How did the second Chechen war begin? Other reasons coming from the main

On September 30, 1999, the first units of the Russian army entered the territory of Chechnya. Second Chechen War or - officially - the counter-terrorist operation - lasted almost ten years, from 1999 to 2009. It was preceded by an attack by militants Shamil Basayev and Khattab on Dagestan and a series of terrorist attacks in Buynaksk, Volgodonsk and Moscow that took place from 4 to 16 September 1999.

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Russia was shocked by a series of monstrous terrorist attacks in 1999. On the night of September 4, a house in the military town of Buynaksk (Dagestan) was blown up. 64 people were killed and 146 were injured. By itself, this terrible crime could not stir up the country, such precedents in the North Caucasus have already become commonplace for last years. But further developments showed that now the inhabitants of not a single Russian city, including the capital, cannot feel completely safe. The next explosions thundered already in Moscow. On the night of September 9-10 and September 13 (at 5 o'clock in the morning), 2 apartment buildings located on st. Guryanov (109 people died, more than 200 were injured) and on Kashirskoye Highway (more than 124 people died). Another explosion occurred in the center of Volgodonsk ( Rostov region), here 17 people died, 310 were injured and injured. According to official version, the attacks were carried out by terrorists trained in the Khattab sabotage camps in Chechnya.

These events dramatically changed the mood in society. The inhabitant, faced with an unprecedented threat, was ready to support any forceful actions against the seceded republic. Unfortunately, few paid attention to the fact that the terrorist attacks themselves became an indicator of the biggest failure of the Russian special services, which failed to prevent them. In addition, it is difficult to completely exclude the version of FSB involvement in the explosions, especially after mysterious events in Ryazan. Here, on the evening of September 22, 1999, bags with RDX and a detonator were found in the basement of one of the houses. On September 24, two suspects were detained by local Chekists, and it turned out that they were acting FSB officers from Moscow. Lubyanka urgently announced "anti-terrorist exercises that were taking place," and subsequent attempts to independently investigate these events were suppressed by the authorities.

Regardless of who was behind what happened massacre Russian citizens, the Kremlin used the events to full program. Now it was no longer about protection itself. Russian territory in the North Caucasus and not even about the blockade of Chechnya, reinforced by the bombardments that have already begun. The Russian leadership, with some delay, began to implement the plan prepared back in March 1999 for another invasion of the "rebellious republic".

On October 1, 1999, federal forces entered the territory of the republic. The northern regions (Naursky, Shelkovskaya and Nadterechny) were occupied practically without a fight. The Russian leadership decided not to stop at the Terek (as originally planned), but to continue the offensive along the flat part of Chechnya. At this stage, in order to avoid major losses(which could bring down the rating of Yeltsin's "successor") the main bet was made on the use of heavy weapons, which allowed the federal forces to avoid contact battles. In addition to this, the Russian command used the tactic of negotiations with local elders and field commanders. From the first they sought the departure of Chechen detachments from settlements, threatening, otherwise, with massive air and artillery strikes. The second was offered to go over to the side of Russia and fight the Wahhabis together. In some places this tactic has been successful. On November 12, the commander of the Vostok group, General G. Troshev, occupied Gudermes, the second largest city in the republic, without a fight, the local field commanders, the Yamadayev brothers (two out of three), went over to the side of the federal forces. And V. Shamanov, who commanded the West grouping, preferred forceful methods of resolving problems that arose. So the village of Bamut was completely destroyed as a result of the November assault, but the regional center Achkhoy-Martan Russian divisions occupied without a fight.

The "carrot and stick" method used by the federal group worked flawlessly for another reason. In the flat part of the republic, the possibilities of defense for Chechen army were extremely limited. Sh. Basayev, was well aware of the advantage of the Russian side in firepower. In this regard, he defended the option of withdrawing the Chechen army to the southern mountainous regions of the republic. Here, the federal forces, deprived of the support of armored vehicles and limited in the use of aviation, would inevitably face the prospect of contact battles, which the Russian command stubbornly tried to avoid. The Chechen President A. Maskhadov was the opponent of this plan. While continuing to call on the Kremlin for peace talks, he was unwilling at the same time to surrender the republic's capital without a fight. Being an idealist, A. Maskhadov believed that large one-time losses during the storming of Grozny would force the Russian leadership to start peace negotiations.

