Unknown photos of the war in Chechnya. Unknown photos of the war in Chechnya Russian soldiers in Chechnya drawings

On December 11, 1994, Russian President Boris Yeltsin signed a decree “On measures to ensure legality, law and order and public safety on the territory of the Chechen Republic.” A combined group of Russian armed forces and the Ministry of Internal Affairs entered the territory of Chechnya. This is how the First Chechen War began, photos of which are waiting for you further.

Despite the fact that the Russian army officially began hostilities in December 1994, the first Russian soldiers were captured by the Chechens back in November.

Dudayev's militants pray against the backdrop of the Presidential Palace in Grozny

In January 1995, the palace looked like this:

Dudayev's militant with a homemade submachine gun in early January 1995. In Chechnya in those years, various types of weapons, including small arms, were collected.

Destroyed BMP-2 of the Russian army

Prayer against the backdrop of a fire caused by shrapnel hitting a gas pipe

Young fighter

Field commander Shamil Basayev rides on a bus with hostages

On New Year's Eve 1995, clashes in Grozny were especially brutal. The 131st Maykop Motorized Rifle Brigade lost many soldiers.

Militants fire back at advancing Russian units.

Children play in the suburbs of Grozny

Chechen militants in 1995

Minute Square in Grozny. Evacuation of refugees.

Gennady Troshev at the stadium. Ordzhonikidze in 1995. The lieutenant general led the Joint Group of Troops of the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Internal Affairs in Chechnya, during the Second Chechen War he also commanded Russian troops, then was appointed commander of the North Caucasus Military District. In 2008, he died in a Boeing crash in Perm.

A Russian serviceman plays a piano left in the central park of Grozny. February 6, 1995

The intersection of Rosa Luxemburg and Tamanskaya streets

Chechen fighters run for cover

Grozny, view from the Presidential Palace. March 1995

A Chechen sniper holed up in a destroyed building takes aim at Russian soldiers. 1996

Chechen negotiator enters neutral zone

Children from an orphanage play on a wrecked Russian tank. 1996

An elderly woman makes her way through the destroyed center of Grozny. 1996

Chechen militant holds a machine gun during prayer

Russian checkpoint at the Council of Ministers, 1995

People left homeless after the bombing of Grozny cook food on a fire in the middle of the street

People fleeing a war zone

The CRI command stated that at the height of the conflict up to 12 thousand soldiers fought for it. Many of them were, in fact, children who went to war after their relatives.

On the left is a wounded man, on the right is a Chechen teenager in military uniform

By the end of 1995, most of Grozny was ruins

Anti-Russian demonstration in the center of Grozny in February 1996

A Chechen with a portrait of separatist leader Dzhokhar Dudayev, killed in a rocket attack on April 21, 1996

Before the 1996 elections, Yeltsin visited Chechnya and, in front of the soldiers, signed a decree reducing the length of military service.

Election campaign

On August 19, 1996, the commander of the group of Russian troops in Chechnya, Konstantin Pulikovsky, issued an ultimatum to the militants. He invited civilians to leave Grozny within 48 hours. After this period, the assault on the city was supposed to begin, but the military leader was not supported in Moscow, and his plan was thwarted.

On August 31, 1996, agreements were signed in Khasavyurt, according to which Russia pledged to withdraw troops from the territory of Chechnya, and the decision on the status of the republic was postponed for 5 and a half years. In the photo, General Lebed, who was then the presidential envoy to Chechnya, and Aslan Maskhadov, the field commander of Chechen militants and the future “president” of the Chechen Republic of Ichnia, are shaking hands.

Russian soldiers drink champagne in the center of Grozny

Russian soldiers are preparing to be sent home after the signing of the Khasavyurt agreements

According to human rights activists, up to 35,000 civilians died during the First Chechen War.

In Chechnya, the signing of the Khasavyurt agreements was perceived as a victory.

