All the legislation of the self-proclaimed Ichkeria, as well as the policies of its leaders, give the impression of a “radish effect.” On the outside, for external use, there is a constitution almost of the European standard, which proclaims the fundamental rights and freedoms of man and citizen, declares the norms of international law, enshrines beautiful postulates about the desire for a universal and fair world based on universal human values, and inside there is a terrorist enclave, where Robbery, violence, the slave trade and forced labor, the production of drugs and counterfeit currency, and the genocide of citizens of non-Chechen nationality are flourishing.

Today, someone complains about the flow of refugees from Chechnya in connection with the fighting, but what about the mass flight of Russians, Nogais, Dargins, Avars and other Dagestani peoples from the republic? Over the past years, hundreds of thousands of Russian citizens - more than half of the republic's population - have left Chechnya to save their lives and property.

A separate topic is the laws of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria. I will dwell on only one of them, but a fundamentally important one - the Criminal Code, which was approved by Maskhadov’s decree in August 1996. The vast majority of its provisions contradict even the declared Constitution of Ichkeria. According to this document, the death penalty is applied as punishment by cutting off the head, stoning, or in the same way as the criminal took the life of his victim. Another barbaric punishment is scourging. Along with this code, the principle of “retribution by equals” is also provided, or the well-known pre-legal vandalism “an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth”. The list of body parts and those wounds for which punishment is imposed in the form of retribution to equals is also spelled out in detail in the code. For example, the guilty eye is gouged out if he knocked out the eye of the victim, the hand of the convicted person is cut off if the victim’s hand is cut off at the joint, etc. The right to barbaric punishment is vested first of all in the victim of the crime, but then it passes to close relatives . The current code of Ichkeria legally secured the right to the existence of blood feud customs.

As is known, one of the fundamental principles of the law of civilized states is freedom of conscience and religion. All these years, apostates in Chechnya faced the death penalty. It is generally accepted that human life has no price. The criminal law of Ichkeria determined its value at “100 cows, or the same amount of money which is equivalent to their value, periodically determined by the chief judge after consultation with the competent authorities.”

I think it is now clear how things stood in Chechnya with respect to the rule of law and what kind of bomb under Russian statehood is being deflated by federal forces today.

Story:

November 27, 1990 - adoption of the Declaration of State Sovereignty of Checheno-Ingushetia by the Supreme Council of the Chechen-Ingushetian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic.

June 8, 1991 - proclamation of the independent Chechen Republic of Nokhchi-Cho by the National Congress of the Chechen People (OCCHN).

September 6, 1991 - dispersal of deputies of the Supreme Council of the Chechen Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic by armed militants of the OKCHN. On this day, the Supreme Council met in its entirety; heads of local councils, clergy, and business leaders were invited for consultations. Dzhokhar Dudayev, Yaragi Mamadayev and other OKCHN leaders decided to storm the building. The assault began at 16-17 pm, 15-20 minutes after the Moscow emissaries - among them was the current State Duma deputy, then member of the Supreme Council of the RSFSR Aslambek Aslakhanov - left the building. Armed with machine guns, rods, and bladed weapons, Dudayev's men burst into the hall and began beating the deputies. Dozens were injured, the mayor of Grozny, Yuri Kutsenko, died and was thrown from a third-floor window.

September 15, 1991 - Ruslan Khasbulatov’s arrival in Grozny and the official dissolution of the Supreme Council of the Chechen Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. Formation of the Provisional Supreme Council of the Checheno-Ingush Republic

October 1, 1991 - collapse of the Chechen Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic into the Ingush Republic within the RSFSR and the independent Chechen Republic.

October 5, 1991 - armed militants of the National Guard of the Executive Committee of the OKChN seized the buildings of the House of Trade Unions and the Republican KGB.

October 27, 1991 - the first presidential elections are held in Chechnya, in which Dzhokhar Dudayev wins.

