Second Chechen War

Second Chechen War
Date August 1999 - ongoing Location Chechnya, North Caucasus Result Ongoing Russian military regains control of Chechnya Installment of Pro-Russian government
Belligerents
Russian Federation Pro-Russian Chechens	Chechen Republic of Ichkeria Foreign Mujahideen
Strength
At least 93,000 in Chechnya in 1999 About 30,000 federal forces in Chechnya in 2007 (mostly MVD)	10,000 to 20,000 in 1999 (including private militias) 450 to 1,000 in Chechnya in 2007 (Russian estimates [1])
Casualties and losses
Unknown, at least 2,898 army soldiers and 4,720 other servicemen killed in the first 4 years [2] Hundreds of civilians.	Unknown, at least 5,000 killed in the first 4 years [3] 900 prisoners in 2007 Est. 15,000-100,000 civilians, including at least 2,000 "disappeared" [4].

Chechnya (red) and the Russian Federation

The Second Chechen War was a military campaign initiated by Russia in 1999, in which Russian forces recaptured the separatist region of Chechnya. Second Chechen War was the continuation of the Dagestan War. The campaign reversed the outcome of the First Chechen War, in which the region gained de facto independence as the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria. It is regarded as an internal conflict in Russia by the international community.

The war bolstered the domestic popularity of Vladimir Putin, who launched the military campaign one month after becoming Russian prime minister. However, the war eventually became less popular; according to the 2007 poll 70 percent of Russians think there should be negotiations with separatists, and only 16 percent believe the military campaign should continue. [5]

During the initial campaign, Russian military and pro-Russian Chechen paramilitary faced determined Chechen separatists, but eventually seized the Chechen capital Grozny in 2000 after a winter siege. After the full-scale offensive, Chechen guerrilla resistance throughout the North Caucasus region continued to inflict heavy Russian casualties and challenge Russian political control over Chechnya for several more years. Chechen separatists also carried out attacks against civilians in Russia, such as notably taking hostages inside a Moscow theater in 2002 and later doing so in a school in Beslan, North Ossetia in 2004. These terrorist attacks, as well as widespread violations of human rights by Russian and separatist forces drew international condemnation. The exact death toll from this conflict is unknown, yet estimates range from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands dead or missing, mostly civilians in Chechnya. No clear figures for Russian losses exist, but military deaths in two wars thought to at least equal the losses suffered during the Soviet war in Afghanistan of 15,000 [6].

Meanwhile, the fortunes of the Chechen independence movement sagged, plagued by the internal disunity between Chechen moderates and Islamist radicals and the changing global political climate after September 11, 2001, as well as the general war weariness of the Chechen population. The Russians have succeeded in installing a pro-Moscow Chechen regime and eliminating most of the more prominent Chechen separatist leaders, including former president Aslan Maskhadov and leading warlord Shamil Basayev. By now, large-scale fighting has been replaced by low-level skirmishing, hit and run attacks and bombings targeting federal troops and forces of the regional government, with the violence often spilling over into adjacent regions. Since 2005, the goal of the rebel movement is shifting most of the actual fighting out of Chechnya proper and into the nearby Russian territories; the Russian government, for its part, is concerned with maintaining stability in the North Caucasus. The conflict remains largely unpublicised in the West[7].

Historical basis of the conflict

Chechnya and the Caucasus region

Russian Empire

Main article: Caucasian War

Chechnya is a region in the Northern Caucasus which has constantly fought against foreign rule, including with the Ottoman Turks in the 15th century. The Russian Terek Cossack Host was established in lowland Chechnya in 1577 by free Cossacks who were resettled from the Volga to the Terek River. In 1783 Russia and the Georgian kingdom of Kartl-Kakheti signed the Treaty of Georgievsk, under which Kartl-Kakheti became a Russian protectorate. To secure communications with Georgia and other regions of the Transcaucasia, the Russian Empire began spreading its influence into the Caucasus region, starting the Caucasian War in 1817.

Russian forces first moved into highland Chechnya in 1830, and the conflict in the area lasted until 1859, when a 250,000 strong army under General Baryatinsky broke down the mountaineers' resistance. However, many troops from the annexed states of the Caucasus also fought unsuccessfully against Russia in the Russo-Turkish War, 1877-78.

Soviet Union

Following the Russian Revolution of 1917, Chechens established a short-lived independent emirate which included parts of Dagestan and Ingushetia. The Chechen state was opposed by both sides of the Russian Civil War and was crushed by Bolshevik troops in 1922. Then, months before the creation of the Soviet Union, the Chechen Autonomous Oblast of RSFSR was established. It annexed a part of territory of the former Terek Cossack Host. Chechnya and neighbouring Ingushetia formed the Chechen-Ingush Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic in 1936.

