大象传媒

It's more than ten years since Russian bombs stopped falling on the Chechen capital Grozny; it wasn't until 2009 that brutal counter-terrorism operations ended. It's estimated that as many as than fifty-thousand people were killed or disappeared during the violence of the wars and the aftermath. These were the wars in which Vladimir Putin, cut his teeth before becoming Russian President, and in which Islamist fighters got their battle training. Since then, Moscow has ploughed billions of dollars into Chechnya with the aim of stabilising the region, and controlling the separatist insurgency. But stability has come at a cost. The pro-Moscow government has a tight grip on the economy, and opportunities for ordinary people to improve their lives are few. To find out what life is like in the region now, we speak to one Chechen businessman, who, for fear of his own safety, wanted to talk to us anonymously, and who is known here as 'Adam'. He told me what it's like doing business in Chechnya.
And Lucy Kellaway on why the bumbling will inherit the earth.