Exactly 22 years ago, in early January 1995, events began to develop that were later called the First Chechen War. On December 31, 1994, the 131st Motorized Rifle Division entered the Chechen capital, the city of Grozny, with the promise of “capturing Grozny in 4 hours as a gift to Yeltsin for the New Year.” As a result, the promise turned into heavy two-month battles for the city and a year and a half of the First Chechen War, during which, according to various estimates, from 20 to 80 thousand people died...

I remember well this “New Year’s assault” on Grozny - this war was the first in the post-Soviet space, which the media covered almost live, terrible footage of the night assault on the city and the almost complete destruction of the 131st Maykop brigade spread all over the world. And then news from the battlefields of the First Chechen Army settled in the Russian-language media for many months.

Below the cut are photographs and a story about those events.

02. The decision to storm the city of Grozny was made shortly before the New Year - on December 26, 1994 at a meeting of the Security Council of the Russian Federation. The plan to capture the city included actions by groups of federal forces from four directions - north, northeast, west and east. Together with the troops of the 131st Maykop brigade, the forces of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the FSB (then FSK), which were assigned the task of seizing the presidential palace in the center of Grozny, were supposed to act.

Troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs on armor at the entrances to Grozny:

03. And this is what the opponents of the federal forces looked like when they defended the city of Grozny. The Chechens also had their own military plan regarding the defense of the city; they created three defensive lines - interior(with a radius of 1 to 1.5 kilometers around the presidential palace), average- at a distance of up to 1 km from the internal border and external— it concerned mainly the outskirts of the city.

04. The most fortified and prepared was the inner radius of defense around the presidential palace. The lower and upper floors of the buildings were adapted for firing from small arms and anti-tank weapons, and along Ordzhonikidze, Pobeda and Pervomaiskaya streets prepared positions were created for direct fire from artillery and tanks.

05. Several units of the army of the “Chechen Republic of Ichkeria” were preparing to defend the city, including the personal security of President Dudayev and an honor guard company, and militia units were formed, which were replenished with volunteers from the civilian population.

06. The first shelling of Grozny began on December 22, but only on December 24 did they begin to scatter leaflets from airplanes with explanations for the population, who believed that federal troops were coming to “liberate” them, and therefore were not eager to leave the city and take refuge in the countryside. During the December bombing in the city of Grozny, according to some sources, several thousand people were killed...

On New Year's Eve, federal troops began to enter the city - apparently, the federal forces did not expect serious resistance, this is indirectly indicated by the instructions received by the soldiers - it was forbidden to occupy buildings other than administrative ones, to destroy benches, trash cans and other objects of housing and communal services and infrastructure . Check documents of people you meet with weapons, confiscate weapons, and shoot only as a last resort.

Almost immediately, the columns of federal troops came under heavy fire, this is what eyewitnesses recalled:

“We entered Grozny and immediately came under heavy fire - from almost all places, from all high-rise buildings, from all fortifications. As soon as we entered the city, the column slowed down. During that hour, five tanks and six armored personnel carriers were knocked out. The Chechens had a buried - one tower is visible - the T-72 tank, which destroyed the entire vanguard of the column. "

07. Traces of January battles for the city:

08. Burnt infantry fighting vehicles of the 131st motorized rifle division in the center of Grozny.

09. A damaged infantry fighting vehicle with a lamppost falling from above. The 131st Motorized Rifle Brigade reached the train station in the city of Grozny, where the battle continued all night; the brigade was almost completely destroyed.

10. And this is what the defenders of the presidential palace in Grozny looked like - the tasks of storming it were assigned to the Northern Group of Federal Forces.

11. Burning buildings in residential areas around the palace. The presidential palace was stormed on the night of January 18-19 - the building was bombed, after which the Chechen detachments left the palace.

12. Civilians are fleeing from the neighborhoods adjacent to the presidential palace; in the first half of January there was very intense fighting there.

13. Destroyed neighborhoods in the center of Grozny.

14. Ruins of the presidential palace. After the capture of the palace by federal troops, fighting in Grozny still continued, but was no longer as intense.