During World War II Chechens were accused by Stalin of aiding Nazi forces. In 1944 Stalin deported nearly all (522,000) the Chechens and Ingushs to Kazakh SSR and Kirghiz SSR, and Siberia. Up to a quarter of these people died during the "resettlement." In 1957 after the death of Stalin, Khrushchev allowed the Chechens to return and the Chechen republic was reinstated. Although the population of the republic experienced widespread political and religious repression, the authority of the Soviet government gradually eroded.

The First Chechen War

First Chechen war. Photo by Mikhail Evstafiev

Main article: First Chechen War

With the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, Chechnya declared its independence from Russia. In 1992, Chechen and Ingush leaders signed an agreement splitting the joint Chechen-Ingush republic in two, with Ingushetia joining the Russian Federation and Chechnya remaining independent. From 1991 to 1994, as many as 300,000 people of non-Chechen ethnicity (mostly Russians) fled the Chechen Republic. Chechnya's industrial production began failing after Russian engineers and workers were expelled from the Republic Ichkeria.

The debate over independence ultimately led to a small-scale civil war in 1993, in which the Russians supported the anti-Dudayev opposition forces. The First Chechen War began in 1994, when Russian forces entered Chechnya to restore constitutional order and central rule. Following nearly two years of brutal fighting and the 1996 Khasavyurt ceasefire agreement, the defeated Russian troops were withdrawn from Chechnya.

Prelude to the Second Chechen War

Chaos in Chechnya

Main article: Chechen Republic of Ichkeria

Following the war, the separatist government's grip on the chaotic republic was weak, especially outside the ruined capital Grozny. The war ravages and lack of economic opportunities left large numbers of heavily armed and brutalized former guerillas with no occupation but further violence. In lieu of the devastated economic structure, kidnapping emerged as the principal source of income countrywide, procuring over $200 million during the three year independence of the chaotic fledgling state. Political violence and religious extremism, blamed on "Wahhabism", was rife as well. In 1998, state of emergency was declared by Grozny.

Russian-Chechen relations in 1996-1999

Despite Russia's early recognition of Chechnya's independence and the 1997 Moscow peace treaty, a troubled relationship developed between the two nations. The 1997 election brought to power the separatist president Aslan Maskhadov. Further tensions arose in January and February of 1999 as Maskhadov announced that Islamic Sharia law would be introduced in Chechnya over the course of the next three years. In 1998 and 1999 President Maskhadov survived several assassination attempts, blamed on the Russian intelligence services. In March of 1999, General Gennadiy Shpigun, the Kremlin's envoy to Chechnya, was kidnapped at the airport in Grozny, and ultimately found dead in 2000.

Among ordinary Russian citizens, there existed a strong perception that Chechnya was firmly a part of Russia; the notion that it might secede was implausible and unacceptable, even after events of the First Chechen War. Within the Russian government, there was a concern that allowing Chechnya substantial autonomy might lead to a domino effect — other regions within the already-fragmented former Soviet Union might choose to follow suit. The political tensions were fueled in part by allegedly Chechen or pro-Chechen terrorist activity in Russia, as well as border clashes.

Sergei Stepashin claimed in an interview in January 2000 that the autumn invasion in Chechnya had been planned since March 1999: "As to Chechnya, I can say the following. A plan for active operations has been shaped since March. And we were going to reach Terek in August or September."

Terrorist and border incidents

On November 16 1996 a bomb destroyed an apartment building in Kaspiysk (Dagestan); 69 people, mostly relatives of border guards, died. Three people died on April 23 1997 when a bomb exploded in the Russian railway station of Armavir (Krasnodar Krai), and two on May 28 1997, when another bomb exploded in the Russian railway station of Pyatigorsk (Stavropol Krai). On March 19 1999 51 people died in an explosion which occurred in the central market of Vladikavkaz (North Ossetia).[8]

On December 22 1997, Central Front of Liberation of Caucasus and Dagestan fighters and the Chechnya-based Arab warlord Ibn al-Khattab raided the base of the 136th Motor Rifle Brigade of the Russian Army in Buynaksk, Dagestan, inflicting severe losses on the men and equipment of the unit. On April 16 1998 a Russian army convoy was ambushed in Ingushetia near the Chechen border; among the dead was a general and two colonels, and the local Ingush militants were blamed. On April 7 1999, four Russian policemen patrolling the border were killed near Stavropol; on June 18 1999, seven servicemen were killed when Russian border guard posts were attacked in Dagestan. On July 29 1999, the Russian Interior Ministry troops destroyed a Chechen border post and captured a 800 meter-section of strategic road. On several occasions, Russian special forces raided deep inside the Chechen territory.

