The war in Chechnya is a black page in the history of Russia. The war in Chechnya is a black page in the history of Russia. Combat tactics on both sides

The conflict, called the Second Chechen War, occupies a special place in the history of modern Russia. Compared to the First Chechen War (1994-1996), this conflict was aimed at solving the same problem: establishing state power and constitutional order in the region, which was controlled by supporters of separatism, through military force.

At the same time, the situation that developed during the period between the two “Chechen” wars changed both in Chechnya itself and at the level of the Russian federal government. Therefore, the Second Chechen War took place under different conditions and was able, although it dragged on for almost 10 years, to end with a positive result for the Russian government.

Reasons for the start of the Second Chechen War

In short, the main reason for the Second Chechen War was the mutual dissatisfaction of the parties with the results of the previous conflict and the desire to change the situation in their favor. The Khasavyurt agreements, which ended the First Chechen War, provided for the withdrawal of federal troops from Chechnya, meaning the complete loss of Russian control over this territory. At the same time, legally there was no talk of any “independent Ichkeria”: the question of the status of Chechnya was only postponed until December 31, 2001.

The official government of the self-proclaimed Chechen Republic of Ichkeria (CRI), led by Aslan Maskhadov, did not receive diplomatic recognition from any country and at the same time was rapidly losing influence within Chechnya itself. In the three years after the first military conflict, the territory of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria became a base not only for criminal gangs, but also for radical Islamists from Arab countries and Afghanistan.

It was these forces, controlled only by their “field commanders” and who found powerful military and financial support from the outside, that by the beginning of 1999 openly declared their refusal to obey Maskhadov. These same paramilitary groups began to actively engage in kidnapping for subsequent ransom or slavery, drug trafficking and organizing terrorist attacks, despite the proclaimed norms of Sharia.

To ideologically justify their actions, they used Wahhabism, which, combined with aggressive methods of instilling it, turned into a new extremist movement. Under this cover, radical Islamists, having established themselves in Chechnya, began to expand their influence into neighboring regions, destabilizing the situation throughout the North Caucasus. At the same time, individual incidents developed into increasingly large-scale armed clashes.

Parties to the conflict

In the new confrontation that arose between the Russian government and the CRI, the most active party was the paramilitary Wahhabi Islamists led by their “field commanders,” the most influential of whom were Shamil Basayev, Salman Raduev, Arbi Barayev and a native of Saudi Arabia, Khattab. The number of militants controlled by radical Islamists was estimated as the most massive among the armed formations operating in the CRI, covering 50-70% of their total number.

At the same time, a number of Chechen teips (tribal clans), while remaining committed to the idea of ​​“independent Ichkeria,” did not want an open military conflict with the Russian authorities. Maskhadov followed this policy until the outbreak of the conflict, but then he could count on maintaining the status of the official power of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria and, accordingly, continue to convert this position into a source of income for his teip, which controls the key oil companies of the republic, and only on the side of opponents of the Russian government. Armed formations numbering up to 20-25% of all militants operated under his control.

In addition, supporters of teips led by Akhmat Kadyrov and Ruslan Yamadayev, who back in 1998 entered into open conflict with the Wahhabis, represented a significant force. They could rely on their own armed forces, covering up to 10-15% of all Chechen militants, and in the Second Chechen War they sided with the federal troops.

Important changes occurred in the highest echelon of Russian power shortly before the start of the Second Chechen War. On August 9, 1999, Russian President Boris Yeltsin announced the appointment of FSB Director Vladimir Putin to the post of head of government, publicly introducing him as a further successor to his post. For Putin, little-known at that time, the invasion of Islamist militants in Dagestan, and then the terrorist attacks with explosions of residential buildings in Moscow, Volgodonsk and Buinaksk, the responsibility for which was assigned to Chechen gangs, became a significant reason to strengthen his power through a large-scale counter-terrorism operation (CTO). .

Since September 18, the borders of Chechnya have been blocked by Russian troops. The Presidential Decree on the conduct of the CTO was promulgated on September 23, although the first movements of army units, internal troops and the FSB, included in the grouping of federal forces in the North Caucasus, began at least two days earlier.

Combat tactics on both sides

Unlike the Chechen war of 1994-1996, to conduct the second military campaign in Chechnya, the federal group much more often resorted to new tactics, which consisted of taking advantage of heavy weapons: missiles, artillery, and especially aviation, which the Chechen militants did not have . This was facilitated by a significantly increased level of training of troops, in the recruitment of which it was possible to achieve a minimal involvement of conscripts. Of course, it was impossible to fully replace conscripts with contract soldiers in those years, but in most cases the “voluntary-order” mechanism with contracts for a “combat mission” covered conscripts who had already served for about a year.

Federal troops widely used methods of setting up various ambushes (usually practiced only by special forces units in the form of reconnaissance and strike groups), including:

• waiting for ambushes on 2-4 of the possible routes of movement of militants;
• mobile ambushes, when only observation groups were located in convenient places for them, and assault groups were located deep in the area of ​​​​operation;
• driven ambushes, in which a demonstrative attack was intended to force militants to the site of another ambush, often equipped with booby traps;
• decoy ambushes, where a group of military personnel openly carried out some actions to attract the attention of the enemy, and mines or main ambushes were set up on the routes of his approach.

According to the calculations of Russian military experts, one of these ambushes, having 1-2 ATGM systems, 1-3 grenade launchers, 1-2 machine gunners, 1-3 snipers, 1 infantry fighting vehicle and 1 tank, was capable of defeating a “standard” bandit group of up to 50 -60 people with 2-3 units of armored vehicles and 5-7 vehicles without armor.

The Chechen side included hundreds of experienced militants who were trained under the guidance of military advisers from Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Saudi Arabia in the methods of various sabotage and terrorist actions, including:

• avoiding direct confrontations in open areas with superior forces;
• skillful use of terrain, setting up ambushes in tactically advantageous places;
• attacking the most vulnerable targets with superior forces;
• quick change of base locations;
• rapid concentration of forces to solve important problems and their dispersal in the event of a threat of blockade or defeat;
• use as cover for civilians;
• hostage taking outside the zone of armed conflict.

Militants widely used mine-explosive devices to limit the movement of troops and sabotage, as well as the actions of snipers.

Units and types of equipment used in combat operations

The start of the war was preceded, like the actions of the US and Israeli armies in similar conditions, by massive rocket and artillery shelling and air strikes on enemy territory, the targets of which were strategic economic and transport infrastructure facilities, as well as fortified military positions.

Not only the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, but also military personnel of the Internal Troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and FSB officers took part in the further conduct of the CTO. In addition, special forces units of all Russian “security” departments, individual airborne brigades, including those assigned to the Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU) of the Russian Ministry of Defense, were actively involved in participation in hostilities.

Second Chechen War 1999-2009 became a place where the army and special units of the Ministry of Internal Affairs tested some new types of small arms, albeit in relatively modest quantities. Among them:

1. 9-mm silent assault rifle AS “Val” with a folded butt;
2. 9-mm silent sniper rifle VSS "Vintorez";
3. 9-mm automatic silent pistol APB with stock;
4. RGO and RGN grenades.

In terms of military equipment in service with the federal forces, military experts gave the best marks to helicopters, which, in fact, reflected the Soviet experience of successful operations in Afghanistan. Among the Russian troops equipped with modern equipment that has proven to be effective, electronic intelligence units should also be noted.

At the same time, the tanks, represented by the T-72 models in modifications AB, B, B1, BM and a small number of T-80 BV, having quite successfully conquered open terrain, again suffered significant losses (49 out of about 400) in street battles in Grozny .

Chronology of the war

The question of when exactly the Second Chechen War began remains open among specialists. A number of publications (mostly earlier in time) generally combine the First and Second Chechen Wars, considering them two phases of the same conflict. Which is unlawful, since these conflicts differ significantly in their historical conditions and the composition of the warring parties.

More compelling arguments are made by those who consider the invasion of Chechen Islamist militants into Dagestan in August 1999 to be the beginning of the Second Chechen War, although this can also be considered a local conflict not directly related to the operations of federal troops on the territory of Chechnya. At the same time, the “official” date of the start of the entire war (September 30) is tied to the beginning of the ground operation on the territory controlled by the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria, although attacks on this territory began on September 23.

From March 5 to March 20, over 500 militants, having captured the village of Komsomolskoye in the Urus-Martan region, attempted to break through the ring of federal troops who blocked and then stormed this settlement. Almost all of them were killed or captured, but the core of the gang was able to escape from encirclement under their cover. After this operation, the active phase of military operations in Chechnya is considered completed.

Storm of Grozny

On November 25-28, 1999, Russian troops blocked Grozny, leaving a “humanitarian corridor” that was nevertheless subject to periodic air attacks. The command of the federal forces officially announced the decision to abandon the assault on the capital of the Chechen Republic, placing troops 5 kilometers from the city. Aslan Maskhadov left Grozny along with his headquarters on November 29.

Federal forces entered certain residential areas on the outskirts of the Chechen capital on December 14, maintaining a “humanitarian corridor.” On December 26, the active stage of the operation to take the city under the control of Russian troops began, which initially developed without much opposition, especially in the Staropromyslovsky district. It was only on December 29 that fierce battles broke out for the first time, resulting in noticeable losses for the “federals.” The pace of the offensive slowed down somewhat, but the Russian army continued to clear more residential areas of militants, and on January 18 they were able to capture the bridge over the Sunzha River.

The capture of another strategically important point - the Minutka Square area - continued during several assaults and fierce counterattacks by militants from January 17 to January 31. The turning point of the assault on Grozny was the night from January 29 to 30, when the main forces of the armed formations of the Chechen Republic of Ichnia, a group of up to 3 thousand people led by well-known “field commanders,” having suffered significant losses, broke through along the Sunzha riverbed towards the mountainous regions of Chechnya.

In the following days, federal troops, who had previously controlled just over half of the city, completed its liberation from the remnants of the militants, encountering resistance mainly from a few enemy sniper ambushes. With the capture of the Zavodsky district on February 6, 2000, Putin, by that time the acting president of the Russian Federation, announced the victorious completion of the assault on Grozny.

Guerrilla war 2000-2009

Many militants managed to escape from the besieged capital of the Chechen Republic; their leadership announced the start of a guerrilla war on February 8. After this, and until the official end of the offensive of the federal troops, only two cases of long-term large-scale clashes were noted: in the villages of Shatoy and Komsomolskoye. After March 20, 2000, the war finally entered the guerrilla stage.

The intensity of hostilities at this stage steadily decreased, periodically escalating only in moments of individual cruel and daring terrorist attacks that occurred in 2002-2005. and committed outside the conflict zone. The hostage takings in the Moscow “Nord-West” and in the Beslan school, and the attack on the city of Nalchik were staged as a demonstration by Islamist militants that the conflict was far from ending soon.