15. A tank of federal forces on the streets of a winter city.

16. Wounded Chechen commander.

17. Battles for the Zavodskoy district of the city - this area is located in the western part of Grozny and in those days was an important strategic area.

18. A detachment of federal troops on the city streets.

19. Soldiers look at a painting in the style of socialist realism, which was taken out of one of the buildings.

20. Ruins of brick buildings in the city center and the remains of a Volga car.

21. A soldier communicates with a local resident.

22. Distribution of bread and humanitarian aid on the streets of winter Grozny.

23. Civilians wounded during hostilities.

24. Hospital. The mother is lying in the ward with the wounded child.

25. A random passerby killed by shrapnel....

26. February 1995, federal troops in the Minutka Square area. At the end of February 1995, the city of Grozny came under the full control of federal forces.

27. Destroyed city.

28. The life of ordinary residents in those days looked like this - people were forced to hide in basements, fearing shelling and bombing.

29. Residents of Grozny preparing lunch:

30. Girls play with dolls. Grozny, January 1995.

A city destroyed and turned into ruins, thousands of dead residents, huge losses of Russian troops for such an operation. Some high-ranking generals called this assault unprepared and, perhaps, they were right.

The united group reached the capital from the borders of Chechnya with almost no problems, but surrounded the city itself only on three sides. They entered Grozny without air support and with armored vehicles, which were almost helpless in the battle conditions on the narrow streets. The Russian fighters did not know the terrain - they were given only outdated plans and unclear aerial photographs - and even then in limited quantities. There were no cartridges for machine guns, and there was no closed radio communication - all negotiations were intercepted by the militants.

“We will take Grozny with two airborne regiments,” said Defense Minister Pavel Grachev. As a result, the assault on the city lasted 66 days. "Komsomolskaya Pravda" turns over one of the many tragic pages of the First Chechen campaign.

This is what Grozny looked like on the first day of 1995. This is the merit not of the military who stormed the city, but of the numerous artillery shelling and air raids that lasted throughout the last week of the past year. Several thousand people died during these attacks.

They decided to take the presidential palace, the defense of which was led by Aslan Maskhadov. The soldiers of two battalions of the Maykop brigade, under the command of Colonel Ivan Savin, reached it without resistance and decided to celebrate New Year's Eve nearby - near the station.

Maskhadov turned out to be more cunning. As darkness fell, Chechen fighters knocked out the first and last vehicles in the train, cutting off all escape routes for the rest. Then there was no more fighting. Execution. 85 fighters were killed, 72 were missing. Colonel Savin and the entire leadership of the brigade were killed, and the remaining soldiers left Grozny the next day in small groups and individually. Almost all equipment was lost.

Having digested the unsuccessful results of the first assault attempt, the federal troops changed tactics. Now they took the city quarter by quarter. This tactic will ultimately be successful, but Russian fighters will be stuck in street guerrilla warfare for more than two weeks.

Maneuverable air assault brigades, supported by aviation and artillery, retook house after house, and the militants retreated. Our military was forbidden to occupy the apartments of ordinary residents, but the militants did this. They did not always feel sorry for those inside.

The most terrible rumor of that time: Grozny had to be taken by January 1 in order to give a birthday gift to the Minister of Defense Grachev. The surprise was clearly not a success - even after the scheduled date, the scales were tilted towards the Russian army, but very slowly and with serious losses.

Grozny was stormed for the second time in less than a month and a half. At the end of November, this was done by local militias, opponents of Dzhokhar Dudayev. That assault was a failure, and may have fueled the militants' forces.

Conspiracy theorists believe that the militants knew about the coming assault. They say that the Chechen authorities warned city residents in advance that they should not move around Grozny on December 31 and January 1: absolutely all moving targets will be destroyed.

How fierce the fighting was can be judged by the damage caused to the city. Even the most holy places did not survive, and it is not customary to shell them even during the bloodiest battles.

