The Republic of Chechnya is a constituent republic, a federal subject of the Russian Federation. It is located in the Caucasus region in south west Russia. It is the political successor of the Checheno-Ingush Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. From a centralized form of government during the existence of the Soviet Union, the republic's political system went upheavals during the 1990s with the unrecognized establishment of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria which led to the wars, the First Chechen War and the Second Chechen War which left the republic in total devastation. In 2000, following Russia's renewed rule, a local, republican form of government was established in the republic under the control of the Russian federal government.