The period from 2001 to 2006 was more often accompanied by reports from the Russian authorities about the liquidation by the special services of one of the most famous “field commanders” of Chechen militants, including Maskhadov, Basayev and many others. Ultimately, a long-term decrease in tension in the region made it possible to end the CTO regime on the territory of the Chechen Republic on April 15, 2009.

Results and truce

In the period after the active military operation, the Russian leadership relied on the massive recruitment of civilians and former Chechen fighters to their side. The most prominent and influential figure among the former opponents of the federal troops during the First Chechen War was the Mufti of the Chechen Republic of Ichryssia, Akhmat Kadyrov. Having previously condemned Wahhabism, in the current conflict he actively showed himself during the peaceful transition of Gudermes to the control of the “federals”, and then headed the administration of the entire Chechen Republic after the end of the Second Chechen War.

Under the leadership of A. Kadyrov, elected President of the Chechen Republic, the situation in the republic quickly stabilized. At the same time, Kadyrov's activities have made him a central target for militant attacks. On May 9, 2004, he died after a terrorist attack during a mass event at the Grozny stadium. But the authority and influence of the Kadyrov teip remained, as evidenced by the election of Akhmat Kadyrov’s son Ramzan to the post of President of the republic, who continued the course of cooperation between the Chechen Republic and the federal government.

Total number of deaths on both sides

Official statistics on losses following the Second Chechen War have caused many criticisms and cannot be considered fully accurate. However, the information resources of militants who took refuge abroad and individual representatives of the Russian opposition reported completely unreliable data on this matter. Based primarily on assumptions.

Grozny in our time

After the end of active hostilities in Chechnya, the need arose to restore the republic practically from ruins. This was especially true of the capital of the republic, where after several assaults there were almost no entire buildings left. Serious funding from the federal budget was allocated for this, sometimes reaching 50 billion rubles a year.

In addition to residential and administrative buildings, social facilities and urban infrastructure, much attention was paid to the restoration of cultural centers and historical monuments. Some of the buildings in the center of Grozny in the area of ​​Mira Street were restored in the same form as they were at the time of construction in the 1930-1950s.

To date, the capital of the Czech Republic is a modern and very beautiful city. One of its new symbols of the city was the “Heart of Chechnya” mosque, built after the war. But the memory of the war remains: in the design of Grozny for its 201st anniversary in the fall of 2010, installations with black and white photographs of these places destroyed after hostilities appeared.

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The Second Chechen War also had an official name - the counter-terrorist operation in the North Caucasus, or CTO for short. But the common name is more known and widespread. The war affected almost the entire territory of Chechnya and the adjacent regions of the North Caucasus. It began on September 30, 1999 with the deployment of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. The most active phase can be called the years of the second Chechen war from 1999 to 2000. This was the peak of attacks. In subsequent years, the second Chechen war took on the character of local skirmishes between separatists and Russian soldiers. The year 2009 was marked by the official abolition of the CTO regime.
The second Chechen war brought a lot of destruction. Photographs taken by journalists demonstrate this perfectly.

Background

The first and second Chechen wars have a small time gap. After the Khasavyurt Agreement was signed in 1996 and Russian troops were withdrawn from the republic, the authorities expected calm to return. However, peace was never established in Chechnya.
Criminal structures have significantly intensified their activities. They made an impressive business from such a criminal act as kidnapping for ransom. Their victims included both Russian journalists and official representatives, and members of foreign public, political and religious organizations. The bandits did not hesitate to kidnap people who came to Chechnya for the funerals of loved ones. Thus, in 1997, two citizens of Ukraine were captured who arrived in the republic in connection with the death of their mother. Businessmen and workers from Turkey were regularly captured. Terrorists profited from oil theft, drug trafficking, and the production and distribution of counterfeit money. They committed outrages and kept the civilian population in fear.

In March 1999, the authorized representative of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs for Chechen affairs, G. Shpigun, was captured at the Grozny airport. This blatant case showed the complete inconsistency of the President of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria Maskhadov. The federal center decided to strengthen control over the republic. Elite operational units were sent to the North Caucasus, the purpose of which was to fight gangs. From the side of the Stavropol Territory, a number of missile launchers were deployed, intended for delivering targeted ground strikes. An economic blockade was also introduced. The flow of cash injections from Russia has sharply decreased. In addition, it has become increasingly difficult for bandits to smuggle drugs abroad and take hostages. There was nowhere to sell the gasoline produced in underground factories. In mid-1999, the border between Chechnya and Dagestan turned into a militarized zone.

The gangs did not abandon their attempts to unofficially seize power. Groups led by Khattab and Basayev made forays into the territory of Stavropol and Dagestan. As a result, dozens of military personnel and police officers were killed.

On September 23, 1999, Russian President Boris Yeltsin officially signed a decree on the creation of the United Group of Forces. Its goal was to conduct a counter-terrorist operation in the North Caucasus. Thus began the second Chechen war.

Nature of the conflict

The Russian Federation acted very skillfully. With the help of tactical techniques (luring the enemy into a minefield, surprise raids on small settlements), significant results were achieved. After the active phase of the war had passed, the main goal of the command was to establish a truce and attract the former leaders of the gangs to their side. The militants, on the contrary, relied on giving the conflict an international character, calling on representatives of radical Islam from all over the world to participate in it.

By 2005, terrorist activity had decreased significantly. Between 2005 and 2008, there were no major attacks on civilians or clashes with official troops. However, in 2010, a number of tragic terrorist acts occurred (explosions in the Moscow metro, at Domodedovo airport).

Second Chechen War: Beginning

On June 18, the ChRI carried out two attacks at once on the border in the direction of Dagestan, as well as on a company of Cossacks in the Stavropol region. After this, most of the checkpoints into Chechnya from Russia were closed.

On June 22, 1999, an attempt was made to blow up the building of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of our country. This fact was noted for the first time in the entire history of the existence of this ministry. The bomb was discovered and promptly defused.

On June 30, the Russian leadership gave permission to use military weapons against gangs on the border with CRI.

Attack on the Republic of Dagestan

On August 1, 1999, the armed detachments of the Khasavyurt region, as well as the citizens of Chechnya supporting them, announced that they were introducing Sharia rule in their region.

On August 2, militants from the ChRI provoked a fierce clash between Wahhabis and riot police. As a result, several people died on both sides.

On August 3, a shootout occurred between police officers and Wahhabis in the Tsumadinsky district of the river. Dagestan. There were some losses. Shamil Basayev, one of the leaders of the Chechen opposition, announces the creation of an Islamic shura, which had its own troops. They established control over several regions in Dagestan. Local authorities of the republic are asking the center to issue military weapons to protect civilians from terrorists.

The next day, the separatists were driven back from the regional center of Agvali. More than 500 people dug in in positions that had been prepared in advance. They made no demands and did not enter into negotiations. It became known that they were holding three policemen.

At noon on August 4, on the road in the Botlikh district, a group of armed militants opened fire on a squad of Ministry of Internal Affairs officers who were trying to stop a car for an inspection. As a result, two terrorists were killed, and there were no casualties among the security forces. The village of Kekhni was hit by two powerful missile and bomb attacks by Russian attack aircraft. It was there, according to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, that a detachment of militants stopped.

On August 5, it becomes known that a major terrorist attack is being prepared on the territory of Dagestan. 600 militants were going to penetrate into the center of the republic through the village of Kekhni. They wanted to seize Makhachkala and sabotage the government. However, representatives of the center of Dagestan denied this information.

The period from August 9 to 25 was remembered for the battle for the Donkey Ear height. The militants fought with paratroopers from Stavropol and Novorossiysk.

Between September 7 and September 14, large groups led by Basayev and Khattab invaded from Chechnya. The devastating battles continued for about a month.

Air bombing of Chechnya

On August 25, Russian armed forces attacked terrorist bases in the Vedeno Gorge. More than a hundred militants were killed from the air.

In the period from September 6 to 18, Russian aviation continues its massive bombing of separatist concentration areas. Despite the protest of the Chechen authorities, the security forces say that they will act as necessary in the fight against terrorists.

On September 23, the forces of central aviation bombed Grozny and its environs. As a result, power plants, oil plants, a mobile communications center, and radio and television buildings were destroyed.

On September 27, V.V. Putin rejected the possibility of a meeting between the presidents of Russia and Chechnya.

Ground operation

Since September 6, Chechnya has been under martial law. Maskhadov calls on his citizens to declare gazavat to Russia.

On October 8, in the village of Mekenskaya, militant Akhmed Ibragimov shot 34 people of Russian nationality. Three of them were children. At the village meeting, Ibragimov was beaten to death with sticks. The mullah forbade his body to be buried.

The next day they occupied a third of the CRI territory and moved on to the second phase of hostilities. The main goal is the destruction of gangs.

On November 25, the President of Chechnya appealed to Russian soldiers to surrender and be taken prisoner.

In December 1999, Russian military forces liberated almost all of Chechnya from militants. About 3,000 terrorists dispersed across the mountains and also hid in Grozny.

Until February 6, 2000, the siege of the capital of Chechnya continued. After the capture of Grozny, massive fighting came to an end.

Situation in 2009

Despite the fact that the counter-terrorism operation was officially stopped, the situation in Chechnya did not become calmer, but on the contrary, it worsened. Incidents of explosions have become more frequent, and militants have become more active again. In the fall of 2009, a number of operations were carried out aimed at destroying gangs. The militants respond with major terrorist attacks, including in Moscow. By mid-2010, there was an escalation of the conflict.

Second Chechen War: results

Any military action causes damage to both property and people. Despite the compelling reasons for the second Chechen war, the pain from the death of loved ones cannot be relieved or forgotten. According to statistics, 3,684 people were lost on the Russian side. 2178 representatives of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation were killed. The FSB lost 202 of its employees. More than 15,000 terrorists were killed. The number of civilians killed during the war is not precisely established. According to official data, it is about 1000 people.

Cinema and books about war

The fighting did not leave artists, writers, and directors indifferent. The photographs are dedicated to such an event as the second Chechen war. There are regular exhibitions where you can see works reflecting the destruction left behind by the fighting.

The second Chechen war still causes a lot of controversy. The film "Purgatory", based on real events, perfectly reflects the horror of that period. The most famous books were written by A. Karasev. These are "Chechen Stories" and "Traitor".

Second Chechen war

(officially called the counter-terrorism operation (CTO)— combat operations on the territory of Chechnya and the border regions of the North Caucasus. It began on September 30, 1999 (the date of the entry of Russian troops into Chechnya). The active phase of hostilities lasted from 1999 to 2000, then, as the Russian Armed Forces established control over the territory of Chechnya, it developed into a smoldering conflict, which actually continues to this day. From 0 o'clock on April 16, 2009, the CTO regime was cancelled.