November 8, 1991 - decree of the President of the RSFSR on the introduction of a state of emergency in the territory of Checheno-Ingushetia.

March 31, 1992 - an unsuccessful coup attempt undertaken by the anti-Dudaev opposition.

June 1992 - withdrawal of Russian Army units from Chechnya, while almost all weapons remained at military bases and warehouses, including armored vehicles, artillery systems, aircraft, and ammunition.

November 1992 - aggravation of relations between the self-proclaimed government of the Chechen Republic and the Supreme Council of Russia in connection with the Ossetian-Ingush conflict. Renaming the Chechen Republic of Nokhchicho to the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria. Neither the new nor the old names were used by the population, since “Chechnya” is a Turkic word, and “Ichkeria” is a Kumyk one; instead, the local self-name “Nokhchiin” is used (in addition, the historical region of Ichkeria is located in the south of Chechnya and does not cover its entire territory).

April 5 - June 4, 1993 - speeches by the anti-Dudaev opposition in the center of Grozny demanding the resignation of the president and government and holding new parliamentary elections.

April 17, 1993 - President of the Chechen Republic Dzhokhar Dudayev dissolved the Parliament, the Constitutional Court, and the Grozny City Assembly. Direct presidential rule and a curfew are introduced in the republic.

May 1993 - Dudayev introduced a state of emergency on the territory of the Chechen Republic of Chechnya.

June 4, 1993 - Shamil Basayev’s militants seized the building of the Grozny City Assembly, where meetings of the Parliament and the Constitutional Court opposed to Dudayev were held.

June 1993 - restoration of the activity of the Parliament of the Chechen Republic, but without legislative activity.

Autumn 1993 - formation of armed units of the anti-Dudaev opposition.

December 16-17, 1993 - the opposition National Salvation Committee, headed by former Dudayev supporter I. Suleimenov, blocks Dudayev’s residence and puts forward a number of political demands, but then all the militants go over to Dudayev’s side.

December 1993 - formation of the Provisional Council of the Chechen Republic, uniting opposition groups and headed by Umar Avturkhanov.

November 26, 1994 - an unsuccessful attempt to storm Grozny by anti-Dudaev opposition forces, among whom Russian contract soldiers, conscript soldiers and armored vehicles were found.
Since October 1994, railway traffic on the territory of the Chechen Republic has ceased. Over 8 months of 1994, 120 armed attacks were carried out, 1,156 wagons and 527 containers were looted.

April 21, 1996 - death of the first president of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria, Dzhokhar Dudayev. And about. Zelimkhan Yandarbiev became president.

On June 8, 1996, the head of the administration of the Urus-Martan region of the Chechen Republic, Yusup Elmurzaev, was killed. The murder was associated with Yandarbiev’s call for the killing of “traitors collaborating with Zavgaev’s puppet regime and the occupation authorities.”

August 6, 1996 - the beginning of the assault on Grozny by separatist formations (see Operation Jihad). At the same time, they blockade the cities of Gudermes and Argun.

August 31, 1996 - The Khasavyurt Agreement “On urgent actions to end hostilities in Grozny and on the territory of the Chechen Republic” is concluded. On the part of Russia, there was actually a unilateral cessation of the war with the subsequent withdrawal of troops from the territory of Chechnya.

Autumn 1996 - by decree of Zelimkhan Yandarbiev, secular courts were replaced with Sharia courts.

January 26, 1997 - Aslan Maskhadov was elected president of the ChRI, receiving about 59.1% of the votes (about 228 thousand people) who took part in the voting. Representatives of the anti-Dudaev coalition did not take part in the elections, which were held under the control of illegal armed groups. The elections themselves were contrary to the legislation of the Russian Federation. According to Zh. Gakaev, these elections can hardly be called free and democratic: about 500 thousand refugees from the republic did not take part in them.

