When the Soviet Union existed, different governments had ruled the northern Caucasus regions of Chechnya and Ingushetia. Within the Mountain Autonomous Socialist Soviet Republic, later annexed into the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic, they were known as the Chechen Autonomous Oblast and the Ingush Autonomous Oblast, which were unified on January 15, 1934, to form the Checheno-Ingush Autonomous Oblast. It was elevated to an autonomous republic as the Checheno-Ingush Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic from 1936 to 1944 and again from 1957 to 1993. Its capital was Grozny.