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KABARDINO-BALKARIAN REPUBLIC
Land area: 12,500 km² (North Caucasus)
Population: 787,000 (1995) (49 per cent Kabardinians, 32 per cent Russian, 9 per cent Balkar)
Overview:
Previously the Kabardino-Balkar Soviet Socialist Republic (SSR), with its capital at Nalchik, it was formed as the Kabardin Autonomous Region in September 1921.
Stalin's `divide and rule' policy favoured the Kabardinians and in 1944 Stalin deported the entire Balkar nation beyond the Urals for alleged collaboration with the Nazis. They were not allowed to return home until the 1950s. Even after the return of the Balkars, the Kabardinian majority remained in a privileged position, leading to unhappiness among the Balkars. In 1991, this came to a head when they voted to secede from the combined republic. Since then, threats of a split have continued.
In 1995, the local leadership established close links with the Abkhaz separatist government on the other side of the Caucasus in Georgia. An agreement was signed with the Abkhaz regime by the Kabardino-Balkar president, Valery Kokov.