It was not possible to evacuate before the assault began. It was also not possible to do this quickly during battles. A significant part of Grozny residents remained within the city until the end of the campaign. Surviving airstrikes was not easy: we had to hide in basements and eat sporadically.

In besieged Grozny there was no time for real funerals. Killed civilians were often buried by their relatives in the courtyards of the houses where they lived. If there was someone to bury.

The city was on the verge of a humanitarian catastrophe. Even, perhaps, up to our ears in it: there was no electricity, gas or water.

By the middle of the month, the Russian military managed to minimize losses among the local population and, what is also important, take the presidential palace. By that time, the airport was already under the control of federal troops, but the Chechens could leave the city from the south.

However, they were in no hurry to leave somewhere. The New Year's assault is the first example in the modern history of Russia when women took the side of our opponents. Women who, many years later, would carry out terrorist attacks in major cities of the country.

By the beginning of February, the combined group of troops increased the contingent to 70,000 people. At the same time, the “South” group of troops was created, which finally completed the formation of a ring around Grozny. The militants realized that they needed to try to negotiate.

On February 13, the commander of the OGV Kulikov and the head of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the ChRI Maskhadov concluded a temporary truce. An exchange of prisoners of war followed, but the ceasefire was constantly violated.

The last district of the city in which the militants settled was taken on March 6. It was Chernorechye. The militants who settled there were led by a certain Shamil Basayev. The city came completely under the control of the Russian military.

Officially, in just over two months, 1,426 soldiers of the joint group of forces were killed, and more than 4 thousand were wounded. Moscow considers the militants' losses to be more serious - 7,000 dead. The number of civilian casualties, according to various estimates, ranges from 5,000 to 30,000 people.

The international community reacted unequivocally to the events in Grozny. “An unimaginable catastrophe,” said the OSCE. “Pure madness,” agreed German Chancellor Helmut Kohl.

After Grozny fell, the war in Chechnya finally became a partisan one. There were even bigger battles for small villages, terrorist attacks in Budennovsk and Kizlyar, the liquidation of Dudayev and new presidential elections, and the First Chechen War will end with the Peace of Khasavyurt. It all ended exactly where it began: de facto independent Chechnya with de jure independence not recognized by anyone.

In December 1991, former Soviet Army General D. Dudayev, elected president of the Chechen-Ingush Republic, announced the creation of the Republic of Ichkeria and its secession from Russia. Since the summer of 1994, fighting between “pro-Dudaev” militants and opposition forces has returned in Chechnya. December 9 President of the Russian Federation B.N. Yeltsin signed the Decree “On measures to suppress the activities of illegal armed groups on the territory of the Chechen Republic”;.

Photographer V. Podlegaev. Commander of the United Group of Federal Forces of the Russian Federation in Chechnya, Lieutenant General A.A. Romanov (center) and Chief of the Main Staff of the Armed Forces of the Chechen Republic A. Maskhadov (left) during negotiations. Chechen Republic. June 16, 1995. RIA Novosti

Two days later, units of the Russian Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Internal Affairs entered the territory of Chechnya, and on December 31, bloody battles for Grozny began. Using aviation and heavy weapons, the United Group of Forces (OGV) gradually expanded the territories it controlled, pushing the militants into the mountains. In June 1995, a detachment of militants took hundreds of people hostage in a hospital in Budennovsk (Stavropol Territory). In order to save the lives of citizens, the Russian government agreed to begin peace negotiations with representatives of Ichkeria.

However, negotiations broke down in October 1995, and hostilities continued. The conflict has become a difficult test for Russia and its security forces. In the eyes of the world community, Russia's authority has suffered serious damage. Anti-war sentiment increased within the country. In August 1996, taking advantage of the lack of clear political instructions to the OGV command from the Russian leadership, the militants captured Grozny. Under these conditions, President of the Russian Federation B.N. Yeltsin decided to hold peace negotiations. On August 30, an agreement was signed in Khasavyurt on the withdrawal of troops and the “freezing” of the status of Chechnya for five years.