May 12, 1997 - President of the Russian Federation B. N. Yeltsin and President of the ChRI A. Maskhadov signed the “Treaty on Peace and Principles of Relations between the Russian Federation and the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria” and the Agreement on Basic Economic Relations between Moscow and Grozny. According to the text of this document, the parties agreed to “forever renounce the use and threat of use of force in resolving any controversial issues” and “to build their relations in accordance with the generally recognized principles and norms of international law.” American lawyer Professor Boyle regards this as Russia's de facto recognition of the independence of the Chechen Republic. It is based on the fact that the text of the treaty officially used the term “Chechen Republic of Ichkeria”, that the treaty contained references to international law as the basis of bilateral relations and was entirely drawn up in the form of interstate treaties; this point of view is disputed by other American lawyers, who point out that references to international law are also contained in treaties between the Russian Federation and the constituent entities of the federation (for example, Tatarstan), despite the fact that the treaty was not ratified by parliament - a procedure mandatory for international treaties and for treaties within federation. As historian Dzhabrail Gakaev points out, “The State of Ichkeria did not materialize both from the point of view of international legal recognition (de jure) and from the point of view of constructing institutions of public power, protecting the fundamental rights and freedoms of citizens.” Political scientist V. Maksimenko believes that this agreement was a step towards the territorial disintegration of Russia and was one of the reasons for the terrorist attack on Dubrovka. In his opinion, one should not equate “the criminal offense of organizing an armed rebellion with the aim of seizing part of its territory from Russia with a political movement for national self-determination.”

1998 - Interwar crisis in Chechnya.

On February 3, Aslan Maskhadov issued a decree introducing Sharia rule “in full” in the republic. He instructed the parliament and the muftiate to develop a draft Sharia Constitution within a month.

February 7 - opposition field commanders began the formation of a parallel Shura (council) led by Shamil Basayev.

In 1999, there was a separatist attack on Dagestan. Previously, separatists in the border area repeatedly committed terrorist attacks, kidnapping civilians and journalists for ransom, stole livestock, and also committed other crimes.

An agreement on mutual recognition was signed between the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria and the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (signed: from the Chechen side - Zelimkhan Yandarbiev, from the Afghan side - Vakil Akhmad Mutavakkil). CRI opened an embassy in Kabul and a consulate in Kandahar.

January 23 - a representative office of the ChRI (referred to as the “embassy”) was opened in the territory of Afghanistan controlled by the Taliban movement.

Flag:

Main functionaries:

Dzhokhar Dudayev
Zelimkhan Yandarbiev
Aslan Maskhadov
Abdul-Halim Sadulayev
Doku Umarov

Year of foundation:

Country controlling government-in-exile territory:

Reason for being in exile:

During the Second Chechen War, already in 2000, supporters of Ichkeria were driven into the mountains, losing control over a significant part of the territory of Chechnya. In 2007, the last so-called. President of Ichkeria Dokka Umarov made a statement about the abolition of Ichkeria and the creation of the Islamist state of the Caucasus Emirate. By this time, almost all the surviving supporters of the independent Chechen state were already abroad. Many of them did not recognize the legitimacy of Umarov’s actions, so the creation of a government in exile was announced.

Current status:

The Government headed by Akhmed Zakayev is mainly located in Western Europe.

For many centuries, the history of Russia is connected with the struggle that the peoples of the Caucasus undertook at different stages of history for their sovereignty and independence from the Moscow government. Sometimes they united under religious slogans and advocated the creation of a sovereign Islamic state in their region. There are also examples of how they were prompted to take up arms by political or economic reasons. But in all cases, the armed confrontation between the Russians and the Russians resulted in incalculable suffering for both peoples.

What is Ichkeria?

In 1991, the process of collapse of the Soviet Union was completed. One of its consequences was the formation of self-proclaimed Ichkeria (CRI) on the territory of the former Chechen-Ingush Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. In July 1991, after the unilateral declaration of the sovereignty of this unrecognized state entity, its first president was the leader of supporters of the separation of Chechnya from Russia, Major General of Aviation of the former USSR, Dzhokhar Dudayev. His portrait is placed at the beginning of the article.

