Chechnya and Dagestan are both nominally inside Russia, but the road between the two features a checkpoint as elaborate as a border crossing. On the Chechen side, the roads get better and the drivers more nervous. Under Ramzan Kadyrov, its strongman president, Chechnya has become visibly richer and less free than Dagestan. It also feels distinctly separate from the rest of Russia. Chechnya's capital of Grozny, once a bombed-out ruin, today boasts not only the largest mosque in Europe but Dubai-style skyscrapers and a five-star hotel (rarely more than a quarter full). The main drag, Putin Prospect, is lined with glitzy restaurants frequented by Grozny's golden youth. Behind the facades lies a republic steeped in fear, corruption and poverty. Chechnya has become a mini-totalitarian state, in many ways a caricature of today's Russia.
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