Khozh-Ahmed Noukhayev claimed that he started racketeering as a student to help raise funds for the Chechen nationalist cause. Indeed, over the course of his activities, Noukhayev became acquainted with
Dzhokhar Dudayev, who recognised his important role in Moscow's Chechen community and took him on as an unofficial aide, before helping him escape from prison in 1991. Noukhayev played a prominent role in the lead-up to the
First Chechen War, participating in last-minute negotiations with the Russian government. He later fought in and was wounded in the
Battle of Grozny. After the war, Noukhayev continued to play a key role in Chechen politics and set up a holding company, the
Caucasian Common Market, which aimed to bring prosperity to
Chechnya by building an oil pipeline between Europe and
Azerbaijan. But the
Second Chechen War ended this initiative. In the chaos of war-torn Chechnya, many of the insurgent forces turned to criminality in order to raise funds. Kidnapping became a key business for both rebels and local bandits, including
Arbi Barayev's
Special Purpose Islamic Regiment. In one particularly notorious case,
four British engineers were abducted and beheaded. Oil theft and smuggling also became a major source of income. During its brief period of independence, Chechnya quickly fell into anarchy, becoming a major hub for arms trafficking (with a gun market in central Grozny), mobsters using local banks to launder profits from criminal activities, and rival warlords, armed gangs, and
Islamist terrorists all fighting each other for control. It was this atmosphere of lawlessness that exacerbated tensions with Russia and helped provide justification for the Second Chechen War. ==Connections to the Chechen government==