1. Background

After the signing of the Khasavyurt agreements and the withdrawal of Russian troops in 1996, there was no peace and tranquility in Chechnya and the surrounding regions.

Chechen criminal structures made a business out of mass kidnappings with impunity,

hostage taking (including official Russian representatives working in Chechnya), theft of oil from oil pipelines and oil wells, drug production and smuggling, issuance and distribution of counterfeit banknotes, terrorist attacks and attacks on neighboring Russian regions. On the territory of Chechnya, camps were created to train militants - young people from Muslim regions of Russia. Mine demolition instructors and Islamic preachers were sent here from abroad. Numerous Arab mercenaries began to play a significant role in the life of Chechnya. Their main goal was to destabilize the situation in the Russian regions neighboring Chechnya and spread the ideas of separatism to the North Caucasian republics (primarily Dagestan, Karachay-Cherkessia, Kabardino-Balkaria).

At the beginning of March 1999, Gennady Shpigun, plenipotentiary representative of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs in Chechnya, was kidnapped by terrorists at the Grozny airport. For the Russian leadership, this was evidence that the President of the Chechen Republic, Maskhadov, was unable to independently fight terrorism. The federal center took measures to strengthen the fight against Chechen gangs: self-defense units were armed and police units were strengthened throughout the entire perimeter of Chechnya, the best operatives of units fighting ethnic organized crime were sent to the North Caucasus, several Tochka-U missile launchers were deployed from the Stavropol region ", intended for delivering targeted strikes.

“Tochka-U”

An economic blockade of Chechnya was introduced, which led to the fact that the cash flow from Russia began to dry up sharply. Due to the tightening of the regime at the border, it has become increasingly difficult to smuggle drugs into Russia and take hostages. Gasoline produced in clandestine factories has become impossible to export outside Chechnya. The fight against Chechen criminal groups that actively financed militants in Chechnya was also intensified. In May-July 1999, the Chechen-Dagestan border turned into a militarized zone. As a result, the income of Chechen warlords fell sharply and they had problems purchasing weapons and paying mercenaries. In April 1999, Vyacheslav Ovchinnikov, who successfully led a number of operations during the First Chechen War, was appointed commander-in-chief of the internal troops.

In May 1999, Russian helicopters launched a missile attack on the positions of Khattab militants on the Terek River in response to an attempt by gangs to seize an outpost of internal troops on the Chechen-Dagestan border. After this, the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Vladimir Rushailo, announced the preparation of large-scale preventive strikes.

Meanwhile, Chechen gangs under the command of Shamil Basayev and Khattab were preparing for an armed invasion of Dagestan. From April to August 1999, conducting reconnaissance in force, they made more than 30 forays in Stavropol and Dagestan alone, as a result of which several dozen military personnel, law enforcement officers and civilians were killed and injured. Realizing that the strongest groups of federal troops were concentrated in the Kizlyar and Khasavyurt directions, the militants decided to strike at the mountainous part of Dagestan. When choosing this direction, the bandits proceeded from the fact that there were no troops there, and it would not be possible to transfer forces to this inaccessible area in the shortest possible time. In addition, the militants were counting on a possible attack in the rear of federal forces from the Kadar zone of Dagestan, controlled by local Wahhabis since August 1998.

As researchers note, the destabilization of the situation in the North Caucasus was beneficial to many. First of all, Islamic fundamentalists seeking to spread their influence throughout the world, as well as Arab oil sheikhs and financial oligarchs of the Persian Gulf countries, who are not interested in starting to exploit the oil and gas fields of the Caspian Sea.

On August 7, 1999, a massive invasion of Dagestan by militants was carried out from the territory of Chechnya under the overall command of Shamil Basayev and the Arab mercenary Khattab.

The core of the militant group consisted of foreign mercenaries and fighters of the Islamic International Peacekeeping Brigade, associated with Al-Qaeda. The militants’ plan to have the population of Dagestan come over to their side failed; the Dagestanis offered desperate resistance to the invading bandits. The Russian authorities proposed that the Ichkerian leadership conduct a joint operation with federal forces against Islamists in Dagestan. It was also proposed to “resolve the issue of liquidating bases, storage and rest areas of illegal armed groups, which the Chechen leadership in every possible way denies.” Aslan Maskhadov verbally condemned the attacks on Dagestan and their organizers and instigators, but did not take real measures to counter them.
Fighting between federal forces and invading militants continued for more than a month, ending with the militants being forced to retreat from the territory of Dagestan back to Chechnya.

On the same days - September 4-16 - a series of terrorist attacks were carried out in several cities of Russia (Moscow, Volgodonsk and Buinaksk) - explosions of residential buildings.

Explosion of No. 6 on Kashirskoye Highway in Moscow 09/13/1999

Considering Maskhadov’s inability to control the situation in Chechnya, the Russian leadership decided to conduct a military operation to destroy the militants on the territory of Chechnya. On September 18, the borders of Chechnya were blocked by Russian troops.

On September 23, Russian President Boris Yeltsin signed a decree “On measures to increase the effectiveness of counter-terrorism operations in the North Caucasus region of the Russian Federation.” The decree provided for the creation of a Joint Group of Forces in the North Caucasus to conduct a counter-terrorism operation.

On September 23, Russian troops began massive bombing of Grozny and its environs, and on September 30 they entered the territory of Chechnya.

2. Character

Having broken the resistance of the militants by the force of the army and the Ministry of Internal Affairs (the command of the Russian troops successfully uses military tricks, such as, for example, luring militants to minefields, raids on the rear of gangs and many others), the Kremlin relied on the “Chechenization” of the conflict and luring side with some of the elite and former militants. Thus, in 2000, the former supporter of the separatists, the chief mufti of Chechnya, Akhmat Kadyrov, became the head of the pro-Kremlin administration of Chechnya in 2000.

The militants, on the contrary, relied on the internationalization of the conflict, involving armed groups of non-Chechen origin in their struggle. By the beginning of 2005, after the destruction of Maskhadov, Khattab, Barayev, Abu al-Walid and many other field commanders, the intensity of sabotage and terrorist activities of the militants decreased significantly. During 2005-2008, not a single major terrorist attack was committed in Russia, and the only large-scale militant operation (Raid on Kabardino-Balkaria on October 13, 2005) ended in complete failure.

3. Chronology

3.1. 1999

Aggravation of the situation on the border with Chechnya

• June 18 - Chechnya attacked two outposts on the Dagestan-Chechen border, as well as an attack on a Cossack company in the Stavropol Territory. The Russian leadership is closing most of the checkpoints on the border with Chechnya.
• June 22 - for the first time in the history of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs, an attempt was made to commit a terrorist attack in its main building. The bomb was defused in time. According to one version, the terrorist attack was a response of Chechen militants to threats from the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Rushailo, to carry out acts of retaliation in Chechnya
• June 23 - shelling from the side of Chechnya at the outpost near the village of Pervomaiskoye, Khasavyurt district of Dagestan.
• June 30 - Rushailo said: “We must respond to the blow with a more crushing blow; “on the border with Chechnya, the order was given to use preventive strikes against armed gangs.”
• July 3 — Rushailo said that the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs “is beginning to strictly regulate the situation in the North Caucasus, where Chechnya acts as a criminal “think tank” controlled by foreign intelligence services, extremist organizations and the criminal community.” Deputy Prime Minister of the ChRI government Kazbek Makhashev stated in response: “We cannot be intimidated by threats, and Rushailo knows this well.”
• July 5 - Rushailo stated that “early in the morning of July 5, a preemptive strike was launched against concentrations of 150-200 armed militants in Chechnya.”
• July 7 - a group of militants from Chechnya attacked an outpost near the Grebensky Bridge in the Babayurt region of Dagestan. Secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation and Director of the FSB of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin said that “Russia will henceforth take not preventive, but only adequate actions in response to attacks in the areas bordering Chechnya.” He emphasized that “the Chechen authorities do not fully control the situation in the republic.”
• July 16 - Commander of the Internal Troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation V. Ovchinnikov stated that “the issue of creating a buffer zone around Chechnya is being considered.”
• July 23 - Chechen militants attacked an outpost on the territory of Dagestan protecting the Kopayevsky hydroelectric complex. The Ministry of Internal Affairs of Dagestan stated that “this time the Chechens carried out reconnaissance in force, and large-scale actions by gangs will soon begin along the entire perimeter of the Dagestan-Chechen border.”

Attack on Dagestan

Militant invasion of Dagestan, also known as Dagestan War(actually considered the beginning Second Chechen campaign), - armed clashes that accompanied the entry of forces based in the territory Chechnya detachments "Islamic Peacekeeping Brigade" under the command Shamilya Basayeva And Khattaba to the territory Dagestan August 7 - September 14, 1999 Initially, militant groups entered Botlikhsky(operation "ImamGhazi-Muhammad » - August 7-23), and then on Novolaksky district Dagestan(operation "ImamGamzat-bek » - September 5-14).

According to Russian military sources, the number of bandits ranged from 1,500 to 2,000 militants. Most of the militants were processed in terrorist center "Caucasus" and in the camp of the Urus-Martan jamaat. Some residents Dagestan supported gangs.

The leader of the gang was the famous Chechen terrorist, Emir Congress of the Peoples of Ichkeria and Dagestan, Divisional General of the Armed Forces of ChRI Shamil Basayev, and his closest assistant was the head of the terrorist center “Caucasus”, Colonel of the Armed Forces of the ChRI Khattab. Russian sources reported that bandit groups also participated in the invasion of Dagestan Vahi Arsanova , Ruslana Gelayeva , Arbi Barayeva And Hunkara Israpilova, however, independent sources confirm the participation of only Barayev’s bandit group “ IPON ».

The religious leader of the invasion was Bagautdin Kebedov, which since autumn 1998 lived on the territory of Ichkeria. Political leadership was taken over by the so-called. "Islamic Shura of Dagestan", which included Sirazhudin Ramazanov, Magomed Tagaev, Nadirshakh Khachilayev , Adallo Aliyev, Akhmad Sardali, Magomed Kuramagomedov and others

Bagautdin Kebedov

• August 7 - September 14 - from the territory of the ChRI, detachments of field commanders Shamil Basayev and Khattab invaded the territory of Dagestan. Fierce fighting continued for more than a month. The official government of the ChRI, unable to control the actions of various armed groups on the territory of Chechnya, dissociated itself from the actions of Shamil Basayev, but did not take practical action against him.
• August 12 - Deputy Head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation I. Zubov reported that a letter was sent to the President of the Chechen Republic of Ichristia Maskhadov with a proposal to conduct a joint operation with federal troops against Islamists in Dagestan.
• August 13 - Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said that “strikes will be carried out on bases and concentrations of militants regardless of their location, including on the territory of Chechnya.”
• August 16 - President of the Chechen Republic of Ingushetia Aslan Maskhadov introduced martial law in Chechnya for a period of 30 days, announced the partial mobilization of reservists and participants in the First Chechen War.