The actions of the separatists caused a sharp deterioration in relations between the CRI and the government of Russia, which included this territory. The contradictions that arose and gradually deepened led to a military conflict, which caused numerous casualties suffered by both sides and an escalation of tension throughout the North Caucasus.

Two Chechen military fires

The fighting aimed at establishing constitutional order in Chechnya took place in two stages and went down in history under the name “Chechen campaigns”, the first of which covered the period from December 1994 to August 1996, and the second, which began in August 1999, continued with varying intensity for almost a decade.

It would seem, what is Ichkeria in comparison with Russia, which, due to its vastness, is usually called one sixth of the Earth? However, despite the numerical superiority, during the First Chechen War, government troops failed to complete the tasks assigned to them. By postponing the solution to the problem until a more favorable time and withdrawing them from the combat zone, Moscow thereby actually recognized the existence of Chechen Ichkeria and the legitimacy of its separatist government.

Further events that unfolded three years later became a continuation of the armed conflict, which by that time had assumed an even greater scope. Despite the fact that its active phase lasted no more than a year, over the next 10 years, clashes between government troops and the forces of Chechen self-government did not stop in the territory of this region.

Attempt to abolish Ichkeria

In 2007, the Islamist separatist Doku Umarov, who by that time had become the president of the republic (the portrait is given below), announced its abolition and transformation into a vilayat - an administrative-territorial unit adopted in a number of Muslim countries of the Near and Middle East, as well as North Africa. This new state formation was to become the core of the Caucasus Emirate proclaimed and headed by the same Doku Umarov. Having received the name Nokhchiycho (CHRN), the newly formed vilayat replaced the previously proclaimed Ichkeria.

What the Caucasus Emirate is is not difficult to understand from the goals that its supporters set for themselves. Their plans included the creation of an independent Muslim state in the North Caucasus, based on the ideology of Islamism, Salafism and Wahhabism. The methods of its construction were to conduct both open and underground terrorist struggle. It is no coincidence that such trends have caused active opposition from the Russian government.

Leader of the Chechen diaspora

Despite all the efforts made by Doku Umarov, his initiative to abolish the republic and give it a different form of political structure met sharp criticism from representatives of the foreign Chechen diaspora, who were supporters of the first president of Ichkeria, Dzhokhar Dudayev, who died in 1996.

One of these emigrant groups was headed by the former brigadier general of the ChRI - Akhmed Zakaev. It was he who in 2009 called on the residents of Chechnya to recognize the legitimacy of the pro-Russian government led by Ramzan Kadyrov and to stop military resistance. In addition, Zakayev headed the cabinet of ministers of the republic and became the head of the government formed at that time.

Conclusion

An even more complete idea of ​​what Ichkeria and the vilayat of Nokhchiycho that replaced it are can be obtained from the fact that in Russia their authorities were included in the list of terrorist organizations prohibited in the country, and belonging to them is still punishable by law.

What followed was full of many dramatic events, the memory of which has not been erased to this day. However, thanks to the joint actions of the current leadership of the republic and the government of the Russian Federation, its secession from Russia has been removed from the agenda. Nevertheless, many problems that became a legacy of the period of the collapse of the USSR are still waiting to be resolved.

Preamble
Ichkeria is a Russophobic quasi-state of bandits and terrorists
Donbass is a Russian quasi-state of fighters against Ukrainian Nazism

Almost any "hokhlosrach" on the Internet and any TV show discussing the situation in Novorossiya necessarily accompanied by comparison punitive operation of Ukrainian troops against the LPR and DPR with the introduction of troops into Chechnya. They say there is nothing to blame the Ukrainians (I’m not writing - the Ukrainian army, since in addition to the army, both vague national guards and banal mercenaries take part in the ATO), that they shoot the civilian population and destroy the infrastructure, housing and industry of the cities and villages of Novorossiya - from the Russians themselves face is crooked!