Photographer V. Vyatkin. Paratroopers of a separate artillery battalion of the 247th Stavropol Airborne Regiment of the Russian Federation at the forefront. Chechen Republic. November 1, 1999. RIA Novosti

Continuous terrorist acts, attacks, and kidnappings have turned the south of Russia into a front-line zone. In August 1999, Chechen militants invaded Dagestan and captured several villages in the border areas. As a result of the military operation of the North Caucasus Military District in August-September 1999, the bulk of the militants were eliminated.

Photographer I. Mikhalev. A Russian soldier before the start of hostilities. Chechen Republic. May 12, 1996. RIA Novosti

In retaliation for the losses, in September the militants carried out a series of terrorist attacks with hundreds of casualties, blowing up residential buildings in Buinaksk, Moscow and Volgodonsk. In October 1999, a counter-terrorist operation began in Chechnya. During the winter-spring period of 1999/2000, troops created by decree of the President of the Russian Federation of the United Group of Forces (OGV(s)) pushed Chechen extremists to the south, cutting off the mountainous regions of Chechnya from the flat part of the republic.

Photographer H. Bradner. The movement of militants towards the presidential palace under artillery fire. Grozny. Chechen Republic. January 1995. Photo courtesy of J. Butler (UK)

On February 7, 2000, Grozny was liberated. Russian troops were faced with the task of eliminating numerous groups of militants in mountainous areas. The enemy introduced guerrilla warfare tactics, operating in the territories of both Chechnya and neighboring republics. As a result of the operation, the illegal armed formations of Ichkeria were defeated. However, battles with gangs continued for another eight long years.

Photographer Yu. Pirogov. Russian military personnel killed in battle. Area of ​​the Severny airport, Chechen Republic. January 10, 1995. RIA Novosti

The regime of counter-terrorist operation in Chechnya was canceled only on April 16, 2009. According to the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, in total during the period of military operations in 1992-2009, without return, the losses of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation and other law enforcement agencies in Chechnya amounted to more than 8,500 people killed and killed, prisoners and missing - 510 people, wounded - over 70,000 people.

Photographer I. Mikhalev. Member of illegal armed groups during a battle. Staropromyslovsky district of Grozny, Chechen Republic, August 14, 1996, RIA Novosti

Photographer Yu. Tutov. Presidential palace. Grozny. Chechen Republic. February 17, 1995. RIA Novosti

Photographer Yu. Tutov. Russian soldiers during a break between battles. Chechen Republic. January 12, 1995. RIA Novosti

Photographer N. Ignatiev. Engineering reconnaissance of the railway track on the bridge over the river. Terek. Chechen Republic. January 1995. Photo courtesy of J. Butler (UK)

Photographer I. Mikhalev. Soldiers of the United Group of Federal Forces of the Russian Federation at a rest stop. Chechen Republic. May 25, 1996. RIA Novosti

Photographer V. Podlegaev. Handing over weapons to illegal armed groups. S. Zandag. Chechen Republic. August 16, 1995. RIA Novosti

Photographer D. Donskoy. Meeting of the President of the Russian Federation B.N. Yeltsin with soldiers and officers of the 205th motorized rifle brigade of the federal forces of the Russian Federation in the North Caucasus. Chechen Republic. May 28, 1996. RIA Novosti

Photographer S. Gutsiev. View of Minutka Square in Grozny. Chechen Republic. May 15, 1996. RIA Novosti

Photographer I. Mikhalev. Russian soldiers before the start of hostilities. Chechen Republic. May 12, 1996. RIA Novosti

Photographer Yu. Kozyrev. Russian paratroopers repulse an attack by Chechen militants after being ambushed near Tsentoroy. Chechen Republic. December 16, 1999. Photo courtesy of Yu. Kozyrev