Conflict in Dagestan

See: Dagestan War

File:Shamilbasayev.jpg

Basayev in Dagestan

In August and September of 1999, Shamil Basayev (in association with the Saudi born Khattab, Commander of the Mujahedeen) led two armies of up to 1,400 Chechen, Dagestani, Arab and Kazakh militants from Chechnya into the neighbouring Republic of Dagestan. The purpose was to help local Islamic fighters who were under attack by Russian Federation forces in the villages of Kadar, Karamakhi, and Chabanmakhi. This conflict saw the first use of aerial-delivered fuel air explosives (FAE) in populated areas, notably in the village of Tando. By mid-September 1999, the militants were routed from the villages and pushed back into Chechnya. At least several hundred people were killed in the fighting; the Federal side reported 279 servicemen killed and approximately 987 wounded.

The Russian government then began a bombing campaign in southeastern Chechnya, a region which they saw as a staging area for Chechen militants. On September 23, Russian fighter jets bombed targets in and around Grozny. Defense Minister Igor Sergeyev vowed that the bombing of Chechnya would continue until "the last bandit is destroyed." [9]

Bombings in Russia

Main article: Russian apartment bombings

Before the wake of the Dagestani invasion had settled, a series of mysterious bombings took place in Russia (in Moscow and in Volgodonsk) and in the Dagestani town of Buynaksk. On September 4, 62 people died in an apartment building housing members of families of Russian soldiers. The bombs targeted three other apartment buildings and a mall; in total nearly 300 people were killed. The Russian government, including then-President Boris Yeltsin, blamed Chechen separatists for the attacks. Shamil Basayev denied involvement in the bombings. Some high-profile individuals, including the Russian tycoon Boris Berezovsky (who is accused of fraud and political corruption by the Russian police and lives in exile) and U.S. Senator John McCain have suggested that the FSB (the Russian domestic intelligence service) staged the bombings to provide a pretext for an invasion of Chechnya. On September 29, Russia demanded that Chechnya extradite the criminals responsible for the bombings in Russia. A day later, Russian troops began their ground offensive.

On January 12 2004, in a hearing at Moscow City Court closed to the public and the press, Adam Dekushev and Jusuf Krymshankhalov were sentenced to life sentences for delivering explosives to the residential buildings. Both were the members of Karachay-based pro-Chechen Wahhabi group, trained by emir Khattab in Chechnya. The alleged mastermind of the bombings, Achemez Gochiyaev, has never been apprehended. The bombing trial, however, has raised questions by observers. One week prior to the trial, the former FSB officer and lawyer Mikhail Trepashkin had been arrested. Trepashkin represented a victim's family and claimed to have obtained evidence of FSB involvement.

1999-2000 Russian offensive

Air war

Main article: 1999 Russian bombing of Chechnya

In late August and September 1999, Russia mounted a massive air campaign over Chechnya, with the stated aim of wiping out militants who invaded Dagestan the previous month. On August 26 1999 Russia acknowledged bombing raids in Chechnya. [10]

The air strikes were reported to have killed hundreds of civilians and forced at least 100,000 Chechens to flee their homes. The neighbouring region of Ingushetia was reported to have appealed for United Nations aid to deal with tens of thousands of refugees. [11] On October 2 1999 Russia's Ministry of Emergency Situations admitted that 78,000 people have fled the air strikes in Chechnya; most of them were heading for Ingushetia, where they were arriving at a rate of 5,000 to 6,000 a day.

As of September 22 1999 Deputy Interior Minister Igor Zubov said that Russian troops had surrounded Chechnya and were prepared to retake the region, but the military planners were advising against a ground invasion because of the likelihood of heavy Russian casualties. By the end of September Russian forces made repeated incursions onto Chechen soil, and had captured some territory. [12]

See also: List of Russian aircraft losses in the Second Chechen War

Invasion

The Chechen conflict entered a new phase on October 1 1999, when Russia's new Prime Minister Vladimir Putin declared the authority of Chechen President Aslan Maskhadov and his parliament illegitimate.

At this time, Vladimir Putin announced that Russian troops would initiate a land invasion but progress only as far as the Terek River, which cuts the northern third of Chechnya off from the rest of the republic. Putin's stated intention was to take control of Chechnya's northern plain and establish a cordon sanitaire against further Chechen aggression. But Putin recalled later that the cordon alone was “pointless and technically impossible,” apparently because of Chechnya's rugged terrain. According to Russian accounts, Putin accelerated a plan for a major crackdown against Chechnya that had been drawn up months earlier. [13]

The Russian army moved with ease in the wide open spaces of northern Chechnya and on October 5 1999, reached the Terek River. On this day a bus filled with refugees was hit by a Russian tank shell, killing as many as 40 civilians and wounding several others. [14]

On October 7, 1999, two Russian Su-24 fighter bombers dropped cluster bombs on the village of Elistanzhi, killing some 48 people, mostly women and children.

On October 10, 1999, Maskhadov outlined a peace plan offering a crackdown on renegade warlords. [15] The offer was rejected by the Russian side.