Aerial bombing of Chechnya

• August 25 - Russian aircraft strike militant bases in the Vedeno Gorge in Chechnya. In response to the official protest from the ChRI, the command of the federal forces declares that they “reserve the right to strike militant bases in the territory of any North Caucasus region, including Chechnya.”
• September 4 - 16 - explosions of residential buildings in Buinaksk, Moscow and Volgodonsk
• September 6 - 18 - Russian aviation carries out numerous missile and bomb attacks on military camps and militant fortifications in Chechnya.

• September 11 - Maskhadov announced general mobilization in Chechnya.
• September 14 - V. Putin said that “the Khasavyurt agreements should be subjected to an impartial analysis”, as well as “a strict quarantine should be temporarily introduced” along the entire perimeter of Chechnya.
• September 18 - Russian troops block the border of Chechnya from Dagestan, Stavropol Territory, North Ossetia and Ingushetia.
• September 23 - Russian aircraft began bombing the capital of Chechnya and its environs. As a result, several electrical substations, a number of oil and gas complex factories, the Grozny mobile communications center, a television and radio broadcasting center, and an An-2 aircraft were destroyed. The press service of the Russian Air Force stated that “aircraft will continue to strike targets that gangs can use in their interests.”
• September 27 — Chairman of the Russian Government V. Putin categorically rejected the possibility of a meeting between the President of Russia and the head of the ChRI. “There will be no meetings to let the militants lick their wounds,” he said.

Start of ground operation

• September 30 - Vladimir Putin, in an interview with journalists, promised that there would be no new Chechen war. He also stated that “combat operations are already underway, our troops have entered the territory of Chechnya several times, already two weeks ago they occupied commanding heights, liberated them, and so on”. As Putin said, “We need to be patient and do this work - completely clear the territory of terrorists. If this work is not done today, they will return and all the sacrifices made will be in vain.". On the same day, armored units of the Russian army from the Stavropol Territory and Dagestan entered the territory of the Naursky and Shelkovsky regions of Chechnya.
• October 4 - at a meeting of the military council of the ChRI, it was decided to form three directions to repel attacks by federal forces. The western direction was headed by Ruslan Gelayev, the eastern direction by Shamil Basaev, and the central direction by Magomed Khambiev.

M. Khambiev

• October 6 - in accordance with Maskhadov’s decree, martial law began to apply in Chechnya. Maskhadov proposed that all religious figures in Chechnya declare a holy war on Russia—Gazavat.
• October 15 - troops of the Western group of General Vladimir Shamanov entered Chechnya from Ingushetia.

V. Shamanov

• October 16 - federal forces occupied a third of the territory of Chechnya north of the Terek River and began the second stage of the anti-terrorist operation, the main goal of which was the destruction of gangs in the remaining territory of Chechnya.
• October 18 - Russian troops crossed the Terek.
• October 21 - federal forces launched a missile attack on the central market of the city of Grozny, which killed 140 civilians
• November 11 - field commanders brothers Yamadayev and Mufti of Chechnya Akhmat Kadyrov surrendered Gudermes to federal forces
• November 16 - federal forces took control of the settlement of Novy Shatoy.
• November 17 - the first major losses of federal forces since the beginning of the campaign. A reconnaissance group of the 31st separate airborne brigade was lost near Vedeno (12 dead, 2 prisoners).
• November 18 - according to the NTV television company, federal forces took control of the regional center of Achkhoy-Martan “without firing a single shot.”
• November 25 - President of the ChRI Maskhadov addressed the Russian soldiers fighting in the North Caucasus with an offer to surrender and go over to the side of the militants.
• December 7 - Federal forces occupied Argun.
• By December 1999, federal forces controlled the entire flat part of Chechnya. The militants concentrated in the mountains (about 3,000 people) and in Grozny.
• December 8 - federal forces began the assault on Urus-Martan
• December 14 - federal forces occupied Khankala
• December 17 - a large landing of federal forces blocked the road connecting Chechnya with the village of Shatili (Georgia).
• December 26, 1999 - February 6, 2000 - siege of Grozny

3.2. 2000

• January 5 - federal forces took control of the regional center of Nozhai-Yurt.
• January 9 - militant breakthrough in Shali and Argun. Control of federal forces over Shali was restored on January 11, over Argun - on January 13.
• January 11 - federal forces took control of the regional center of Vedeno
• January 27 - during the battles for Grozny, field commander Isa Astamirov, deputy commander of the southwestern front of the militants, was killed.
• February 4 - 7-8 a.m. the bombing of the peaceful village (with a population of 25,000 people including refugees) of Katyr-Yurt began.
  From February 4 to February 11, the bombing of a small village lasted. About 450 people died, about a thousand were injured. Many cases have been won and even more are pending before the European Court.
• February 5 - During the breakthrough from Grozny, besieged by federal troops, the famous field commander Khunker Israpilov died in the minefields.
• February 9 - Federal troops blocked an important center of militant resistance - the village of Serzhen-Yurt, and in the Argun Gorge, so famous since the times of the Caucasian War, 380 military personnel landed and occupied one of the dominant heights. Federal troops blocked more than three thousand militants in the Argun Gorge, and then methodically treated them with volume-detonating ammunition.

• February 10 - federal forces took control of the regional center Itum-Kale and the village of Serzhen-Yurt
• February 21 - 33 Russian servicemen, mainly from the GRU special forces unit, were killed in a battle in the Kharsenoy area.
• February 29 - capture of Shatoy. Maskhadov, Khattab and Basayev again escaped the encirclement. First Deputy Commander of the joint group of federal forces, Colonel General Gennady Troshev, announced the end of a full-scale military operation in Chechnya.
• February 28 - March 2 - Battle at Height 776 - breakthrough of militants (Khattab) through Ulus-Kert. Death of paratroopers of the 6th parachute company of the 104th regiment.

The battle in the Argun Gorge during the second Chechen War, when an entire company of Pskov paratroopers died

Argun Gorge

Before the fight

Today in Russia there is another tragic date...

Today in Russia there is another tragic date - February 29 In 2000, in Chechnya, at height 776 (in the Argun Gorge), the 6th company of the 104th regiment of the 76th Pskov Airborne Division died in a fierce battle with Chechen militants. Of the ninety paratroopers who took the battle against superior terrorist forces, 84 were killed, including 13 officers. They did not flinch, did not retreat, and fulfilled their military duty to the end, stopping the advance of the gang.

Then, in February 2000, the military phase - an important stage - of the second Chechen war was ending. After the fall of Grozny and Shatoy (the last large settlements in Chechnya remaining in the hands of militants), according to the federal command, the defeated militants should have divided into small detachments and dispersed to mountain bases. However, the militants concentrated. Most of their commanders, including Sh.Basayev and Khattab, proposed to break through in a north-eastern direction, towards the Dagestan border. One of the most obvious routes of retreat was the Argun Gorge. In total, in the area of ​​the village of Ulus-Kert, then, according to various sources, from 1.5 to 2.5 thousand well-trained militants were concentrated.

On the part of the federal troops, to cover this direction, among other units, the 6th company was sent - a combined detachment of paratroopers under the command of Guard Lieutenant Colonel M. Evtyukhin, who was given the task of occupying a line four kilometers southeast of Ulus-Kert, with the goal to prevent a possible breakthrough of militants in the direction of Vedeno.

The 6th company gained a foothold on the dominant height 776. But the militants went ahead. The battle near Ulus-Kert began on February 29, 2000 and continued throughout the next day. Although the paratroopers received no help other than the breakthrough of 10 scouts of the 4th company and fire support from artillery units, they fought to the death. The artillerymen “worked” on the heights all night. On the morning of March 1, hand-to-hand fighting ensued, and at a critical moment, Lieutenant Colonel Evtyukhin called in artillery fire: “On yourself!” On March 2, the remaining militants were scattered by an air and artillery raid.

The soldiers of the 1st company of the 1st battalion also tried to help their comrades. But while crossing the Abazulgol River, they were ambushed and were forced to gain a foothold on the bank. Only on the morning of March 2 did they manage to break through, but it was too late - the 6th company died, only 6 soldiers remained alive. According to federal forces, militant losses ranged from 400 to 700 people. The remaining militants managed to break out of the Argun Gorge. They went to the mountains and disappeared. Later, some field commanders were killed.

The death of the paratroopers, left without help and cut off from reinforcements, raised a large number of questions among the public and relatives of the victims about the authorities and military command. According to many military analysts and media representatives, the death of the 6th company was caused by a number of mistakes and miscalculations of the Russian command.

August 2, 2000, on the day of the 70th anniversary of the Airborne Forces, President of the Russian Federation V.Putin came to the Pskov division and personally apologized to the relatives of the victims for “gross miscalculations that have to be paid for with the lives of Russian soldiers,” admitting the Kremlin’s guilt. But even years later, neither the president nor the military prosecutor’s office explained who exactly made these gross miscalculations, paid for with the lives of soldiers.

Monument to the 6th company in Pskov

Subsequently, all the dead paratroopers were forever included in the lists of the 104th Guards Regiment. By decree of the President of the Russian Federation, 22 paratroopers were awarded the title of Heroes of Russia (21 posthumously), and 68 were awarded the Order of Courage (63 posthumously). All of them are guys from 47 republics, territories and regions of Russia and neighboring republics.

The films “I Have the Honor”, ​​“Breakthrough”, “Russian Sacrifice”, the musical “Warriors of the Spirit”, the books “Company”, “Breakthrough”, “Step into Immortality”, songs are dedicated to the memory of the Pskov paratroopers. The streets of their native cities were named in their honor, and memorial plaques were installed in educational institutions where the hero-paratroopers studied. Monuments were erected to them in Moscow and Pskov.

However, the anniversary of this fight is not usually celebrated at the official level. Commemorative events in the last days of February - early March are carried out, as a rule, by public organizations and relatives.