Considering that some of the speakers have no idea what happened in Chechnya, since these events are already more than 20 years old, I will try to make a very brief comparison. Of course, the honored agents of the State Department know everything very well and therefore the count is not on them, they lie deliberately. But for those who babble due to illiteracy, knowing the facts will be useful. All the similarities between the ATO of Ukraine and the CTO of the Russian Federation is that President Yeltsin, like President Poroshenko, weak leaders, under external control, therefore, the countries they govern are indifferent to them - from demographics and economics to the general existence of such, the only interest of both presidents is lining their pockets. Now about the differences.

1 Which input exactly?

When talking about the entry of Russian troops into Chechnya, it is not specified what kind of entry is meant. In post-Soviet times there were two such inputs. About the first in 1994 - under Yeltsin - a little later. The second in 1999 - already under Putin - was called - surprise - attack by the armed forces of the independent republic of Ichkeria(as Chechnya was called under Dudayev) to the Russian Federation. The fact that neither the LPR nor the DPR attacked Ukraine is a clear fact, so it’s strange to talk about the second entry. Ichkeria was even officially the aggressor. Now about the 1994 CTO.

2 Sovereignty

CHI ASSR was an autonomy, which already implies the presence of distinct sovereignty - with a flag, coat of arms and official languages ​​- Russian, Chechen and Ingush. As was expected in the USSR, national culture was nurtured, that is, in the CHI ASSR there were, without fail, national cadres, national theaters, and so on. Therefore, when on August 6, 1990, the head of the Supreme Council of the RSFSR B.N. Yeltsin made a statement in Ufa: “take as much sovereignty as you can swallow,” there was very little left to take and Chechnya has chosen independence from the criminal code of the Russian Federation.
The Lugansk and Donetsk regions did not have any such sovereignty in principle.

3 Leaders

In the CHI ASSR (hereinafter I will write - Chechnya, because since 1990 it has been a Soviet socialist republic. In addition, the Ingush showed great wisdom and did not stir up a conflict with Russia, separating from the Chechens) General Dudayev immediately made himself known. He had quite serious forces behind him, and thanks to support from abroad and from some Kremlin figures, he quickly crushed the opposition, not being afraid to use force. General Dudayev headed the National Congress of the Chechen People and proclaimed the complete independence of Chechnya. Dual power arose in the republic. In September 1991, the Dudayevites seized the Supreme Council, as well as television and radio. 40 deputies of the Supreme Council were wounded and beaten, and the chairman of the City Council of the city of Grozny, V. Kutsenko, was thrown out of a window from the fourth floor, and then finished off in the hospital. The charismatic leader Dudayev attracted the population of Chechnya with promises to make them so rich that Saudi Arabia would be jealous! “We will walk on gold!” - the general promised. A lot of people liked it.

I don’t find anything like this in the Donetsk and Lugansk regions. No national congress, no single leader. And promises and desires are much simpler - the introduction of Russian as the official language.

4 Civil War

The arrival of Dudayev and the dual power caused a conflict of interests between those Chechens who understood that an inevitable conflict with the Russian Federation would be disastrous for Chechnya and considered it necessary maintain friendly relations with Russia and those led by Dudayev. Blood was shed very quickly, and the fighting took on a serious scale. The number of dead was already in the hundreds. For example, in August 1994 alone, more than 200 Chechens who opposed Dudayev’s policies were liquidated. In the LPR and DPR, blood was not shed at all before the arrival of the Ukrainian troops.

5 Armed forces

General Dudayev became seriously involved in creating his army. He was a literate man and approached the issue with complete seriousness. Almost immediately all warehouses with army property were expropriated. The tactics were simple - a crowd of howling women rushed straight ahead, Soviet soldiers with Soviet humanistic education Let alone shooting at a crowd of Chechen women, they couldn’t even think of hitting them with a rifle butt, so the guards at the warehouses were immediately crushed. Then all the weapons went to the Dudayevites. More than 40,000 units of modern small arms alone were captured. A competent organizer, Dudayev put together a more than solid armed force.