In the first half of December, federal forces occupied almost the entire flat part of the republic. Chechen detachments concentrated in the mountainous regions, but a rather large garrison continued to hold Grozny, which, in the course of stubborn and bloody battles, was captured by Russian troops in early 2000. This ended the active phase of the war. Later years Russian special forces, together with local loyalist forces, were engaged in cleaning up the territories of Chechnya and Dagestan from the remaining gangs of formations.

The problem of the status of the Chechen Republic by 2003-2004. leaves the current political agenda: the republic returns to the political and legal space of Russia, takes its position as a subject Russian Federation, with elected authorities and a procedurally approved republican constitution. Doubts about the legal validity of these procedures are unlikely to seriously change their outcome, which in critical depend on the ability of the federal and republican authorities to ensure the irreversibility of Chechnya's transition to problems and concerns peaceful life. Two serious threats remain within such a transition: (a) indiscriminate violence by federal forces, re-binding sympathies Chechen population to cells/practices of terrorist resistance and thus reinforcing the dangerous "occupation effect" - the effect of alienation between [Russia] and [the Chechens] as "parties to the conflict"; and (b) the formation of a closed authoritarian regime in the republic, legitimized and protected by federal authorities and alienated from broad strata/territorial or teip groups of the Chechen population. These two threats are capable of cultivating the ground in Chechnya for the return of mass illusions and actions related to the separation of the republic from Russia.

Mufti of Chechnya Akhmat Kadyrov, who died on May 9, 2004 as a result of a terrorist attack, becomes the head of the republic, who went over to the side of Russia. His successor was his son, Ramzan Kadyrov.

Gradually, with the cessation of foreign funding and the death of the leaders of the underground, the activity of the militants decreased. federal center sent and is sending large sums of money to help and restore peaceful life in Chechnya. Subdivisions of the Ministry of Defense and internal troops Ministry of Internal Affairs maintaining order in the republic. Whether the troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs will remain in Chechnya after the abolition of the KTO is not yet clear.

Assessing the current situation, we can say that the fight against separatism in Chechnya has been successfully completed. However, the victory cannot be called final. North Caucasus is a rather turbulent region, in which various forces, both local and supported from abroad, are operating, seeking to fan the fire of a new conflict, so that the final stabilization of the situation in the region is still far away.

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The period of 1996-1999 in Chechnya is characterized by a gradual and deep criminalization of society, which led to a certain destabilization southern borders Russia. Kidnappings, explosions and drug trafficking flourished, and it was not always possible to fight them, especially if the Chechen bandits acted “on the road”. At the same time, the Russian leadership repeatedly turned to A. Maskhadov with an offer to provide assistance in the fight against organized crime, but received a constant refusal. A new extremist trend in Chechnya - Wahhabism - was rapidly spreading in conditions of unemployment and social tension, although it was recognized by the authorities of the self-proclaimed republic as illegal. The situation in the region was heating up.

The culmination of this process was the invasion of Chechen fighters under the command of Sh. Basayev and Khattab into the territory of Russia, into Dagestan in August 1999. At the same time, the bandits counted on the support of local Wahhabis, thanks to whom it was supposed to then tear Dagestan away from Russia and thereby create the North Caucasian Emirate.

The beginning of the second Chechen war

However, the field commanders severely miscalculated, and Russian army was no longer the same as 3 years ago. The militants almost immediately found themselves drawn into protracted battles along the Chechen-Dagestan border - in a mountainous and wooded area. And if earlier separatists were often “saved” by mountains, now they had no advantage. The hopes of the militants for the broad support of the people of Dagestan were not justified either - on the contrary, the intruders were offered the most severe resistance. As a result of hostilities in Dagestan during August, Chechen bandit formations were completely driven back to the territory of Ichkeria, and a relative calm was established for several weeks.

However, already in the first half of September 1999, explosions of residential buildings in Moscow, Volgodonsk and Buynaksk thundered - and traces of terrorist attacks led to Chechnya. These events put an end to the possibility of a peaceful dialogue between Russia and Ichkeria.