Paratroopers of the 6th company of the 104th regiment of the 76th Pskov Guards Airborne Division died heroically in the Argun Gorge on February 29 and March 1, 2000:

Guard Captain Romanov Viktor Viktorovich
Guard Senior Lieutenant Panov Andrey Alexandrovich
Guard Senior Lieutenant Alexey Vladimirovich Vorobyov
Guard Lieutenant Ermakov Oleg Viktorovich
Guard Lieutenant Kozhemyakin Dmitry Sergeevich
Guard Major Dostavalov Alexander Vasilievich
Guard Lieutenant Colonel Evtyukhin Mark Nikolaevich
Guard Private Shevchenko Denis Petrovich
Guard Private Zinkevich Denis Nikolaevich
Guard Sergeant Dmitry Viktorovich Grigoriev
Guard Private Arkhipov Vladimir Vladimirovich
Guard Private Shikov Sergei Alexandrovich
Guard junior sergeant Shvetsov Vladimir Aleksandrovich
Guard Private Travin Mikhail Vitalievich
Guard Private Islentyev Vladimir Anatolyevich
Guard Private Ivanov Dmitry Ivanovich
Guard Senior Lieutenant Kolgatin Alexander Mikhailovich,
Guards Private Vorobyov Alexey Nikolaevich,
Guard Senior Lieutenant Sherstyannikov Andrey Nikolaevich
Guard Private Alexey Alexandrovich Khrabrov
Guard Captain Sokolov Roman Vladimirovich,
Guard Private Nishchenko Alexey Sergeevich
Guard Lieutenant Ryazantsev Alexander Nikolaevich,
Guard Corporal Lebedev Alexander Vladislavovich
Guard Senior Lieutenant Petrov Dmitry Vladimirovich
Guard Private Karoteev Alexander Vladimirovich
Guard senior sergeant Medvedev Sergey Yurievich
Guard Private Mikhailov Sergey Anatolyevich,
Guard Private Shukaev Alexey Borisovich,
Guard Private Trubenok Alexander Leonidovich
Guard Private Alexey Anatolyevich Nekrasov
Guard Private Kiryanov Alexey Valerievich
Guard Senior Sergeant Siraev Rustam Flaridovich,
Guard Private Savin Valentin Ivanovich,
Guard Private Grudinsky Stanislav Igorevich,
Guard Junior Sergeant Khvorostukhin Igor Sergeevich,
Guard junior sergeant Konstantin Valerievich Krivushev,
Guard Private Piskunov Roman Sergeevich,
Guard Private Batretdinov Dmitry Mansurovich,
Guard Private Timoshinin Konstantin Viktorovich,
Guard junior sergeant Lyashkov Yuri Nikolaevich,
Guard Private Zaytsev Andrey Yurievich,
Guard Private Sudakov Roman Valerievich,
Guard Private Ivanov Yaroslav Sergeevich
Guard Private Chugunov Vadim Vladimirovich
Guard Private Erdyakov Roman Sergeevich,
Guard Private Pakhomov Roman Alexandrovich
Guard junior sergeant Sergei Valerievich Zhukov.
Guard Private Alexandrov Vladimir Andreevich.
Guard junior sergeant Shchemlev Dmitry Sergeevich,
Guard Sergeant Kuptsov Vladimir Ivanovich,
Guard junior sergeant Vladislav Anatolyevich Dukhin,
Guard junior sergeant Alexey Yurievich Vasiliev,
Guard junior sergeant Khamatov Evgeniy Kamitovich,
Guard Private Shalaev Nikolai Vasilievich,
Guard Private Lebedev Viktor Nikolaevich,
Guard Private Zagoraev Mikhail Vyacheslavovich.
Guard junior sergeant Denis Sergeevich Strebin,
Guard Private Timashev Denis Vladimirovich,
Guard Junior Sergeant Pavlov Ivan Gennadievich
Guard Private Tregubov Denis Aleksandrovich,
Guard junior sergeant Kozlov Sergey Olegovich,
Guard Private Vasilev Sergei Vladimirovich,
Guard Private Ambetov Nikolai Kamitovich,
Guard Corporal Sokovanov Vasily Nikolaevich,
Guard junior sergeant Ivanov Sergey Alekseevich,
Guard Private Izyumov Vladimir Nikolaevich,
Guard Senior Sergeant Aranson Andrey Vladimirovich.
Guard Private Rasskaz Alexey Vasilievich,
Guard Junior Sergeant Eliseev Vladimir Sergeevich
Guard Corporal Gerdt Alexander Alexandrovich,
Guard Private Kuatbaev Galim Mukhambetovich,
Guard Private Biryukov Vladimir Ivanovich,
Guard Private Isaev Alexander Dmitrievich,
Guard junior sergeant Afanasyev Roman Sergeevich,
Guard Private Belykh Denis Igorevich,
Guard junior sergeant Sergey Mikhailovich Bakulin,
Guard Junior Sergeant Evdokimov Mikhail Vladimirovich,
Guard Sergeant Isakov Evgeniy Valerievich,
Guards Private Kenzhiev Amangeldy Amantaevich,
Guard Private Popov Igor Mikhailovich,
Guard Sergeant Komyagin Alexander Valerievich

• March 2 - tragic death of the Sergiev Posad riot police as a result of “friendly fire” *
• March 5 - 20 - Battle for the village of Komsomolskoye

The Battle for the village of Komsomolskoye (2000) is an episode of the Second Chechen War, when federal forces (commander - Colonel General Mikhail Labunets) surrounded a large formation of Chechen militants (retreating from the fallen Grozny in February 2000), under the command of field commander R. Gelayev) in his native village of Komsomolskoye (Saadi-Kotar) (Urus-Martan district) and carried out an operation to block and destroy him. During the fighting in the village, at least 552 people died, of which about 350 died while trying to escape from the encirclement. In addition, more than 70 were captured (mostly wounded and shell-shocked). The federal side also suffered losses. According to unconfirmed reports, more than 50 servicemen of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Ministry of Defense were killed and more than 300 were wounded. Commander Seifulla's detachment (about 300 people) responded to Gelayev's calls for help, but on the way to the village they were destroyed by air fire and artillery. Gelayev and several groups of militants still managed to break through the encirclement and retreat to Georgian territory (to the Pankisi Gorge). During the assault on the village, Buratino launchers were used.

According to the commander of the federal troops during the hostilities, Gennady Troshev, “the operation in Komsomolskoye practically ended the active phase of hostilities in Chechnya.”

• March 12 - in the village of Novogroznensky, terrorist Salman Raduev was captured by FSB officers and brought to Moscow; he was subsequently sentenced to life imprisonment and died in prison.
• March 19 - in the area of ​​the village of Duba-Yurt, FSB officers detained the Chechen field commander Salautdin Temirbulatov, nicknamed Tractor Driver, who was subsequently sentenced to life imprisonment.
• March 20 - on the eve of the presidential elections, Vladimir Putin visited Chechnya. He arrived in Grozny on a Su-27UB fighter piloted by the head of the Lipetsk aviation center, Alexander Kharchevsky.
• March 29 - death of the Perm riot police near the village of Dzhanei-Vedeno. More than 40 people died.
• April 20 - First Deputy Chief of the General Staff, Colonel General Valery Manilov, announced the end of the military part of the counter-terrorist operation in Chechnya and the transition to special operations.
• May 19 - Deputy Minister of Sharia Security of the ChRI Abu Movsaev was killed.
• May 21 - in the city of Shali, security officers detained (in his own house) one of Aslan Maskhadov's closest accomplices - field commander Ruslan Alikhadzhiev.
• June 11 - by decree of the President of the Russian Federation, Akhmat Kadyrov was appointed head of the administration of Chechnya
• July 2 - as a result of a series of terrorist attacks using bombed trucks, more than 30 police officers and federal servicemen were killed. The greatest losses were suffered by employees of the Chelyabinsk Regional Department of Internal Affairs in Argun.
• October 1 - during a military clash in the Staropromyslovsky district of Grozny, field commander Isa Munayev was killed.
• 3.3. 2001
• June 23-24 - in the village of Alkhan-Kala, a special joint detachment of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the FSB conducted a special operation to eliminate a detachment of militants of field commander Arbi Barayev. 16 militants were killed, including Barayev himself.
• July 11 - in the village of Mayrtup, Shalinsky district of Chechnya, during a special operation of the FSB and the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs, Khattab's assistant Abu Umar was killed.
• August 25 - in the city of Argun, during a special operation by FSB officers, field commander Movsan Suleimenov, nephew of Arbi Barayev, was killed.
• September 17 - attack by militants (300 people) on Gudermes, the attack was repulsed. As a result of the use of the Tochka-U missile system, a group of more than 100 people was destroyed. In Grozny, an Mi-8 helicopter with a General Staff commission on board was shot down (2 generals and 8 officers were killed).
• November 3 - during a special operation, the influential field commander Shamil Iriskhanov, who was part of Basayev’s inner circle, was killed.
• December 15 - In Argun, federal forces killed 20 militants during a special operation.

3.4. 2002

• January 27 - an Mi-8 helicopter was shot down in the Shelkovsky district of Chechnya. Among the dead were the Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation, Lieutenant General Mikhail Rudchenko, and the commander of the group of internal troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in Chechnya, Major General Nikolai Goridov.
• March 20 - as a result of a special operation by the FSB, terrorist Khattab was killed by poisoning.

• April 14 - in Vedeno, an MTL-B was blown up, in which there were sappers, cover machine gunners, and an FSB officer. The explosion occurred as a result of false information among the population about the poisoning of a water source by militants. 6 servicemen were killed, 4 were injured. Among the dead is an FSB officer
• April 18 - in his Address to the Federal Assembly, President Vladimir Putin announced the end of the military stage of the conflict in Chechnya.
• May 9 - a terrorist attack occurred in Dagestan during the celebration of Victory Day. 43 people were killed and more than 100 were injured.
• August 19 - Chechen militants using Igla MANPADS shot down a Russian military transport helicopter Mi-26 in the area of ​​the Khankala military base. Of the 147 people on board, 127 died.
• September 23 - Raid on Ingushetia (2002)
• October 23 - 26 - hostage taking in the theater center on Dubrovka in Moscow, 129 hostages died. All 44 terrorists were killed, including Movsar Barayev.

October 23, 2002 At 21:15, armed people in camouflage burst into the building of the Theater Center on Dubrovka. At that time, the musical “Nord-Ost” was playing at the cultural center; there were more than 700 people in the hall. The terrorists declared all people - spectators and theater workers - hostages and began to mine the building.

At 10 pm it became known that the theater building was captured by a detachment of Chechen militants led by Movsar Barayev, among the terrorists there were female suicide bombers, hung with explosives.

Movsar Baraev

At 19:00 the next day, the Qatari TV channel Al-Jazeera showed an appeal from the militants of Movsar Barayev, recorded a few days before the capture of the Palace of Culture: the terrorists declare themselves suicide bombers and demand the withdrawal of Russian troops from Chechnya. From seven in the evening until midnight, unsuccessful attempts continued to persuade the militants to accept food and water for the hostages.

State Duma deputy from Chechnya Aslambek Aslakhanov, Joseph Kobzon, British journalist Mark Franchetti, and two Red Cross doctors took part in the negotiations. On October 25, at 1 a.m., terrorists allowed Leonid Roshal, head of the emergency surgery and trauma department of the Center for Disaster Medicine, into the building. He brought medicines to the hostages and provided them with first aid.

