation made worse by the corruption that led to much of industry being sold to previous managers or criminal organisations at a fraction of their real value. Millions of people employed by industry or by state organisations who no longer had the funds to pay staff, were not paid for months, if at all. Many still turned up for work others made ends meet by selling what they could get their hands on in the street. During the early 90s Moscow lines of people could be seen outside every railway station selling everything from cigarettes, alcohol to clothes and puppies.

The collapse led to a dramatic increase in homelessness. In Russia the ownership rights to formerly state owned properties were given to the residents. Fraudulent landlords targeted vulnerable people to acquire their property rights, often leaving them unwittingly homeless. The general lawlessness meant there was little recourse to any legal remedy. There was a huge spike in alcoholism, as people turned to vodka to escape the harshness of life post communism. This in turn led to an upsurge in domestic violence and homelessness as women and children fled households with a violent alcoholic family member

The worsening living conditions, and breakdown of the state health services led to a large increase in TB and other disease across the former Soviet Union. The alcoholism, poor living conditions and increases in disease led to plummeting life expectancy, make life expectancy feel from an already low 63.4 years to 57.4 years between 1991 and 1994.

The ramifications of this collapse; the poverty, corruption, and disputed borders are still being felt today, most noticeably in the war in Ukraine. Putin’s popularity was due in large part to the reduction in lawlessness and chaos of the Yeltsin years together with higher standards of living that accompanied his first years as president. After years of humiliation Putin was the strong leader that many Russians craved for.

I visited Russia, Chechnya, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan on several times between 1992 and 1996 documenting the collapse. I worked for a number of NGOs including, Oxfam, Save the Children Fund, MSF, MERLIN, UNAIDS and UNHCR. The photographs were also published in the Observer, Guardian, Telegraph, Times and Index on Censorship.  

Summary of the conflicts in the Caucasus and Tajikistan

The Armenian Azerbaijan war over Nagorno Karabakh

The semi-autonomous enclave within Azerbaijan, Nagorno Karabakh, historically has had a majority ethnic Armenian population. In 1988 a referendum boycotted by Azeris was held which came out in favour of independence from Azerbaijan and to unify with Armenia. When Azerbaijan became an independent state in 1991 it revoked the powers held by the enclave’s government.

After atrocities by both side the full scale conflict started in early 1992. By 1994 the Armenians had taken control of the whole of Nagorno Karabakh and surrounding Azeri territories including the Lachin corridoer which connected Armenia to Nagorno Karabakh. A Russian brokered ceasefire was signed in May 1994.

The conflict led to around 30,000 deaths and 724,000 Azerbaijanis being expelled from Armenia, Nagorno Karabakh and surrounding territories and 300,000 to 500000 Armenians being displaced from Azerbaijan.

In 2020 hostilities restarted with Azerbaijan strengthened by oil revenues and support from Turkey eventually managing to fully take back the territory of Nagorno Karabakh and surrounding areas in September 2023, leading to a further exodus of thousands of Armenians from the enclave.

Georgia

Leading up to independence and in the immediate aftermath, a civil war erupted in Georgia which led to the ousting of the elected nationalist leader Gamsakhurdia in 1991 and his replacement with Shevardnadze. The war continued until 1993. At the same time ethnic separatist movements in the semi-autonomous regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia attempted to break away from Georgia, partly in response to the nationalist polices of Gamsakhurdia. The Georgian government’s attempts to forcibly put down the separatist movements failed. With the aid of Russia and other forces, notably Chechens, Abkhazia was able to force Georgian troops out of the region. South Ossetia was divided into two. As part of the peace deals the frontiers of both conflicts were policed by a Russian peacekeeping force. The war in Abkhazia claimed the lives of 5000 ethnic Georgians and 4000 ethnic Abkhaz. Around 250,0000 Georgians were displaced, many ending up in temporary accommodation in Tbilisi – the capital of Georgia. In South Ossetia around 1000 people were killed, 4000 ethnic Ossetians fled Georgia and 23000 ethnic Georgians fled south Ossetia to Georgia. Atrocities were committed by all sides with many houses burned to the ground.

Tensions grew between Putin’s Russia and Georgia with the 2004 election of pro-western leader Saakashvili and his bid to join NATO. In 2008 following mounting border skirmishes the Georgians attacked the South Ossetian capital. The Russians responded by invading Georgia both through South Ossetia and Abkhazia, taking all of South Ossetia and coming to within 25 miles of Tbilisi before a French brokered ceasefire. Many believed Saakashvili had walked into a Russian trap.

Chechnya

In 1993 the president of the Chechen republic Dudayev declared full independence from the Russian federation. The Russian president Yeltsin refused to recognise Chechnya’s independence. In December 1994 Yeltsin decided to militarily take back the territory. Initially the invasion was a disaster for the Russians, as the well organised Chechen forces were able to destroy much of the militarily far stronger Russian forces. But through extensive bombardment, in which much of the city was destroyed, the Russians eventually took the capital Grozny. Their followed two years of war, with the Chechens using guerrilla tactics in counter the Russians advance into the mountains south of the Grozny. In August 1996 the Chechens in a surprise counteroffensive took much of Grozny back from the Russians. The failure of the Russian forces to defeat the separatists despite overwhelming superiority in numbers and equipment together with mounting casualties made the war very unpopular with the Russian population. On 31^st of August 1996 a peace agreement was signed between Russia and Chechen leaders.

Yeltsin appointed Putin as prime minister in 1999. In September a series of bombs were planted in apartment blocks in three cities across Russia. Putin blamed the Chechens, although there are reasons to believe that these could have been planted by the Russian security services. Putin used these bombs as a justification for crushing the Chechen separatists, ordering the bombing of Grozny. Yeltsin resigned in December 1999 announcing Putin as acting president. The successful campaign in Chechnya increased the previously largely unknown Putin’s popularity and helped him win the presidential election in 2000. By 2009 large scale fighting had ended with the separatists largely defeated. The territory has since been ruled by Chechen Putin ally Kadyrov, whose forces have been fighting alongside the Russians in Ukraine.

It is impossible to get accurate figures for the numbers killed. Many of the dead went missing and have not been found, others were buried in unmarked graves. Russian army losses during the wars were anywhere between 14,000 and 40,000 with a similar number of Chechen fighters killed. Civilian deaths have been estimated to be anything between 30,000 to more than 200,000 out of a population of 1 million, with more than 500,000 people displaced. A large proportion of the civilian casualties were ethnic Russians who were trapped in Grozny who, unlike their Chechen neighbours, had no relatives to flee to in the countryside.

I visited Chechnya during a truce in the fighting in August 1995.

Tajikistan

In Tajikistan a civil war broke out in 1992 between the existing ruling communist elite from one region of the country and Islamist and liberal reformers from another. The war lasted five years ending in 1997 resulting in between 20000 to 150000 people being killed and 10 to 20 per cent of the population being internally displaced.