File:Katyusha-chechen-war.jpg

Russian forces fire rocket artillery

On October 12 1999 the Russian forces crossed the Terek and began a two-pronged advance on the capital Grozny to the south. Hoping to avoid the significant casualties which plagued the first Chechen War, the Russians advanced slowly and in force, making extensive use of artillery and air power in an attempt to soften Chechen defences.

Many thousands of civilians fled the Russian advance, leaving Chechnya for neighbouring Russian republics. Their numbers were later estimated to reach 200,000 to 350,000, out of the approximately 800,000 residents of the Chechen Republic. The Russians appeared to be taking no chances with the Chechen population in its rear areas, setting up notorious "filtration camps" in October in northern Chechnya for detaining suspected members of bandformirovaniya ("bandit formations").

On October 15 1999, Russian forces took control of a strategic ridge within artillery range of the Chechen capital Grozny after mounting an intense tank and artillery barrage against Chechen fighters. In response, President Maskhadov declared a gazavat (holy war) to confront the approaching Russian army. Martial law was declared in Ichkeria and reservists were called. No martial law and no state of emergency had been declared in Chechnya or Russia by the Russian government. [16]

On October 21 1999, a Russian short-range ballistic missile strike on the central Grozny killed more than 140 people, including many women and children, and left hundreds more wounded. [17]

On October 29, the Russian aircraft carried out a rocket attack on a large convoy of refugees heading into Ingushetia, killing at least 50 civilians including Red Cross workers and journalists.

On November 7 1999, Russian soldiers dislodged rebels in Bamut, the symbolic rebel stronghold in the first war; dozens of Chechen fighters and many civilians were reported killed, and the village was leveled in the FAE bombing.

On November 12 the Russian flag was raised over Chechnya's second largest city, Gudermes, when local Yamadayev brothers commanders defected to the federal side.

On November 26 1999, Deputy Army Chief of Staff Valery Manilov said that phase two of the Chechnya campaign was just about complete, and a final third phase was about to begin. According to Manilov, the aim of the third phase was to destroy "bandit groups" in the mountains. A few days later Russia's Defense Minister Igor Sergeyev said Russian forces might need up to three more months to complete their military campaign in Chechnya, while some generals said the offensive could be over by New Year's Day.

On December 1 1999, after weeks of heavy fighting, Russian forces under Major General Vladimir Shamanov took control of Alkhan-Yurt, a village just south of Grozny. The Chechen and foreign fighters inflicted heavy losses on the Russian forces, killing more than 70 Russian soldiers before retreating. During the two weeks that followed, Russian forces went on a rampage, looting and burning the village and executing at least 14 civilians.

On the same day, Chechen rebel forces began carrying out a series of counter attacks against federal troops in several villages as well as in the outskirts of Gudermes. Rebel fighters in Argun, a small town five kilometers east of Grozny, put up some of the strongest resistance to federal troops since the start of Moscow's military offensive. Chechen fighters in the town of Urus-Martan also offered fierce resistance, employing guerrilla tactics Russia had been anxious to avoid. On December 9 1999, Russian forces were still bombarding Urus-Martan, although Chechen commanders said their fighters had already pulled out.

On December 4 1999, the commander of Russian forces in the North Caucasus, General Viktor Kazantsev, claimed that Grozny was fully blockaded by Russian troops. The Russian military's next task was the seizure of the town of Shali, 20 kilometers southeast of the capital, one of the last remaining separatist-held towns apart from Grozny. Russian troops started by capturing two bridges that link Shali to the capital, and by December 11 1999, Russian troops had encircled Shali and were slowly forcing rebel forces out.

On December 13 1999, two Russian helicopters were destroyed while searching for the Su-25 attack plane that crashed near the village of Bachi-Yurt earlier. Ultimatum issued by General Gennady Troshev ordered Shali to surrender or face destruction.

By mid-December the Russian military was concentrating attacks in southern parts of Chechnya and preparing to launch another offensive from Dagestan.

Siege of Grozny

Main article: 1999-2000 battle of Grozny

Meanwhile, the assault on Grozny started on in early December. Russian army seized the city on February 2 2000. At least one thousand civilians died in the battle. According to the official figures, at least 368 federal troops and an unknown number of pro-Russian militiamen died in Grozny. The rebel forces also suffered heavy losses, including losing several top commanders.

The siege and fighting left the capital devastated like no other European city since World War II; in 2003 the United Nations called Grozny the most destroyed city on Earth.[18]

The Russians suffered heavy losses also as they advanced elsewhere, and from the series of Chechen counter attacks and convoy ambushes. On January 26, 2000, the Russian government announced that 1,173 servicemen had been killed in Chechnya since October - a more than double rise from 544 killed reported just 19 days earlier.