Photographer Yu. Kozyrev. Carrying the wounded out of the battle. Tsentoroy district. Chechen Republic. December 16, 1999. Photo courtesy of Yu. Kozyrev

Photographer Yu. Kozyrev. Carrying the wounded out of the battle. Tsentoroy district, Chechen Republic. December 16, 1999. Photo courtesy of Yu. Kozyrev

Photographer Yu. Kozyrev. Soviet paratroopers after the battle. Tsentoroy district, Chechen Republic. December 16, 1999. Photo courtesy of Yu. Kozyrev

Photographer O. Lastochkin. A Mi-24 combat helicopter is patrolling over the location of Russian troops. Chechen Republic, October 16, 1999. RIA Novosti

Photographer V. Vyatkin. Rest after a combat operation. Chechen Republic. April 1, 2000. RIA Novosti

Photographer V. Vyatkin. A special operation of a unit of the Russian Airborne Forces to identify and destroy the base camps of Chechen gangs in the mountain gorge of the river. Bass, Chechen Republic. April 1, 2000. RIA Novosti

Photographer V. Vyatkin. An operation of a special reconnaissance detachment of the 45th Airborne Regiment of the Russian Federation to identify and destroy gangs in the mountain gorge of the river. Bass, Chechen Republic. April 1, 2000, RIA Novosti

Photographer V. Vyatkin. The death of Sergei Timoshin, a serviceman of the 6th company of the 10th regiment of the Russian Airborne Forces. Chechen Republic. April 1, 2000. RIA Novosti

Photographer A. Kondratyev. And about. President of the Russian Federation V.V. Putin among the fighters of the Russian federal forces in the North Caucasus. Chechen Republic. December 31, 1999, RIA Novosti

From the book: Military chronicle of Russia in photographs. 1850s - 2000s: Album. - M.: Golden-Bi, 2009.

Exactly 23 years ago, on December 11, 1994, Russian President Boris Yeltsin signed a decree “On measures to ensure law, order and public safety in the territory of the Chechen Republic.” On the same day, units of the United Group of Forces (Ministry of Defense and Ministry of Internal Affairs) began military operations in Chechnya. Perhaps some participants in the first clashes were mentally prepared for death, but hardly any of them suspected that they would be stuck in this war for almost two years. And then he will come back again.

I would not like to talk about the causes and consequences of the war, about the behavior of the main characters, about the number of losses, about whether it was a civil war or an anti-terrorist operation: hundreds of books have already been written about this. But many photographs certainly need to be shown so that you never forget how disgusting any war is.

Russian Mi-8 helicopter shot down by Chechens near Grozny. December 1, 1994


Photo: Mikhail Evstafiev

Despite the fact that the Russian army officially began hostilities in December 1994, the first Russian soldiers were captured by the Chechens back in November.


Photo: AP Photo / Anatoly Maltsev

Dudayev's militants pray against the backdrop of the Presidential Palace in Grozny


Photo: Mikhail Evstafiev

In January 1995, the palace looked like this:


Photo: Mikhail Evstafiev

Dudayev's militant with a homemade submachine gun in early January 1995. In Chechnya in those years, various types of weapons, including small arms, were collected.

Photo: Mikhail Evstafiev

Destroyed BMP-2 of the Russian army


Photo: Mikhail Evstafiev

Prayer against the backdrop of a fire caused by shrapnel hitting a gas pipe

Photo: Mikhail Evstafiev

Action


Photo: Mikhail Evstafiev

Field commander Shamil Basayev rides on a bus with hostages


Photo: Mikhail Evstafiev

Chechen militants ambushed a convoy of Russian armored vehicles


Photo: AP PHOTO / ROBERT KING

On New Year's Eve 1995, clashes in Grozny were especially brutal. The 131st Maykop Motorized Rifle Brigade lost many soldiers.

Militants fire back at advancing Russian units.


