The Sunzha is a river in North Ossetia, Ingushetia

Ingushetia

The Republic of Ingushetia is a federal subject of Russia , located in the North Caucasus region with its capital at Magas. In terms of area, the republic is the smallest of Russia's federal subjects except for the two federal cities, Moscow and Saint Petersburg...

 and Chechnya

Chechnya

The Chechen Republic , commonly referred to as Chechnya , also spelled Chechnia or Chechenia, sometimes referred to as Ichkeria , is a federal subject of Russia . It is located in the southeastern part of Europe in the Northern Caucasus mountains. The capital of the republic is the city of Grozny...

, Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

, a right tributary of Terek River. It is 278 km long. The Sunzha rises on the Northern slope of the Caucasus Major. Its major tributaries are the Assa River and Argun River

Argun River (Caucasus)

The Argun River flows through the northern Caucasus, Georgia, and the Chechen Republic of Russia. It is an affluent of the Sunzha and lies within the river basin of the Terek...

. With a turbidity of 3,800 g/m³, it carries 12,2 million tons of alluvium per year. It is used for irrigation. Cities which lie on the Sunzha include Nazran

Nazran

Nazran is a town in the Republic of Ingushetia, Russia. It served as the republic's capital in 1991–2000, until the town of Magas was specially built as the new capital. Nazran is the largest city of the republic: -General:...

, Karabulak

Karabulak, Republic of Ingushetia

Karabulak is a town in the Republic of Ingushetia, Russia, located on the Sunzha River , north of the republic's capital Magas. Population: The Cossack stanitsa of Karabulakskaya was founded in the 19th century...

, Grozny

Grozny

Grozny is the capital city of the Chechen Republic, Russia. The city lies on the Sunzha River. According to the preliminary results of the 2010 Census, the city had a population of 271,596; up from 210,720 recorded in the 2002 Census. but still only about two-thirds of 399,688 recorded in the 1989...

 (the capital of Chechnya

Chechnya

The Chechen Republic , commonly referred to as Chechnya , also spelled Chechnia or Chechenia, sometimes referred to as Ichkeria , is a federal subject of Russia . It is located in the southeastern part of Europe in the Northern Caucasus mountains. The capital of the republic is the city of Grozny...

), and Gudermes

Gudermes

Gudermes is a town in the Chechen Republic, Russia, located on the Sunzha River east of Grozny. Population: 32,000 .Gudermes had a rural locality status until 1941. Later, it became a railroad junction between Rostov-on-Don, Baku, Astrakhan, and Mozdok. Gudermes is home for oil extraction...

. During the First

First Chechen War

The First Chechen War, also known as the War in Chechnya, was a conflict between the Russian Federation and the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria, fought from December 1994 to August 1996...

 and Second Chechen War

Second Chechen War

The Second Chechen War, in a later phase better known as the War in the North Caucasus, was launched by the Russian Federation starting 26 August 1999, in response to the Invasion of Dagestan by the Islamic International Peacekeeping Brigade ....

s, the destruction of petroleum reservoirs caused the Sunzha to become polluted with petroleum.

Nomenclature

The origin of the name of the river has some versions. The most probable of versions name Sunzha has come from Mongol-Turkic languages in the deformed type. It is known, that Mongols called it Suinchie, Russian Sevenz and in the Chechen language it is names has got in corrective type Solchzha.

There is also other version that the river Sunzha Chechens called before Okhi «Oh'-hi, Оhhи » that means in translation with Chechen – «downwards the river».