Battle for the mountains

Heavy fighting accompanied by a massive shelling and bombing continued through the winter of 2000 in the mountainous south of Chechnya, particularly in the areas around Argun, Vedeno and Shatoy.

On February 4 2000, in an attempt to stop the Chechen retreat, Russian forces bombed the village of Katyr-Yurt and then a civilian convoy under white flags, killing at least 170 civilians.

On February 9 2000 a Russian tactical missile hit a crowd of people who had came to the local administration building in Shali, a town declared as one of the "safe areas", to collect their pensions. The missile is estimated to have killed some 150 civilians, and was followed by an attack by combat helicopters causing further casualties. [19]

On February 18 2000, a Russian army transport helicopter was shot down in the south of Chechnya, killing all 15 men abroad.

On February 29 2000, United Army Group commander Gennady Troshev said: "With Shatoy in our hands, the counter-terrorism operation in Chechnya is over. It will take a couple of weeks longer to pick up splinter groups now." Defense Minister Igor Sergeyev evaluated numerical strength of "splinter groups" at between 2,000 and 2,500 men, "scattered all over Chechnya."

On February 29 2000 to March 1 a Russian VDV paratroop company from Pskov was attacked and wiped out by the Chechen and Arab fighters near the village of Ulus-Kert in Chechnya's southern lowlands; 73 soldiers and 13 officers were announced killed.

Also on March 1 2000 a unit of OMON from Podolsk opened fire in Grozny on another OMON unit from Sergiyev Posad; at least 24 servicemen were killed and 31 wounded in the incident.

In March a large group of more than 1,000 Chechen fighters led by field commander Ruslan Gelayev, pursued since their withdrawal from Grozny, entered the village of Komsomolskoye in the Chechen foothills. They held off a full-scale Russian attack on the town for over two weeks, although they said they suffered from 500-1,000 casualties in the greatest Chechen defeat of the war. [20] The village was totally destroyed. Vladimir Putin put the number of Chechen dead at 600, while the Russian side admitted 350 dead and wounded.

On March 29 2000 a total of about 45 Russian soldiers were killed and more than 20 wounded as a result of the rebel ambush on the OMON convoy from Perm.

On April 23 2000 a 22-vehicle convoy carrying ammunition and other supplies to the airborne unit was ambushed near Serzhen-Yurt, in the Vedeno Gorge; in ensuing 4-hour battle the federal side lost up to 25 dead, according to official Russian reports. The rebels claimed killing more than 50 soldiers and suffering no casualties, while General Troshev told the press that the bodies of four rebel fighters were found.[21]

Insurgency

Restoration of federal government

Main article: Federal government in Chechnya

Russian President Vladimir Putin established direct rule of Chechnya in May 2000. The following month, Putin appointed Akhmad Kadyrov interim head of the government. This development met with early approval in the rest of Russia, but the continued deaths of Russian troops dampened public enthusiasm.

On March 23 2003, a new Chechen constitution was passed in a referendum. The 2003 Constitution granted the Chechen Republic a significant degree of autonomy, but still tied it firmly to Russia and Moscow's rule; the new constitution went into force on April 2 2003. The referendum was strongly supported by the Russian government but met a harsh critical response from Chechen separatists. Many citizens chose to boycott the ballot.

Since December 2005, Ramzan Kadyrov, leader of the pro-Moscow militia leader known as kadyrovites, is functioning as the Chechnya's prime minister and the republic's de-facto ruler. Kadyrov, whose irregular forces are accused of carrying out many of the abductions and atrocities, has become Chechnya's most powerful leader since the 2004 assassination of his father Akhmad Kadyrov. On February 2007, with support from Putin, Ramzan Kadyrov replaced Alu Alkhanov as president.

Guerilla war in Chechnya

Main article: Guerilla phase of the Second Chechen War

Although large-scale fighting within Chechnya has ceased, daily attacks continue particularly in the southern portions of Chechnya, spilling into nearby territories. Typically small rebel units target Russian and pro-Russian officials, security forces, and military and police convoys and vehicles. The rebel units employ IEDs and sometimes group up for larger raids. Russian forces then retaliate with artillery and air strikes, as well as counter-insurgency operations.

Most soldiers in Chechnya are now kontraktniki (contract soldiers) as opposed to the earlier conscripts. Local militias are also being used to provide security; many of the militiamen are former Chechen rebels who have defected since 1999.

While Russia continues to maintain military presence within Chechnya, Russia's federal forces play less of a direct role in Chechnya. Pro-Kremlin Chechen forces under the command of the local strongman Ramzan Kadyrov, known as the kadyrovtsy now dominate law enforcement and security operations.