Maskhadov's government officially condemned the actions of the militants, but in fact did absolutely nothing to prevent such actions. With this in mind, on September 23, President of the Russian Federation B. Yeltsin signed a decree "On measures to increase the effectiveness of counter-terrorist operations in the territory of North Caucasus region Russian Federation”, according to which it was necessary to create a Joint Group of Forces and begin the destruction of gangs and terrorist bases in the republic. In the same day Russian aviation bombed Grozny, and a week later the troops entered the territory of the republic.

During the fighting in the rebellious republic in the fall of 1999, the skill of the Russian army became noticeably increased. Troops, combining various tactics(for example, luring militants into minefields) and maneuvers, managed to partially destroy and push Chechen gangs to Grozny already in November-December. Nevertheless, the Russian leadership was not going to storm the city, which was announced by the commander of the eastern group of Russian troops G. Troshev.

The Chechen side, meanwhile, relied on the internationalization of the conflict, attracting the Mujahideen, instructors and capital from near and far abroad, and primarily from Arab countries. The main, but not the only reason for their interest was, of course, oil. Peace in the North Caucasus would allow the Russian side to get a good profit from the exploitation of the Caspian deposits, which would be unprofitable for the Arab countries. Another reason can be called the fashion for the radicalization of Islam, which then began to overwhelm the countries of the Middle East.

The Russian leadership, on the contrary, has relied on mass attraction to its side civilians and former Chechen fighters. Thus, the Mufti of Ichkeria, Akhmad Kadyrov, who declared jihad on Russia during the First Chechen War, became the most prominent figure who went over to the side of the federals. Now, having condemned Wahhabism, he became an enemy of A. Maskhadov and headed the pro-Russian administration of Chechnya after the end of the Second Chechen War.

Assault on Grozny

By the winter of 1999-2000. Russian troops managed to block Grozny from the south. The initial decision to abandon the assault on the republican capital changed, and on December 26, an operation began to eliminate gangs in the city.

In the early days, the situation developed favorably for the federal troops. On the second day of the operation, the federals, with the assistance of pro-Russian detachments of the Chechen police, took control of the Staropromyslovsky district of the capital. However, on December 29, fierce battles broke out on the streets of Grozny, federal units were surrounded, but were able to escape at the cost of serious losses. These battles forced the pace of the offensive to slow down somewhat, but they had no effect on the general situation.

In the following days, the Russian army continued to stubbornly advance, clearing more and more new urban areas from militants. In the second half of January, fierce battles flared up around a strategically important area - Minutka Square. The Russian troops succeeded in pushing out the militants and seizing this line. On February 6, 2000, the acting President of the Russian Federation, V. Putin, announced that the operation to liberate Grozny had been victoriously completed.

The course of the second Chechen war in 2000-2009.

Many Chechen fighters managed to escape from Grozny, and as a result, the war entered the partisan stage. However, its intensity steadily decreased, and by 2002, the media began to talk about the "fading" of the Chechen conflict. Nevertheless, in 2002-2005, the militants carried out a series of cruel and daring terrorist attacks (hostage-taking in a recreation center on Dubrovka (Moscow), at a school in Beslan, an unsuccessful raid into Kabardino-Balkaria), thereby demonstrating that the conflict is far from over .

It should be noted that the period 2001-2005. was remembered for the frequent liquidations of the leaders of the Chechen separatists and foreign fighters, as a result of which tension in the region decreased significantly. As a result, on April 15, 2009, the CTO regime (counter-terrorist operation) was canceled on the territory of the Chechen Republic.

The results of the war

Since then, the situation in Chechnya has practically stabilized, and the intensity of hostilities has decreased to almost zero. The new administration of the republic managed to restore order in the region and make Chechnya a completely safe place. Nevertheless, it should be noted that the special operations of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the army in the North Caucasus continue - not only in Chechnya, but also in other regions. Therefore, the Second Chechen War can be called the completed chapter of history.

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"Second Chechen War" - this is how the counter-terrorist operation in the North Caucasus is called. In fact, it became a continuation of the First Chechen War of 1994-1996.

Causes of the war

The first Chechen war, which ended with the Khasavyurt agreements, did not bring noticeable improvements to the territory of Chechnya. The period 1996-1999 in unrecognized republic generally characterized by deep criminalization of all life. The federal government has repeatedly appealed to the President of Chechnya A. Maskhadov with a proposal to assist in the fight against organized crime, but did not find understanding.

