A BBC journalist, who is Chechen, has put together a photo essay to try and show the human side of her damned little republic.
Here is the introduction:
My name is Sapiet. I am a Chechen journalist working for the BBC.
In 1994 I came to Moscow to finish my thesis, but two months later the war started, and my life took a sharp turn. I couldn't return to Grozny, which was being heavily bombed.
When I started visiting Chechnya again, unlike other journalists, I didn't want to report on the war.
Instead I wanted to tell the world about everyday life for this war’s main victims – ordinary people.