Suicide attacks

Main article: Chechen suicide attacks

File:Photo09.jpg

2002 Grozny truck bombing targeted the republican government complex

Between June 2000 and September 2004 Chechen insurgents added suicide attacks to their tactics. During this period there have been 23 Chechen related suicide attacks in and outside Chechnya. The profiles of the Chechen suicide bombers have varied just as much as the circumstances surrounding the bombings, most of which targeted military or government-related targets.

Assassinations

Main article: List of Second Chechen War assassinations

Both sides of the war carried out multiple assassinations. These include the February 13 2004 killing of exiled former separatist Chechen President Zelimkhan Yandarbiyev in Qatar, and the May 9 2004 killing of pro-Russian President Akhmad Kadyrov in Grozny.

Georgia factor

Main article: Georgian-Russian relations

Russian officials have accused the bordering republic of Georgia of allowing Chechen rebels to operate on Georgian territory and permitting the flow of guerrillas and materiel across the Georgian border with Russia.

On October 8 2001, a UNOMIG helicopter carrying observers was shot down in Georgia in Kodori Valley gorge near Abkhazia, resulting in the deaths of all nine people aboard. [22] Georgia denied having troops in the area, and the suspicion fell on the armed group headed by Chechen warlord Ruslan Gelayev, who was speculated to have been hired by the Georgian government to wage proxy war against separatist Abkhazia. [23]

In February 2002, the United States began offering assistance to Georgia in combating "criminal elements" as well as alleged Arab mujahadeen activity in Pankisi Gorge as part of the War on Terrorism. Without resistance, Georgian troops have detained an Arab man and six criminals, and declared the region under control. [24]

In August 2002, Georgia accused Russia of a series of secret air strikes on purported rebel havens in the Pankisi Gorge. A Georgian civilian was reported killed.

On March 2 2004, following a number of cross-border raids from Georgia into Chechnya, Ingushetia, Abkhazia, and Dagestan, Chechen warlord Ruslan Gelayev was killed in a clash with Russian border guards while trying to get back from Dagestan into Georgia.

Radicalization of the rebel movement

The Chechen rebels are becoming increasingly more radicalized. Former Soviet army officers General Dzhokhar Dudayev and Colonel Aslan Maskhadov, have been succeeded by people who rely more and more on religious ideology, rather than the nationalistic feelings of the population.

While Dudayev and Maskhadov were seeking from Moscow recognition of the independence of the Chechen Republic Ichkeria, Sadulayev and Basayev spoke out more and more about the need to expel Russia from the territory of the whole North Caucasus, an impoverished mountain region inhabited mostly by Muslim, non-Russian ethnic groups.

In April 2006, asked whether negotiations with Russians are possible, the top rebel commander and future president Doku Umarov answered: "We offered them many times. But it turned out that we constantly press for negotiations and it's as if we are always standing with an extended hand and this is taken as a sign of our weakness. Therefore we don't plan to do this any more. And the reshuffle of the (rebel) Cabinet of Ministers is connected to this."

In the same month, the new rebel spokesman Movladi Udugov said that attacks should be expected anywhere in Russia: "The minimum goal -- not to surrender -- has been met. Today, we have a different task on our hands -- total war, war everywhere our enemy can be reached. (...) And this means mounting attacks at any place, not just in the Caucasus but in all Russia." Reflecting growing radicalization of the Chechen-led guerrillas, Udugov said their goal was no longer Western-style democracy and independence, but an Islamist "North Caucasian Emirate".

Caucasus Front

File:Img5 6.jpg

Destroyed military vehicle after the Nazran raid

Main article: Caucasian Front (Chechen War)

While the anti-Russian local insurgencies in the North Caucasus started even before the war, in May 2005, two months after Maskahdov's death, the Chechen separatists officially announced that they had formed a Caucasus Front within the framework of "reforming the system of military-political power." Along with the Chechen, Dagestani and Ingush "sectors," the Stavropol, Kabardin-Balkar, Krasnodar, Karachai-Circassian, Ossetian and Adyghe jamaats were included in it. This, in essence, means that practically all the regions of the Russia's south are involved in the hostilities.

The Chechen separatist movement has taken on a new role as the official ideological, logistical and, probably, financial hub of the new insurgency in the North Caucasus. [25] Increasingly frequent clashes between federal forces and local militants continue in Dagestan, while sporadic fighting erupts in the other southern Russia regions, most notably in Ingushetia, but also elsewhere, notably in Nalchik on October 13 2005.