Photo: AP PHOTO / PETER DEJONG

Children play in the suburbs of Grozny


AP PHOTO / EFREM LUKATSKY

Chechen militants in 1995


Photo: Mikhail Evstafiev / AFP

Photo: Christopher Morris

Minute Square in Grozny. Evacuation of refugees.

Gennady Troshev at the stadium. Ordzhonikidze in 1995. The lieutenant general led the Joint Group of Troops of the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Internal Affairs in Chechnya, during the Second Chechen War he also commanded Russian troops, then was appointed commander of the North Caucasus Military District. In 2008, he died in a Boeing crash in Perm.

A Russian serviceman plays a piano left in the central park of Grozny. February 6, 1995


Photo: Reuters

The intersection of Rosa Luxemburg and Tamanskaya streets


Photo: Christopher Morris

Chechen fighters run for cover


Photo: Christopher Morris

Grozny, view from the Presidential Palace. March 1995


Photo: Christopher Morris

A Chechen sniper holed up in a destroyed building takes aim at Russian soldiers. 1996


Photo: James Nachtwey

Chechen negotiator enters neutral zone


Photo: James Nachtwey

Children from an orphanage play on a wrecked Russian tank. 1996


Photo: James Nachtwey

An elderly woman makes her way through the destroyed center of Grozny. 1996


Photo: Piotr Andrews

Chechen militant holds a machine gun during prayer


Photo: Piotr Andrews

A wounded soldier in a hospital in Grozny. 1995


Photo: Piotr Andrews

A woman from the village of Samashki is crying: during an operation by the Ministry of Internal Affairs troops, helicopters or RZSO shot her cows.


Photo: Piotr Andrews

Russian checkpoint at the Council of Ministers, 1995


Photo: AP Photo

People left homeless after the bombing of Grozny cook food on a fire in the middle of the street


Photo: AP Photo/Alexander Zemlanichenko

People fleeing a war zone


Photo: AP Photo/David Brauchli

The CRI command stated that at the height of the conflict up to 12 thousand soldiers fought for it. Many of them were, in fact, children who went to war after their relatives.


Photo: AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky

On the left is a wounded man, on the right is a Chechen teenager in military uniform


Photo: Christopher Morris

By the end of 1995, most of Grozny was ruins


Photo: AP Photo/Mindaugas Kulbis

Anti-Russian demonstration in the center of Grozny in February 1996


Photo: AP Photo

A Chechen with a portrait of separatist leader Dzhokhar Dudayev, killed in a rocket attack by federal troops on April 21, 1996


Photo: AP Photo

Before the 1996 elections, Yeltsin visited Chechnya and, in front of the soldiers, signed a decree reducing the length of military service.


Photo: AP Photo

Election campaign


Photo: Piotr Andrews

On August 19, 1996, the commander of the group of Russian troops in Chechnya, Konstantin Pulikovsky, issued an ultimatum to the militants. He invited civilians to leave Grozny within 48 hours. After this period, the assault on the city was supposed to begin, but the military leader was not supported in Moscow, and his plan was thwarted.

On August 31, 1996, agreements were signed in Khasavyurt, according to which Russia pledged to withdraw troops from the territory of Chechnya, and the decision on the status of the republic was postponed for 5 and a half years. In the photo, General Lebed, who was then the presidential envoy to Chechnya, and Aslan Maskhadov, the field commander of Chechen militants and the future “president” of the Chechen Republic of Ichnia, are shaking hands.

Russian soldiers drink champagne in the center of Grozny

Russian soldiers are preparing to be sent home after the signing of the Khasavyurt agreements

According to human rights activists, up to 35,000 civilians died during the First Chechen War.


Photo: AP PHOTO / ROBERT KING

In Chechnya, the signing of the Khasavyurt agreements was perceived as a victory. In fact, that's what she was.


Photo: AP Photo/Misha Japaridze

Russian troops left with nothing, losing many soldiers and leaving behind ruins.

In 1999, the Second Chechen War will begin...