In the morning, a spontaneous rally arose at the cordon near the recreation center. Relatives and friends of the hostages demanded that all the terrorists' demands be fulfilled. At 15:00 in the Kremlin, Russian President Vladimir Putin held a meeting with the heads of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the FSB. Following the meeting, FSB Director Nikolai Patrushev said that the authorities were ready to save the lives of the terrorists if they freed all the hostages.

On October 26, at 5:30 a.m., three explosions and several bursts of machine gun fire were heard near the Palace of Culture building. At about six o'clock the special forces began the assault, during which nerve gas was used. At half past seven in the morning, an official representative of the FSB reported that the Theater Center was under the control of the special services, Movsar Barayev and most of the terrorists had been killed. The number of neutralized terrorists in the building of the Theater Center on Dubrovka was 50 people - 18 women and 32 men.

On November 7, 2002, the Moscow prosecutor's office published a list of citizens who died as a result of the actions of terrorists who seized the Dubrovka Theater Center. This mournful list included 128 people: 120 Russians and 8 citizens from countries near and far abroad.

• December 27 - explosion of the Government House in Grozny. As a result of the terrorist attack, more than 70 people were killed. Shamil Basayev took responsibility for the terrorist attack.

3.5. 2003

• May 12 - in the village of Znamenskoye of the Nadterechny district of Chechnya, three suicide bombers carried out a terrorist attack in the area of ​​​​the buildings of the administration of the Nadterechny district and the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation. A KamAZ car filled with explosives demolished the barrier in front of the building and exploded. 60 people were killed and more than 250 were injured.
• May 14 - in the village of Ilshan-Yurt, Gudermes region, a suicide bomber blew herself up in a crowd celebrating the birthday of the Prophet Muhammad, where Akhmat Kadyrov was present. 18 people were killed and 145 people were injured.
• July 5 - terrorist attack in Moscow at the Wings rock festival. 16 people were killed and 57 were injured.
• August 1 - Bombing of a military hospital in Mozdok. A KamAZ army truck loaded with explosives rammed the gate and exploded near the building. There was one suicide bomber in the cockpit. The death toll was 50 people.
• September 3 - terrorist attack on the Kislovodsk-Minvody train on the Podkumok-Bely Ugol section, the railway tracks were blown up using a landmine.
• December 5 - suicide bombing on an electric train in Essentuki.
• December 9 - suicide bombing near the National Hotel (Moscow).
• 2003-2004 - Raid on Dagestan by a detachment under the command of Ruslan Gelayev.

3.6. 2004

• February 6 - terrorist attack in the Moscow metro, on the stretch between the Avtozavodskaya and Paveletskaya stations. 39 people were killed and 122 were injured.
• February 28 - famous field commander Ruslan Gelayev was mortally wounded during a shootout with border guards
• April 16 - during the shelling of the Chechen mountains, the leader of foreign mercenaries in Chechnya, Abu al-Walid al-Ghamidi, was killed
• May 9 - in Grozny at the Dynamo stadium, where the parade in honor of Victory Day was taking place, at 10:32 a powerful explosion occurred on the newly renovated VIP stand. At that moment, there were the President of Chechnya Akhmat Kadyrov, the Chairman of the State Council of the Chechen Republic Kh. Isaev, the commander of the United Group of Forces in the North Caucasus General V. Baranov, the Minister of Internal Affairs of Chechnya Alu Alkhanov and the military commandant of the republic G. Fomenko. 2 people died directly in the explosion, 4 more died in hospitals: Akhmat Kadyrov, Kh. Isaev, Reuters journalist A. Khasanov, a child (whose name was not reported) and two Kadyrov security officers. In total, 63 people were injured from the explosion in Grozny, including 5 children.
• May 17 - as a result of an explosion in the suburbs of Grozny, the crew of an armored personnel carrier of the Ministry of Internal Affairs was killed and several people were injured
• June 22 - Raid on Ingushetia
• July 12 - 13 - a large detachment of militants captured the village of Avtury, Shali district
• August 21 - 400 militants attacked Grozny. According to the Chechen Ministry of Internal Affairs, 44 people were killed and 36 were seriously injured.
• August 24 - explosions of two Russian passenger airliners, killing 89 people.
• August 31 - terrorist attack near the Rizhskaya metro station in Moscow. 10 people were killed, more than 50 people were injured
• September 1 - terrorist attack in Beslan, which killed over 350 people, including hostages, civilians and military personnel. Half of the dead are children.

On September 1, 2004, a group of armed masked people drove up to the building of School No. 1 in Beslan in several cars and took 1,128 people hostage—children and their parents—right from the school line, driving them into the school gym.

The terrorists were armed with at least 20 Kalashnikov assault rifles of various modifications, including those with under-barrel grenade launchers; 2 Kalashnikov light machine guns (RPK - 74); 2 modernized Kalashnikov machine guns (PKM); 1 Kalashnikov tank machine gun (PKT); 2 hand-held anti-tank grenade launchers (RPG-7v) and “Mukha” grenade launchers; explosive devices: two improvised explosive devices of similar design, made using explosives - plasticite and hexogen, ready-made destructive elements - metal balls, electric detonators, with a damage radius of at least 200 m, at least six improvised explosive devices made on the basis of anti-personnel fragmentation weapons OZM-72 all-round mines of industrial production with homemade modifications, as well as the so-called “suicide belts” - homemade explosive devices.

The terrorists demanded that the authorities release militants previously detained on suspicion of participation in the attack on Ingushetia on June 21-22, 2004, and the withdrawal of Russian troops from Chechnya. They also demanded that the President of Ingushetia Murat Zyazikov, the President of North Ossetia Alexander Dzasokhov and the children's doctor Leonid Roshal, who took part in the negotiations during the terrorist attack on Dubrovka in October 2002, appear at the negotiations with them. At the same time, the terrorists threatened to blow up the school building in the event of an assault and kill 50 hostages for each eliminated terrorist. The prosecutor of Beslan and the mufti of North Ossetia volunteered to act as negotiators, but the terrorists did not allow them into the school building.

On the first day, the terrorists shot 12 (according to other sources - 14) men who were among the hostages.

On the night of September 2, negotiations between the terrorists and Dr. Roshal took place. Representatives of the special services told the terrorists that they were ready to provide them with the opportunity to safely travel to Ingushetia and Chechnya. In addition, it was proposed to replace child hostages with adults. There was no response to these offers; the terrorists also refused to accept food and medicine for those taken hostage.

On September 2, the former President of Ingushetia, Ruslan Aushev, visited the seized school. At his request, the militants released a group of hostages of 26 people (mothers with infants). Then, at headquarters, Aushev and Alexander Dzasokhov contacted Akhmed Zakayev by phone with a request that he contact Aslan Maskhadov and ask him to fly to Beslan and enter into negotiations with the terrorists. The latter expressed agreement in principle, however, stating that his relationship with Maskhadov was one-sided. On September 3 at 12-00, Zakayev informs Dzasokhov of Maskhadov’s consent (subject to security guarantees being provided to Maskhadov) to come to Beslan (no guarantees were provided). Zakayev informed Dzasokhov about his conversation with Maskhadov and his and Maskhadov’s readiness to immediately arrive in Beslan and release the hostages “on any conditions,” however, demanding security guarantees. Dzasokhov replied that “our conversation is an invitation to talk about this.” Zakaev expressed his readiness to fly out immediately, but Dzasokhov asked him to call back in an hour and a half (according to other sources, two) hours, which he needed to resolve technical issues regarding the arrival of Zakaev and Maskhadov. However, Zakayev did not call back, because an hour after the conversation, explosions were heard at the school and the assault began.

At 12:40, the operational headquarters managed to negotiate with the terrorists to evacuate the bodies of the killed hostages from the school. At 12:55, emergency workers from the Ministry of Emergency Situations arrive at the school to pick up the bodies of those killed. At 13:03-13:05 two explosions were heard in the school building, hostages began to run out of the school. After which special forces of the Russian army and the FSB launched an assault. As a result of the assault, both the terrorists and the attackers suffered losses (10 special forces soldiers were killed). Casualties among hostages: 331 dead, about 500 wounded.

3.7. 2005

• February 18 - as a result of a special operation in the Oktyabrsky district of Grozny, the forces of the PPS-2 detachment killed the “Emir of Grozny” Yunadi Turchaev, the “right hand” of one of the terrorist leaders Doku Umarov.
• March 8 - during a special operation by the FSB in the village of Tolstoy-Yurt, the President of the Chechen Republic of Ichryssia, Aslan Maskhadov, was eliminated
• May 15 - Former vice-president of the Chechen Republic of Ichryssia Vakha Arsanov was killed in Grozny. Arsanov and his accomplices, while in a private house, fired at a police patrol and were destroyed by arriving reinforcements.
• May 15 - in the Dubovsky forest of the Shelkovsky district, as a result of a special operation of the Internal Troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the “emir” of the Shelkovsky district of the Chechen Republic, Rasul Tambulatov (Volchek), was killed.
• October 13 - Militants attack the city of Nalchik (Kabardino-Balkaria), as a result of which, according to Russian authorities, 12 civilians and 35 law enforcement officers were killed. According to various sources, from 40 to 124 militants were destroyed.

3.8. 2006

• January 3-5 - in the Untsukulsky district of Dagestan, federal and local security forces are trying to eliminate a gang of 8 militants under the command of field commander O. Sheikhulayev. According to official information, 5 militants were killed, the terrorists themselves admit the death of only 1. The losses of the federal forces amounted to 1 killed, 10 wounded.
• January 31 - Russian President Vladimir Putin said at a press conference that it is now possible to talk about the end of the counter-terrorism operation in Chechnya.
• February 9-11 - in the village of Tukuy-Mekteb in the Stavropol Territory, 12 so-called militants were killed during a special operation. “Nogai battalion of the Armed Forces of the ChRI”, federal forces lost 7 people killed. During the operation, the federal side actively uses helicopters and tanks.
• March 28 - In Chechnya, the former head of the state security department of the ChRI Sultan Gelikhanov voluntarily surrendered to the authorities.
• June 16 - “ChRI President” Abdul-Halim Sadulaev was killed in Argun

• July 4 - in Chechnya, a military convoy was attacked near the village of Avtury, Shalinsky district. Representatives of the federal forces report 6 servicemen killed, militants - more than 20.
• July 9 - the website of Chechen militants "Caucasus Center" announced the creation of the Ural and Volga fronts as part of the Armed Forces of the ChRI.
• July 10 - in Ingushetia, one of the terrorist leaders Shamil Basayev was killed as a result of a special operation (according to other sources, he died due to careless handling of explosives).
• July 12 - on the border of Chechnya and Dagestan, the police of both republics destroy a relatively large but poorly armed gang consisting of 15 militants. 13 bandits were destroyed, 2 more were detained.
• August 23 - Chechen militants attacked a military convoy on the Grozny-Shatoy highway, not far from the entrance to the Argun Gorge. The column consisted of a Ural vehicle and two escort armored personnel carriers. According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Chechen Republic, four federal servicemen were wounded as a result.
• November 7 - Seven riot policemen from Mordovia were killed in Chechnya.
• November 26 - the leader of foreign mercenaries in Chechnya, Abu Hafs al-Urdani, was killed in Khasavyurt. Along with him, 4 more militants were killed.