Another factor influencing the situation in the region was the popular religious and political trend - Wahhabism. Supporters of Wahhabism began to establish the power of Islam in the villages - with skirmishes and shooting. In fact, in 1998 there was a sluggish Civil War in which hundreds of fighters participated. This trend in the republic was not supported by the administration, but it did not experience much opposition from the authorities either. Every day the situation became more and more aggravated.

In 1999, the militants of Basayev and Khattab tried to carry out military operation in Dagestan, which was the main reason for starting new war. At the same time, terrorist attacks were carried out in Buynaksk, Moscow and Volgodonsk.

The course of hostilities

1999

	Militant invasion of Dagestan
	Attacks in Buynaksk, Moscow, Volgodonsk
	Blocking the borders with Chechnya
	Decree of B. Yeltsin "On measures to increase the effectiveness of counter-terrorist operations on the territory of the North Caucasus region of the Russian Federation"
	Federal troops entered the territory of Chechnya
	The beginning of the assault on Grozny

year 2000

year 2009

When planning an invasion of the territory of Dagestan, the militants hoped for the support of the local population, but it offered them desperate resistance. The federal authorities offered the Chechen leadership to conduct a joint operation against the Islamists in Dagestan. It was also proposed to eliminate the bases of illegal formations.

In August 1999, Chechen bandit formations were driven out of the territory of Dagestan, and their pursuit by federal troops began already on the territory of Chechnya. For a while there was a relative calm.

Maskhadov's government verbally condemned the bandits, but in reality took no action. With this in mind, Russian President Boris Yeltsin signed a decree "On measures to increase the effectiveness of counter-terrorist operations in the North Caucasus region of the Russian Federation." This decree was aimed at destroying gangs and terrorist bases in the republic. On September 23, federal aviation began the bombing of Grozny, and on September 30, troops entered the territory of Chechnya.

It should be noted that in the years after the First Chechen War, the training of the federal army increased markedly, and already in November the troops approached Grozny.

The federal government also made adjustments to its actions. Mufti of Ichkeria Akhmad Kadyrov, who condemned Wahhabism and opposed Maskhadov, went over to the side of the federal forces.

On December 26, 1999, an operation began to eliminate gangs in Grozny. The fighting continued throughout January 2000, and only on February 6 was it announced that full release cities.

Part of the militants managed to escape from Grozny, and began guerrilla war. The activity of hostilities gradually decreased, and many believed that the Chechen conflict had subsided. But in 2002-2005, the militants carried out a series of cruel and daring measures (hostage-taking at the Dubrovka Theater Center, schools in Beslan, a raid into Kabardino-Balkaria). Since then, the situation has practically stabilized.

Results of the Second Chechen War

The main result of the Second Chechen War can be considered the achieved relative calm in the Chechen Republic. An end was put to the criminal revelry that had terrorized the population for ten years. The drug trade and the slave trade were abolished. And it is very important that in the Caucasus it was not possible to realize the plans of the Islamists to create world centers of terrorist organizations.

Today, during the reign of Ramzan Kadyrov, the economic structure republics. Much has been done to eliminate the consequences of hostilities. The city of Grozny has become a symbol of the revival of the republic.

The Chechen War is an armed confrontation between the Armed Forces of Russia and the unrecognized Chechen Republic of Ichkeria. These events are among the darkest in recent history Russia. Events unfolded in two campaigns, sometimes two Chechen wars are distinguished: the first - from 1994 to 1996, the second - from 1999 to 2009.

In the fall of 1991, during a coup d'état, the parliament of the Chechen-Ingush Republic was removed from power. At the same time Chechen-Ingush Republic was divided into Chechen and Ingush. Elections were held in Chechnya, which were declared illegal Supreme Council RSFSR, as they were more of a representation than actually elections. Thus, the separatists led by Dzhokhar Dudayev broke through to power in Chechnya. On October 27, Dudayev was declared president; on November, the independence of Chechnya was proclaimed. Chechnya was named Ichkeria. In the spring of 1992, the republic's constitution was adopted. This state has not been recognized by any state in the world.

