Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, Tadzhikistan, Kazakstan. All Muslim, and all living well enough with their neighbors (although Azerbaijan had a nasty war with Armenia years ago over a strip of territory). Russia had the good sense to just let them go. The only problem with Chechnya is that it wasn’t a full-fledged Soviet “republic” like those others were, and if it were granted independence, some other non-Russian enclaves might have demanded the same.
Chechnya was de-facto independent since late 1980s into about 1994 for the first time and once again in 1996-2000.
It was a really tough time for Chechen non-muslims and the entire neighborhood.
Chechens really deserved every bit of pain they got upon themselves.