3.9. 2007

• April 4 - in the vicinity of the village of Agish-batoy, Vedeno district of Chechnya, one of the most influential militant leaders, commander of the Eastern Front of the Chechen Republic of Ingushetia, Suleiman Ilmurzaev (call sign “Khairulla”), involved in the murder of Chechen President Akhmat Kadyrov, was killed.
• June 13 - in the Vedeno district on the Verkhnie Kurchali - Belgata highway, militants shot at a convoy of police cars.
• July 23 - battle near the village of Tazen-Kale, Vedeno district, between the Vostok battalion of Sulim Yamadayev and a detachment of Chechen militants led by Doku Umarov. The death of 6 militants was reported.

• September 18 - as a result of a counter-terrorist operation in the village of New Sulak, “Amir Rabbani” - Rappani Khalilov - was killed.

3.10. 2008

• January - during special operations in Makhachkala and the Tabasaran region of Dagestan, at least 9 militants were killed, 6 of them were part of the group of field commander I. Mallochiev. There were no casualties on the part of the security forces in these clashes. At the same time, during the clashes in Grozny, the Chechen police killed 5 militants, among them was the field commander U. Techiev, the “emir” of the capital of Chechnya.
• May 5 - a military vehicle was blown up by a landmine in the village of Tashkola, a suburb of Grozny. 5 policemen were killed, 2 were injured.
• June 13 - night attack by militants in the village of Benoy-Vedeno
• September 2008 - major leaders of the illegal armed formations of Dagestan Ilgar Mallochiev and A. Gudayev were killed, a total of up to 10 militants.
• December 18 - battle in the city of Argun, 2 policemen were killed and 6 were wounded. One person was killed by the militants in Argun.
• December 23-25 ​​- special operation of the FSB and the Ministry of Internal Affairs in the village of Verkhny Alkun in Ingushetia. Field commander Vakha Dzhenaraliev, who fought against federal troops in Chechnya and Ingushetia since 1999, and his deputy Khamkhoev were killed, a total of 12 militants were killed. 4 illegal armed formation bases have been liquidated.
• June 19 - Said Buryatsky announced his joining the underground.

3.11. 2009

• March 21-22 - a major special operation by security forces in Dagestan. As a result of heavy fighting using helicopters and armored vehicles, the forces of the local Ministry of Internal Affairs and the FSB Directorate, with the support of the Internal Troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation, eliminated 12 militants in the Untsukulsky district of the republic. The losses of the federal troops amount to 5 people killed (two servicemen of the special forces of the VV were later posthumously awarded the title of Hero of Russia for their participation in these hostilities). At the same time, in Makhachkala, the police destroy 4 more armed extremists in battle.
• April 15 is the last day of the counter-terrorist operation regime
• 4. Aggravation of the situation in the North Caucasus in 2009

Despite the official cancellation of the counter-terrorism operation on April 16, 2009, the situation in the region has not become calmer, quite the contrary. Militants waging guerrilla warfare have become more active, and incidents of terrorist acts have become more frequent. Beginning in the fall of 2009, a number of major special operations were carried out to eliminate gangs and militant leaders. In response, a series of terrorist attacks were carried out, including, for the first time in a long time, in Moscow.

Military clashes, terrorist attacks and police operations are actively taking place not only on the territory of Chechnya, but also on the territory of Ingushetia, Dagestan, Kabardino-Balkaria and Karachay-Cherkessia. In certain territories, the CTO regime was repeatedly temporarily introduced.

Starting from May 15, 2009, Russian security forces intensified operations against militant groups in the mountainous regions of Ingushetia, Chechnya and Dagestan, which caused a retaliatory intensification of terrorist activities by militants. At the end of July 2010, there were all signs of an escalation of the conflict and its spread to nearby regions.

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 achieved - in a special project by Kommersant

At the beginning of August 1999, armed clashes began on the border of Dagestan and Chechnya. On August 7, gangs of more than 400 people under the leadership of field commanders Shamil Basayev and Khattab invaded the territory of the Botlikh region of Dagestan from Chechnya. The fighting continued until the end of August, after which federal forces began an assault on the Wahhabi villages of Karamakhi, Chabanmakhi and Kadar in Dagestan.
On the night of September 5, about 2 thousand extremists again crossed the Chechen-Dagestan border. The fighting in Dagestan continued until September 15. By the end of September, up to 90 thousand soldiers and about 400 tanks were concentrated on the border with Chechnya. The combined group of federal forces was commanded by Colonel General Viktor Kazantsev. The separatist forces 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 and 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 path to Georgia. The assault on Grozny took place in December 1999-January 2000.

On February 1–3, as part of Operation Wolf Hunt, militant groups were lured out of the Chechen capital with the help of disinformation and sent to minefields (the militants lost 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 captured). On April 20, Deputy Chief of the General Staff Valery Manilov said that the military part of the operation in Chechnya had been completed and now its “special part was being carried out - conducting special operations to complete the defeat of the remaining undead gangs.” It was announced that about 28 thousand military personnel would be stationed in the republic on a permanent basis, including the advanced units of the 42nd motorized rifle division, 2.7 thousand border guards, and nine battalions of internal troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation.

Moscow has relied on resolving the conflict by attracting some of the local elites to its 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 guerrilla actions: shelling, mining of roads, terrorist attacks. Terrorist activity quickly spread beyond the republic. Militants took hostages at the Nord-Ost musical in Moscow, organized a bombing of a government building in Grozny (2002), an explosion at the Wings rock festival in Tushino (2003), suicide bombings 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 to Sergei Dorenko (1999)
On September 1, 2004, the most notorious terrorist attack in Russian history was committed - the taking of more than 1 thousand hostages at a school in Beslan. The attack killed 334 people.

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

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

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

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

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

According to the OGV headquarters, 15.5 thousand militants were killed in 1999–2002. From 2002 to 2009, security forces reported the elimination of about 2,100 more members of illegal armed groups: the bulk in 2002 (600) and 2003 (700). Separatist leader Shamil Basayev in 2005 estimated militant losses at 3,600 people. The human rights organization Memorial in 2004 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 provide a government loyal to the center. At the same time, the terrorist organization “Caucasus Emirate” was formed in the region, with the goal of creating an Islamist state on the territory of all the Caucasian republics of the Russian Federation. After 2009, the gang underground organized a number of major terrorist attacks in the country (explosions in the Moscow metro in 2010, at Domodedovo airport in 2011, at a train station and in a trolleybus in Volgograd in 2013). The counter-terrorism operation regime 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, “Caucasus Emirate”
USSR/Russian forces involved: joint group of troops numbering up to 100 thousand people
Losses: more than 6 thousand people, of which 3.68 thousand were military personnel of the Ministry of Defense (as of September 2008)
Supreme Commander-in-Chief: Boris Yeltsin
Conclusion: two Chechen wars helped to “pacify” Chechnya, but turned the entire North Caucasus into a powder keg

Aggravation of the situation on the border with Chechnya

* June 18 - from Chechnya, attacks were carried out on 2 outposts on the Dagestan-Chechen border, as well as an attack on a Cossack company in the Stavropol Territory. The Russian leadership is closing most of the checkpoints on the border with Chechnya.

* June 22 - for the first time in the history of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs, an attempt was made to commit a terrorist attack in its main building. The bomb was defused in time. According to one version, the terrorist attack was a response of Chechen militants to threats from the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Rushailo, to carry out acts of retaliation in Chechnya.

* June 23 - shelling from the side of Chechnya at the outpost near the village of Pervomaiskoye, Khasavyurt district of Dagestan.

* June 30 - Rushailo stated that “we must respond to the blow with a more crushing blow; “on the border with Chechnya, the order was given to use preventive strikes against armed gangs.”

* July 3 — Rushailo said that the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs “is beginning to strictly regulate the situation in the North Caucasus, where Chechnya acts as a criminal “think tank” controlled by foreign intelligence services, extremist organizations and the criminal community.” Deputy Prime Minister of the ChRI government Kazbek Makhashev stated in response: “We cannot be intimidated by threats, and Rushailo knows this well.”

* July 5 - Rushailo stated that “early in the morning of July 5, a preemptive strike was launched against concentrations of 150-200 armed militants in Chechnya.”

* July 7 - a group of militants from Chechnya attacked an outpost near the Grebensky Bridge in the Babayurt region of Dagestan. Secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation and Director of the FSB of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin said that “Russia will henceforth take not preventive, but only adequate actions in response to attacks in the areas bordering Chechnya.” He emphasized that “the Chechen authorities do not fully control the situation in the republic.”

* July 16 - Commander of the Internal Troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation V. Ovchinnikov stated that “the issue of creating a buffer zone around Chechnya is being studied.”

Two federal servicemen, Sergeant A.V. Potemkin, a native of Yaroslavl, and Sergeant V.V. Komashko, a native of the village of Burkovtsy, was captured, another sergeant S.G. Reshetkin, a native of Yaroslavl, died as a result of the explosion of an infantry fighting vehicle on a radio-controlled landmine on the western outskirts of the regional center of Achkhoy-Martan. According to a route previously agreed upon with the leadership of the ChRI, an infantry fighting vehicle with Armored military personnel escorted a convoy with medical equipment and drugs from Bamut to Achkhoy-Martan. An explosive device, believed to consist of a 122mm artillery shell, was placed on the side of the road. The location of the captured soldiers is currently unknown. Media: Gazeta.ru Tuesday, July 28, 1999

* July 23 - Chechen militants attacked an outpost on the territory of Dagestan protecting the Kopayevsky hydroelectric complex. The Ministry of Internal Affairs of Dagestan stated that “this time the Chechens carried out reconnaissance in force, and large-scale actions by gangs will soon begin along the entire perimeter of the Dagestan-Chechen border.”

* August 7 - September 14 - from the territory of the ChRI, detachments of field commanders Shamil Basayev and Khattab invaded the territory of Dagestan. Fierce fighting continued for more than a month. The official government of the CRI, unable to control the actions of various armed groups on the territory of Chechnya, dissociated itself from the actions of Shamil Basayev, but did not take practical action against him (see the article Invasion of militants in Dagestan).