War crimes and terrorism

Main article: Second Chechen War crimes and terrorism

Russian officials and Chechen rebels have regularly and repeatedly accused the opposing side of committing various war crimes including kidnapping, murder, hostage taking, looting, rape, and assorted other breaches of the laws of war. International and humanitarian organizations, including the Council of Europe and Amnesty International, have criticized both sides of the conflict for blatant and sustained violations of international humanitarian law. Russian rights groups estimate there have been 3,000-5,000 disappearances in Chechnya since 1999. They say Russian troops have used abduction, rape and torture as weapons there and that the government has done too little to punish those responsible. [26]

US Secretary Madeleine Albright noted in her March 24 2000, speech to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights:

We cannot ignore the fact that thousands of Chechen civilians have died and more than 200,000 have been driven from their homes. Together with other delegations, we have expressed our alarm at the persistent, crediblereports of human rights violations by Russian forces in Chechnya, including extrajudicial killings. There are also reports that Chechen separatists have committed abuses, including the killing of civilians and prisoners. ... The war in Chechnya has greatly damaged Russia's international standing and is isolating Russia from the international community. Russia's work to repair that damage, both at home and abroad, or its choice to risk further isolating itself, is the most immediate and momentous challenge that Russia faces. [27]

According to the 2001 annual report by Amnesty International:

There were frequent reports that Russian forces indiscriminately bombed and shelled civilian areas. Chechen civilians, including medical personnel, continued to be the target of military attacks by Russian forces. Hundreds of Chechen civilians and prisoners of war were extra judicially executed. Journalists and independent monitors continued to be refused access to Chechnya. According to reports, Chechen fighters frequently threatened, and in some cases killed, members of the Russian-appointed civilian administration and executed Russian captured soldiers. [28]

In 2001 the Holocaust Memorial Museum has placed Chechnya on its Genocide Watch List. [29]

The Russian government failed to pursue any accountability process for human rights abuses committed during the course of the conflict in Chechnya. Unable to secure justice domestically, hundreds of victims of abuse have filed applications with the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). In 2006 the court issued rulings on Chechnya, finding the Russian government guilty of violating the right to life and the prohibition of torture with respect to civilians who had died or forcibly disappeared at the hands of Russia's federal troops. Many similar claims are pending before the court.

See also: Chechnya mass graves

See also: Chechen suicide attacks

Casualties

Main article: Casualties of the Second Chechen War

Military casualty figures from both sides are impossible to verify and are generally believed to be higher. On September 13 2000 the Prague Watchdog compiled the list casualties officially announced in the first year of the conflict. Although incomplete and with little factual value, the numbers there provide a minimum insight in the information war.

According to the latest figures released by the Russian Ministry of Defence on August 10, 2005, 3,450 Russian Ground Forces soldiers have been killed in action since 1999. [30] This death toll does not include losses of the Internal Troops, Federal Security Service, Militsiya and a local paramilitaries. The independent Russian and Western estimates are much higher; the Union of the Committees of Soldiers' Mothers of Russia estimated about 11,000 Russian servicemen have been killed between 1999 and 2003.

Civilian casualty estimates vary widely. According to the figures presented by the pro-Moscow Chechen administration, as well as the Chechen separatists, over 200,000 [31] to some 500,000 [32] people died or gone missing in the two wars. Independent estimates are often lower. According to one count by the human rights group Memorial between 15,000 to 25,000 civilians died or disappeared since 1999 until 2006. The Russian-Chechen Friendship Society set their conservative estimate of the death toll in two wars at about 150,000 to 200,000 civilians, 20,000 to 40,000 Russian soldiers, and possibly the same amount of Chechen rebels. [33]

Social impact

Impact on the Chechen population

According to the 2003 World Health Organization in-depth study of the psychological health in Chechnya, 86 percent of the Chechen population was suffering from physical or emotional "distress" (about 30 percent more than people living in the Chernobyl reactive zone). 31 percent of those studied showed symptoms of ill health recognizable as post-traumatic stress syndrome. [34]

A whole generation of Chechen children is showing symptoms of trauma. In 2006 Sultan Alimkhadzhiyev, pro-Russian Chechnya's deputy health minister, said the Chechen children had become "living specimens" of what it means to grow up with the constant threat of violence and chronic poverty. "Our children have seen bombings, artillery attacks, large-caliber bombardment. They saw houses, schools and hospitals burning. They lost parents, brothers, sisters, neighbors. And they still see tanks and armored vehicles every day in the street. (...) A state of panic. Children are feeling constant fear, a premonition of tragedy." [35] In 2007 the Chechen interior ministry has identified 1,000 street children; the number is increasing.[36]

Impact on the Russian soldiers

Post-traumatic stress disorder. Since the Chechen conflict began in 1994, cases of depressed young veterans returning embittered and traumatized to their home towns have been reported all across Russia. Russian psychiatrists, law-enforcement officials and journalists have started calling the condition of psychologically scarred soldiers "Chechen syndrome" (CS), drawing a parallel with the post-traumatic stress disorders suffered by Soviet soldiers who fought in Afghanistan. "At least 70% of the estimated 1.5 million Chechnya veterans suffer CS. Some readjust. Many don't. All need help," said Yuri Alexandrovsky, deputy director of the Serbsky National Center for Social and Forensic Psychiatry in Moscow. [37]

Other issues

Amnesties

There were at least seven amnesties for guerrillas, as well as federal servicemen who committed crimes, was declared in Chechnya by Moscow since the start of the second war. According to Ramzan Kadyrov, himself former rebel, more than 7,000 separatist fighters defected to the federal side ("returned to the peaceful life") by 2005.

