What would be the downside of doing this? I'm probably biased (in that of the ~100 Chechens I've interacted with in my life, every single one was a jihadi -- ki

What would be the downside of doing this? I'm probably biased (in that of the ~100 Chechens I've interacted with in my life, every single one was a jihadi -- kind of a selection bias, though.) Assuming Russia could control the pipeline corridors, the only real risk seems to be a "domino theory" that letting a territory go will risk encouraging other, better territories to leave. But in the case of kicking Chechnya/Dagestan out, that's not the risk.