in the campaign “Punitive devastation of the Nokhchi villages along the Sunzha and pitting neighboring peoples against them under Rtishchev (1813-1816)”
The Russian Empire used the devastation of villages to force the Nokhchi to hand over hostages. The imperial historian Potto writes that after Colonel Eristov had laid waste to the villages along the Sunzha, the Nokhchi «gave amanats (hostages), promising to trouble the Russian borders no more»[1].