The period of 1996-1999 in Chechnya is characterized by a gradual and deep criminalization of society, which led to a certain destabilization of the southern borders of Russia. Kidnapping, explosions and drug trafficking flourished, and it was not always possible to fight them, especially if Chechen bandits acted "on the road". At the same time, the Russian leadership repeatedly appealed to A. Maskhadov with a proposal to assist in the fight against organized crime, but received an unreserved refusal. The new extremist trend in Chechnya - Wahhabism - was rapidly spreading in the conditions of unemployment and social tension, although it was recognized by the authorities of the self-proclaimed republic as outlawed. The situation in the region is heating up.
The culmination of this process was the invasion of Chechen militants under the command of Sh. Basayev and Khattab on the territory of Russia, in Dagestan in August 1999. At the same time, the gangsters counted on the support of the local Wahhabis, thanks to whom it was supposed then to reject Dagestan from Russia and thereby create a North Caucasian emirate.
The beginning of the second Chechen war
However, field commanders brutally miscalculated, and the Russian army was no longer the same 3 years ago. The fighters almost immediately found themselves drawn into protracted battles along the Chechen-Dagestan border - in mountainous and wooded areas. And if earlier separatists were often “saved” by the mountains, now they didn’t have advantages. The hopes of the militants for the broad support of the people of Dagestan were not justified - on the contrary, the intruders were given the fiercest resistance. As a result of the hostilities in Dagestan, during August the Chechen gangs were completely knocked back to the territory of Ichkeria, a relative lull established for several weeks.
However, already in the first half of September 1999, explosions of residential buildings in Moscow, Volgodonsk and Buynaksk thundered - and the traces of the terrorist attacks led to Chechnya. These events put an end to the possibility of a peaceful dialogue between Russia and Ichkeria.
The Maskhadov government officially condemned the actions of the militants, but in fact it did absolutely nothing to prevent such actions. Considering this, on September 23, President of the Russian Federation B. Yeltsin signed a decree “On measures to increase the effectiveness of counterterrorism operations in the North Caucasus region of the Russian Federation”, according to which it was necessary to create a Joint Group of Forces and begin to destroy gangs and terrorist bases in the republic. On the same day, Russian aviation bombed Grozny, and a week later the troops entered the republic.
In the course of the fighting in the rebellious republic in the autumn of 1999, the Russian army’s skill increased noticeably. The troops, combining various tactics (for example, luring militants into minefields) and maneuvers, were able to partially destroy and push back Chechen gangs to Grozny in November-December. However, the Russian leadership did not intend to storm the city, as announced by the commander of the eastern group of Russian troops G. Troshev.
In the meantime, the Chechen side staked on the internationalization of the conflict, attracting mojaheds, instructors and capital from far and near abroad, and first of all from Arab countries. The main, but not the only reason for their interest was, of course, oil. Peace in the North Caucasus would allow the Russian side to make a good profit from the exploitation of the Caspian fields, which would be unprofitable for the Arab countries. Another reason can be called the fashion of the radicalization of Islam, which then began to overrun the countries of the Middle East.
The Russian leadership, on the contrary, has relied on the mass attraction of civilians and former Chechen militants to their side. Thus, the most prominent figure, who went over to the side of the federal forces, was the mufti of Ichkeria, Akhmad Kadyrov, who, during the First Chechen War, declared jihad to Russia. Now, having condemned Wahhabism, he became the enemy of A. Maskhadov and headed the pro-Russian administration of Chechnya after the end of the Second Chechen War.
Storm of the Terrible
By the winter of 1999-2000 Russian troops managed to block Grozny from the south. The initial decision to abandon the assault on the Republican capital changed, and on December 26, an operation began to eliminate gangs in the city.
In the early days, the situation developed favorably for the federal troops. On the second day of the operation, the feds, with the assistance of the pro-Russian detachments of the Chechen militia, took control of the Staropromyslovsky district of the capital. However, on December 29, fierce battles flared up on the streets of Grozny, divisions of the federal forces were surrounded, but were able to escape at the cost of serious losses. These battles forced to slow down the pace of the offensive somewhat, but did not influence the overall situation.
In the following days, the Russian army continued to advance stubbornly, clearing all new urban areas from the militants. In the second half of January, fierce battles flared up around a strategically important area - Minutka Square. Russian troops managed to oust the militants and seize this frontier. On February 6, 2000, acting president of the Russian Federation V. Putin announced that the operation to liberate Grozny was victoriously completed.
The course of the second Chechen war in 2000-2009.
Many Chechen militants managed to escape from Grozny, and as a result the war entered the partisan stage. Nevertheless, its intensity has steadily decreased, and by 2002 the media began to talk about the "attenuation" of the Chechen conflict. However, in 2002-2005, the militants committed a series of brutal and bold terrorist attacks (hostage taking in DK on Dubrovka (Moscow), in a school in Beslan, an unsuccessful raid in Kabardino-Balkaria), thereby demonstrating that the conflict was far from over .
It is worth noting that the period 2001-2005. I remember the frequent liquidations of the leaders of the Chechen separatists and foreign fighters, as a result of which the tension in the region decreased significantly. As a result, on April 15, 2009, the KTO (counterterrorist operation) regime was canceled on the territory of the Chechen Republic.
The outcome of the war
Since then, the situation in Chechnya has practically stabilized, and the intensity of the hostilities has decreased to almost zero. The new administration of the republic has managed to restore order in the region and make Chechnya a completely safe place. Nevertheless, it should be noted that the special operations of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the army in the northern Caucasus continue, not only in Chechnya, but also in other areas. Therefore, the Second Chechen War can be called the completed chapter of history.
