The article deals with approaches to disclosure of the nature and the causes of the armed conflict in Chechnya, existing in modern historiography. The paper considers versions interpreting the circumstances that caused forceful intervention of the federal forces in the Chechen conflict on the side of anti-Dudayev opposition. It also highlights the causes versions and underlying reasons of beginning the counter-terrorist operation in the Chechen Republic.

The article analyzes Western historiography of the armed conflict in the Chechen Republic. It considers publications and specialized monographs of European, British and American authors on the subjects under research, as well as products of intellectual centers and “think tanks” in the USA and Great Britain, dealing with the armed conflict in Chechnya.