Chechnya was in an economic and political crisis: during 1991-1994, a criminal economy flourished (abductions and human trafficking, arms trafficking, drug trafficking), armed confrontation between Dudayev and the opposition took place, ethnic cleansing took place against the non-Chechen population, primarily against Russians. The Russian leadership tried to introduce state of emergency, but unsuccessfully. Several rounds of negotiations also came to nothing. The Chechen leaders wanted central authorities recognized independent Chechnya. Meanwhile Chechen fighters carried out the seizure of weapons, military depots, and this took place with the consent of Russian minister defense of Grachev.

On December 11, 1994, Russian troops entered the territory of Chechnya. started. The army came from three directions and was aimed at Grozny. AT new year's eve troops began to storm Grozny. February 22, 1995 the city was taken, the movement of Russian troops deep into Chechnya began. Dudayev's troops by the summer of 1995 were in a very difficult position. On June 14, there was a hostage-taking in Budenovsk ( Stavropol region), which led to the start of negotiations between the Russian authorities and the separatists and the delay in military actions on the part of Russia. In April 1996, the leader of the Chechen militants, Dudayev, was eliminated. In August 1996, the separatists managed to capture Grozny. On August 31, 1996, the parties signed an agreement called the Khasavyurt Accords. Under the terms of the agreement, a truce was declared, the withdrawal of Russian troops from Chechnya, the question of independence was postponed until 2001.

After the completion of the first campaign, a regime was established in Chechnya, characterized by a criminal economy (drug trafficking, arms trafficking), officially permitted blood feud, genocide of people of non-Chechen nationality. The ideas of Islamic extremists were spreading in the republic, and outside the territory of Chechnya in Russia, Chechen fighters carry out terrorist attacks. In August 1999, separatist troops led by Basayev and Khattab invaded Dagestan. Russian troops repel the attack and enter Chechnya.
The second Chechen war begins with battles with Basayev and Khattab. On September 30, 1999, troops entered Chechnya. The end of this war is considered to be April 16, 2009, when the CTO regime was abolished in Chechnya. It is sometimes said that the Chechen war is still going on.

The war took a huge toll Russian people. This is primarily expressed in human losses. Russian soldiers and officers, as well as civilians. Losses cannot be accurately calculated. Data vary from 10 to 26 thousand killed soldiers. In any case, the Russo-Chechen war was a personal tragedy for huge amount of people.

On September 30, 2015, Russia launched a military campaign in Syria. After the end of World War II, the USSR and then Russia participated in dozens of military operations in which they suffered losses. From China and Cuba to Angola and Czechoslovakia - where and what the Russian armed forces have achieved - in the special project "Kommersant"

In early August 1999, armed clashes broke out on the border between Dagestan and Chechnya. On August 7, the territory of the Botlikh region of Dagestan from Chechnya was invaded by gangs in the amount of more than 400 people under the leadership of field commanders Shamil Basayev and Khattab. The fighting continued until the end of August, after which the federal forces began an assault on the Wahhabi villages of Karamakhi, Chabanmakhi and Kadar in Dagestan.
On the night of September 5, about 2,000 extremists crossed the Chechen-Dagestan border again. Fighting in Dagestan continued until 15 September. By the end of September, up to 90 thousand soldiers, about 400 tanks, were concentrated on the border with Chechnya. The commander of the joint grouping of federal forces was Colonel-General Viktor Kazantsev. The forces of the separatists were estimated at 15-20 thousand militants, up to 30 tanks and 100 armored vehicles.

On October 2, 1999, Russian troops entered Chechnya. They managed to occupy the northern part of Chechnya with minimal losses, to take control of the cities of Urus-Martan and Gudermes without a fight.

On December 22, Russian border guards and airborne units landed in the south of the Argun Gorge, blocking the way to Georgia. The assault on Grozny took place in December 1999-January 2000.

On February 1–3, as part of the “Wolf Hunt” operation, militant groups were lured out of the Chechen capital and sent to minefields with the help of disinformation (the loss of militants amounted to approximately 1,500 people).

The last major combined-arms operation was the destruction of a detachment of militants in the village of Komsomolskoye on March 2-15, 2000 (about 1,200 people were destroyed and taken prisoner). On April 20, Deputy Chief of the General Staff Valery Manilov announced that Military Unit operation in Chechnya has been completed and is now being carried out " special part- conducting special operations to complete the defeat of the remaining unfinished bandit formations. It was announced that about 28,000 servicemen would be stationed in the republic on a permanent basis, including advanced units of the 42nd motorized rifle division, 2,700 border guards, and nine battalions of internal troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation.

