The year is 1991, and the Soviet Union (USSR) has suddenly fallen apart. The collapse of the decades-long global superpower heralded in a “post-Soviet blip” characterized by an influx of independence movements. To ensure stability in the immediate aftermath of the state's dissolution, the doctrine of uti possidetis juris––a principle that affirms the inviolability of borders––was applied, which translated the boundaries of the USSR’s fifteen Republics into new international boundaries. However, this arrangement, which amounted to the repurposing of Soviet drawn borders, did not quiet all demands for self-determination. One notable example was the case of Chechnya. Due to its status as an autonomous oblast––an administrative subregion within the USSR––Chechnya did not qualify to have new independent boundaries formed under the previously mentioned application of uti possidetis juris. Nonetheless, Chechnya invoked its right self-determination and argued that it could never assert self-determination within the constitutional structure of the Russian Federation, citing a long history of oppression by Russians that includes the 1944 deportation of Chechens conducted by the Soviet Union.

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