Derived from Russian грозный (grozniy) meaning "fearsome" or "formidable". It is informally referred as Соьлжа–Гӏала (Solzha Ghala), "the city on the Sunzha River", by the local Chechen people. Grozny is the capital city of the Russian federal subject of Chechnya, and it served as the capital of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria during the First Chechen War and as the capital of the Chechen-Ingush Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic during the days of the Soviet Union.