* August 12 - Deputy Head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation I. Zubov reported that a letter was sent to the President of the Chechen Republic of Ichristia Maskhadov with a proposal to conduct a joint operation with federal troops against Islamists in Dagestan.

* August 13 - Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said that “strikes will be carried out on bases and concentrations of militants regardless of their location, including on the territory of Chechnya.”

* August 16 - President of the ChRI Aslan Maskhadov introduced martial law in Chechnya for a period of 30 days, announced the partial mobilization of reservists and participants in the First Chechen War.

Aerial bombing of Chechnya

* August 25 - Russian aircraft strike militant bases in the Vedeno Gorge in Chechnya. In response to the official protest from the ChRI, the command of the federal forces declares that they “reserve the right to strike militant bases in the territory of any North Caucasus region, including Chechnya.”

* September 6 - 18 - Russian aviation carries out numerous missile and bomb attacks on military camps and militant fortifications in Chechnya.

* September 14 - V. Putin said that “the Khasavyurt agreements should be subjected to an impartial analysis”, as well as “a strict quarantine should be temporarily introduced” along the entire perimeter of Chechnya.

* September 18 - Russian troops block the border of Chechnya from Dagestan, Stavropol Territory, North Ossetia and Ingushetia.

* September 23 - Russian aircraft began bombing the capital of Chechnya and its environs. As a result, several electrical substations, a number of oil and gas complex factories, the Grozny mobile communications center, a television and radio broadcasting center, and an An-2 aircraft were destroyed. The press service of the Russian Air Force stated that “aircraft will continue to strike targets that gangs can use in their interests.”

* September 27 - Chairman of the Russian Government V. Putin categorically rejected the possibility of a meeting between the President of Russia and the head of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria. “There will be no meetings to let the militants lick their wounds,” he said.

Start of ground operation

* September 30 - armored units of the Russian army from the Stavropol Territory and Dagestan entered the territory of the Naursky and Shelkovsky regions of Chechnya.

* October 4 - at a meeting of the military council of the ChRI, it was decided to form three directions to repel attacks by federal forces. The western direction was headed by Ruslan Gelayev, the eastern direction by Shamil Basaev, and the central direction by Magomed Khambiev.

* October 6 - Maskhadov invited all religious leaders of Chechnya to declare a holy war on Russia - gazavat.

* October 15 - troops of the Western group of General Vladimir Shamanov entered Chechnya from Ingushetia.

* October 16 - federal forces occupied a third of the territory of Chechnya north of the Terek River and began the second stage of the anti-terrorist operation, the main goal of which was the destruction of gangs in the remaining territory of Chechnya.

* October 21 - federal forces launched a missile attack on the central market of the city of Grozny, which killed 140 people

* November 11 - field commanders brothers Yamadayev and Mufti of Chechnya Akhmat Kadyrov surrendered Gudermes to federal forces

* November 17 - the first major losses of federal forces since the beginning of the campaign. A reconnaissance group of the 31st separate airborne brigade was lost near Vedeno (12 dead, 2 prisoners).

* November 18 - according to the NTV television company, federal forces took control of the regional center of Achkhoy-Martan “without firing a single shot.”

* November 25 - President of the ChRI Maskhadov addressed the Russian soldiers fighting in the North Caucasus with an offer to surrender and go over to the side of the militants.

* By December 1999, federal forces controlled the entire flat part of Chechnya. The militants concentrated in the mountains and in Grozny.

* December 8 - federal forces began the assault on Urus-Martan
* December 14 - federal forces occupied Khankala
* December 26, 1999 - February 6, 2000 - siege of Grozny

* December 17 - a large landing of federal forces blocked the road connecting Chechnya with the village of Shatili (Georgia).

* January 9 - militant breakthrough in Shali and Argun. Control of federal forces over Shali was restored on January 11, over Argun - on January 13.

* January 27 - during the battles for Grozny, field commander Isa Astamirov, deputy commander of the southwestern front of the militants, was killed.

* February 9 - federal troops blocked an important center of militant resistance - the village of Serzhen-Yurt, and in the Argun Gorge, so famous since the times of the Caucasian War, 380 military personnel landed and occupied one of the dominant heights. Federal troops blocked more than three thousand militants in the Argun Gorge.

* February 29 - capture of Shatoy. Maskhadov, Khattab and Basayev again escaped the encirclement. First Deputy Commander of the joint group of federal forces, Colonel General Gennady Troshev, announced the end of a full-scale military operation in Chechnya.

* February 28 - March 2 - Battle at height 776 - breakthrough of militants (Khattab) through Ulus-Kert. The heroic death of paratroopers of the 6th parachute company of the 104th regiment

* March 12 - in the village of Novogroznensky, terrorist Salman Raduev was captured by FSB officers and brought to Moscow, subsequently sentenced to life imprisonment and died in prison.

* October 1 - during a military clash in the Stapromyslovsky district of Grozny, field commander Isa Munayev was killed.

* June 23-24 - in the village of Alkhan-Kala, a special joint detachment of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the FSB conducted a special operation to eliminate a detachment of militants of field commander Arbi Barayev. 16 militants were killed, including Barayev himself.
* July 11 - in the village of Mayrup, Shalinsky district of Chechnya, during a special operation of the FSB and the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs, Khattab's assistant Abu Umar was killed.
* August 25 - in the city of Argun, during a special operation, FSB officers killed field commander Movsan Suleimenov, nephew of Arbi Barayev.
* September 17 - attack by militants (300 people) on Gudermes, the attack was repulsed. As a result of the use of the Tochka-U missile system, a group of more than 100 people was destroyed. In Grozny, an Mi-8 helicopter with a General Staff commission on board was shot down (2 generals and 8 officers were killed).
* November 3 - during a special operation, the influential field commander Shamil Iriskhanov, who was part of Basayev’s inner circle, was killed.

* March 20 - as a result of a special operation by the FSB, terrorist Khattab was killed by poisoning.
* April 18 - in his Address to the Federal Assembly, President Vladimir Putin announced the end of the military stage of the conflict in Chechnya.
* May 9 - a terrorist attack occurred in Dagestan during the celebration of Victory Day. 43 people were killed and more than 100 were injured.
* August 19 - Chechen militants using Igla MANPADS shot down a Russian military transport helicopter Mi-26 in the area of ​​the Khankala military base. Of the 152 people on board, 124 died.
* September 23 - Raid on Ingushetia (2002)
* October 23 - 26 - hostage taking in the theater center on Dubrovka in Moscow, 129 hostages died. All 44 terrorists were killed, including Movsar Barayev.
* December 5 - suicide bombing on an electric train in Essentuki.
* December 9 - suicide bombing near the National Hotel (Moscow).
* December 27 - explosion of the Government House in Grozny as a result of a terrorist attack. Over 70 people died. Shamil Basayev took responsibility for the terrorist attack.

* July 5 - terrorist attack in Moscow at the Wings rock festival. 16 people were killed and 57 were injured.
* August 1 - Bombing of a military hospital in Mozdok. A KamAZ army truck loaded with explosives rammed the gate and exploded near the building. There was one suicide bomber in the cockpit. The death toll was 50 people.
* 2003-2004 - Raid on Dagestan by a detachment of bandits under the command of Ruslan Gelayev.

* February 6 - terrorist attack in the Moscow metro, on the stretch between the Avtozavodskaya and Paveletskaya stations. 39 people were killed and 122 were injured.
* February 28 - famous field commander Ruslan Gelayev was mortally wounded during a shootout with policemen
* April 16 - during the shelling of the Chechen mountains, the leader of foreign mercenaries in Chechnya, Abu al-Walid al-Ghamidi, was killed
* May 9 - head of the Chechen administration Akhmat Kadyrov died as a result of a terrorist attack at a parade in honor of Victory Day in Grozny
* June 22 - Raid on Ingushetia
* August 21 - 400 militants attacked Grozny. According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Chechnya, 44 people were killed and 36 were seriously injured.
* August 24 - explosions of two Russian passenger airliners, killing 89 people.
* August 31 - terrorist attack near the Rizhskaya metro station in Moscow. 10 people were killed and more than 50 people were injured.
* September 1 - Terrorist attack in Beslan, which resulted in the death of over 350 people, including hostages, civilians and military personnel. Half of the dead are children. As of November 23, 2008, this is the last major terrorist attack in Russian history.

* March 8 - during a special operation by the FSB in the village of Tolstoy-Yurt, the President of the Chechen Republic of Ichryssia, Aslan Maskhadov, was eliminated
* May 15 - former vice-president of the CRI Vakha Arsanov was killed in Grozny. Arsanov and his accomplices, while in a private house, fired at a police patrol and were destroyed by arriving reinforcements.
* October 13 - Militant attack on the city of Nalchik (Kabardino-Balkaria), as a result of which, according to Russian authorities, 12 civilians and 35 law enforcement officers were killed. According to various sources, from 40 to 124 militants were destroyed.

* January 31 - Russian President Vladimir Putin said at a press conference that it is now possible to talk about the end of the counter-terrorism operation in Chechnya.
* June 17 - “ChRI President” Abdul-Halim Sadulaev was killed in Argun
* July 4 - in Chechnya, a military convoy was attacked near the village of Avtury, Shalinsky district. Representatives of the federal forces report 6 servicemen killed, militants - more than 20.
* July 9 - the website of Chechen militants “Caucasus Center” announced the creation of the Ural and Volga fronts as part of the Armed Forces of the ChRI.
* July 10 - terrorist Shamil Basayev was killed in Ingushetia as a result of a special operation (according to other sources, he died due to careless handling of explosives).
* August 23 - Chechen militants attacked a military convoy on the Grozny-Shatoy highway, not far from the entrance to the Argun Gorge. The column consisted of a Ural vehicle and two escort armored personnel carriers. According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Chechen Republic, four federal servicemen were wounded as a result.
* November 7 - Seven riot policemen from Mordovia were killed in Chechnya.
* November 26 - the leader of foreign mercenaries in Chechnya, Abu Hafs al-Urdani, was killed in Khasavyurt.

* April 4 - in the vicinity of the village of Agish-batoy, Vedeno district of Chechnya, one of the most influential militant leaders, commander of the Eastern Front of the Chechen Republic of Ingushetia, Suleiman Ilmurzaev (call sign “Khairulla”), who was involved in the murder of Chechen President Akhmat Kadyrov, was killed.
* June 13 - in the Vedeno district on the Verkhnie Kurchali - Belgata highway, militants shot at a convoy of police cars.
* July 23 - battle near the village of Tazen-Kale, Vedensky district, between the Vostok battalion of Sulim Yamadayev and a detachment of Chechen separatists led by Doku Umarov. The death of 6 militants was reported.
* September 18 - as a result of a counter-terrorist operation in the village of New Sulak, “Amir Rabbani” - Rappani Khalilov - was killed.