The first one was announced in 1999 when about 400 Chechen switched sides. However, according to Putin's advisor and aide Aslambek Aslakhanov most of them were since killed, both by their former comrades and by the Russians, who by then perceived them as a potential "fifth columnists". [38] Some of the others included one during September 2003 in connection with the adoption of the republic's new constitution, and then another between mid-2006 and January 2007.

Government censorship of the media coverage

Main article: Russian censorship of Chechnya coverage

The first war, with its extensive and largely unrestricted coverage (despite deaths of many journalists), convinced the Kremlin more than any other event that it needed to control national television channels, which most Russians rely on for news, to successfully undertake any major national policy. By the time the second war began, federal authorities had designed and introduced a comprehensive system to limit the access of journalists to Chechnya and shape their coverage. [39]

The Russian government's control of all Russian television stations and its use of repressive rules, harassment, censorship, intimidation [40] and attacks on journalists almost completely deprived the Russian public of the independent information on the conflict. Russian journalists in Chechnya face intense harassment and obstruction [41], while foreign journalists and media outlets are pressured into censoring their reports on the conflict, [42] making it nearly impossible for journalists to provide balanced coverage of Chechnya. In some cases Russian jornalists reporting on Chechnya were jailed (Boris Stomakhin), kidnapped (Andrei Babitsky) or murdered (Anna Politkovskaya), and foreign media outlets (American Broadcasting Company) banned from Russia. The Russian-Chechen Friendship Society was shut down.

According to a 2007 poll only 11 percent of Russians said they were happy with media coverage of Chechnya. [43] Practically all the local Chechen media are under total control of the pro-Moscow government.

Land mines

Main article: Landmine situation in Chechnya

Chechnya is the most landmine-affected region worldwide. [44] Since 1999 there have been widespread use of mines, by both sides. Russia is a party to the 1980 Convention on Conventional Weapons but not the 1996 protocol on landmines, booby traps, and other devices. The most heavily mined areas are those in which rebels continue to put up resistance, namely the southern regions, as well as the borders of Chechnya. [45]

No humanitarian mine clearance has taken place since the HALO Trust was evicted by Russia in December 1999. In June 2002, Olara Otunnu, the UN official, estimated that there were 500,000 land mines placed in the region. UNICEF has recorded 2,340 civilian landmine and unexploded ordnance casualties occurring in Chechnya between 1999 and the end of 2003.

Unilateral ceasefire events

On February 2 2005, Chechen rebel president Aslan Maskhadov issued a call for a ceasefire lasting until at least February 22 (the day preceding the anniversary of Stalin's deportation of the Chechen population). The call was issued through a separatist website and addressed to President Putin, described as a gesture of goodwill. On March 8 2005, Maskhadov was killed in an operation by Russian security forces in the Chechen community of Tolstoy-Yurt, northeast of Grozny.

Shortly following Maskhadov's death, the Chechen rebel council announced that Abdul-Khalim Sadulayev had assumed the leadership, a move that was quickly endorsed by Shamil Basayev. On February 2 2006 Sadulayev made large-scale changes in his government, ordering all its members to move into Chechen territory. Among other things, he removed First Vice-Premier Akhmed Zakayev from his post (although later Zakayev was appointed a Foreign Minister [46]). Sadulayev himself was killed in June 2006, after which he was succeeded as the rebel leader by the veteran guerilla commander Doku Umarov.

See also

• Command responsibility
• International response to the Second Chechen War

References

External links

Timelines and chronologies

• BBC Timeline: Chechnya

Summaries

• Analysis of Chechen Conflict at the site Chechnya Free
• Second Chechnya War - 1999-??? Global Security
• Three Years of the Second Chechen War Chechen Times
• The Chechen resistance movement: 2006 in review Jamestown Foundation

Human rights issues

• Human Rights Violations in Chechnya Society for the Russian-Chechen Friendship
• Council of Europe Resolutions on 'The human rights situation in the Chechen Republic'
  • Resolution 1323 (2003)
  • Resolution 1403 (2004)

2005 ceasefire events

• Moscow News Ceasefire announcement 2 February 2005.
• BBC News Aslan Maskhadov's death 8 March 2005.

Articles

• Critical media coverage of Chechnya stifled
• Shifting Battlefields of the Chechen War (April 2006)
• ISN Case Study: The North Caucasus on the Brink (August 2006)

Advocacy groups and mailing lists

• The Terror of 9/99: Fact Sheet
• Chechnya-sl mailing list