In Moscow, they staked on the settlement of the conflict with the involvement of part of the local elites to their side. On June 12, 2000, by decree of the President of the Russian Federation, Akhmat Kadyrov, a former close associate of Maskhadov and the mufti of Ichkeria, was appointed head of the administration of the Chechen Republic.

Since the spring-summer of 2000, the militants switched to partisan actions: shelling, mining roads, terrorist attacks. Terrorist activity quickly spread beyond the borders of the republic. The militants took hostages at the musical Nord-Ost in Moscow, organized the blowing up of the government building in Grozny (2002), the explosion at the Wings rock festival in Tushino (2003), the explosions of suicide bombers in the Moscow metro and on board passenger planes (2004) .

On May 9, 2004, Akhmat Kadyrov was killed in an explosion at the Dynamo stadium in Grozny.
Interview of Vladimir Putin with Sergey Dorenko (1999)
On September 1, 2004, the most notorious terrorist attack in Russian history- the capture of more than 1 thousand hostages at a school in Beslan. The attack killed 334 people.

On October 13, 2005, the militants made their last major sortie - up to 200 people attacked 13 objects in Nalchik, including the airport, FSB and police buildings. 95 militants were killed, 71 were detained over the next year.

On July 10, 2006, Shamil Basayev, who claimed responsibility for the attack on Nalchik and a number of high-profile terrorist attacks, was killed during a special operation by the FSB in Ingushetia. By that time, many separatist leaders had already been destroyed, including the President of Ichkeria, Aslan Maskhadov.

In 2007, Ramzan Kadyrov, the son of Akhmat Kadyrov, came to power in Chechnya.

From 00:00 hours on April 16, 2009, the regime of the counter-terrorist operation on the territory of the Chechen Republic was canceled. The report of the National Anti-Terrorism Committee said that from now on, measures to combat terrorism in Chechnya will be carried out by local law enforcement like in other regions of the country. This moment is considered the official end of the second Chechen war.

Total losses power structures during active phase military operations (from October 1999 to December 23, 2002) amounted to 4,572 dead and 15,549 wounded. According to statistics from the Ministry of Defense, from 1999 to September 2008, 3,684 servicemen died in the line of duty in Chechnya. According to the main personnel department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the losses of internal troops in August 1999-August 2003 amounted to 1,055 people. Losses of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Chechnya, according to data for 2006, were estimated at 835 people killed. It was also reported that 202 FSB officers were killed in Chechnya in 1999-2002. The total losses of the Russian law enforcement agencies can be estimated at least 6 thousand people.

According to the headquarters of the United Forces, in 1999-2002, 15.5 thousand militants were destroyed. From 2002 to 2009, the security forces reported on the liquidation of about 2,100 more members of illegal armed groups: the main part in 2002 (600) and 2003 (700). Separatist leader Shamil Basayev in 2005 estimated militant losses at 3,600. In 2004, the human rights organization "Memorial" estimated civilian casualties at 10-20 thousand people, Amnesty International in 2007 - up to 25 thousand dead.

As a result of the second Chechen campaign, Russia managed to completely take control of the territory of the republic and ensure a government loyal to the center. At the same time, the terrorist organization “Imarat Kavkaz” was formed in the region, aiming to create an Islamist state on the territory of all the Caucasian republics of the Russian Federation. After 2009, the gang organized a number of major terrorist attacks in the country (explosions in the Moscow metro in 2010, at Domodedovo airport in 2011, at a railway station and in a trolleybus in Volgograd in 2013). The regime of the counter-terrorist operation is periodically introduced in the territories of the republics of the region.

Territory: Chechen Republic
Period: August 1999-April 2009
Duration: 9.5 years
Participants: Russia / Chechen Republic of Ichkeria, Emarat Kavkaz
Involved forces of the USSR / Russia: a combined group of troops of up to 100 thousand people
Losses: more than 6 thousand people, of which 3.68 thousand military personnel of the Ministry of Defense (as of September 2008)
Supreme Commander: Boris Yeltsin
Conclusion: two Chechen wars helped to "pacify" Chechnya, but turned the entire North Caucasus into a powder keg