Mountainous Republic of the Northern Caucasus
The Mountainous Republic of the Northern Caucasus (MRNC), also referred to as the United Republics of the North Caucasus, Mountain Republic, or the Republic of the Mountaineers, was a state in Eurasia and encompassing the entirety of the North Caucasus that emerged during the Russian Civil War and existed from 1918 to 1919. It formed as a consolidation of various Caucasian ethnic groups, including the Abkhazians, Abazins Circassians, Chechens, Karachays, Ossetians, Balkars, Ingush, and Dagestanis.
Leaders of the MRNC, with Prime Minister Tapa Tchermoeff seated in the center of the front row.
Abdulmajid Tapa Tchermoeff, oil industrialist, first chairman of the Central Committee and first prime minister, Chechen. Died in Switzerland in 1937.
Rashid Khan Kaplanov, second Chairman of the Central Committee, Minister of the Interior, Kumyk. Assassinated by the Bolshevik government in 1937.
Pshemakho Kotsev, second prime minister, Kabardian Circassian. Died in Istanbul in 1962.
The North Caucasus, or Ciscaucasia, is a region in Western Asia governed by Russia. It constitutes the northern part of the wider Caucasus region, which forms the natural border between Europe and West Asia. It is bordered by the Sea of Azov and Black Sea to the west, the Caspian Sea to the east, and the Caucasus Mountains to the south. The region shares land borders with the South Caucasus countries of Georgia and Azerbaijan. Krasnodar is the largest city within the North Caucasus.
Northern Caucasus, Early Bronze Age artifacts, 3rd millennium BCE.