A drop of demography: “In 1989, the population of the Chechen-Ingush Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic numbered 1270 thousand people. 100 nations and nationalities lived here. Of these, 57.8 percent were Chechens, 23.5 percent were Russians, 12.9 percent were Ingush, 1.5 percent were Ukrainians, 1.2 percent were Armenians, etc."
For such a population, Dudayev created:

Schedule of the Army of the ChRI, 1994.

Presidential Guard

• Air Assault Battalion (three airborne assault battalions)
• Motorized rifle battalion (three infantry fighting units, Presidential security company)
• Honor Guard Company
• Mounted company

Armed forces

• Abkhazian air assault battalion, Sh. Basayev
• Muslim Battalion of the KGNK
• Galanchesh Special Purpose Regiment, R. Gelayev
• Shali tank regiment, S. Isaev (three tank battalions, self-propelled gun division)
• Field artillery regiment (three artillery battalions)
• MLRS regiment (three MLRS divisions)
• Anti-aircraft artillery regiment (three air defense missile divisions)
• Anti-tank regiment (three ATGM divisions, artillery division)
• 1st motorized rifle regiment (1st, 2nd, 3rd motorized rifle battalions, 1st artillery division, 1st anti-tank division, 1st anti-aircraft artillery division)
• 2nd motorized rifle regiment (5th, 6th, 7th motorized rifle battalions, 2nd artillery division, 2nd anti-tank division, 2nd anti-aircraft artillery division)
• 3rd Infantry Regiment (three cadre infantry battalions, 3rd Artillery Battalion, 3rd Anti-Tank Battalion, 3rd Anti-Aircraft Artillery Battalion)
• Mountain Rifle Regiment, I. Arsanukaev
• Two engineer battalions
• Two communications battalions
• Military college and courses
• Reconnaissance and attack air regiment (two squadrons)
• Helicopter Squadron
• Two training squadrons

Divisions of the Ministry of Internal Affairs

• Two police battalions, one of them is cropped
• Special Forces Battalion
• Six companies of riot police

Number of wax in Ichkeria

• Presidential Guard: total - about 2000 people.
• Armed forces of the ChRI: total 13500-15000 people.
• Units of the Ministry of Internal Affairs: total - 3500 people.

Plus about 40,000 militias, called up if necessary, plus self-defense units in every locality.
(Source: http://chechnya.genstab.ru/chech_01.htm)

We compare with the LPR and DPR, where for 2,000 thousand population Bolotov had about 300 militia with small arms. Let’s compare with how the militias dealt with warehouses on the territory of the LPR and DPR. The seizure of warehouses began only after the start of the ATO, and at the same time - by men who were not hiding behind a crowd of howling women.

6 Mobilization

The Law on Defense of the Chechen Republic of December 24, 1991, introduced compulsory military service for all male citizens of Chechnya; At the same time, young men aged 19-26 were called up for active service. The basis of the Armed Forces was the National Guard. On the basis of Dudayev’s decree No. 29 of February 17, 1992, military personnel - citizens of the Chechen Republic, who left military units on the territory of the USSR without permission and expressed a desire to serve in the Armed Forces of the Chechen Republic, were rehabilitated, and the criminal cases brought against them were terminated. In order to recruit the army, a call was announced for reserve officers and sergeants. For the period 1991-1994. six mobilizations were carried out into the ranks of the Armed Forces of the Czech Republic. We compare with the LPR and DPR, where there is no mobilization even now.

7 Criminal mayhem

I don't even know where to start. Ichkeria was a territory of complete criminal chaos . Moreover, this began a long time ago - terror against the Russian-speaking population was a long tradition - since 1978 there was an outflow of the population, which caused concern in the CPSU. With the advent of Yeltsin and - especially - with the seizure of power by Dudayev, who released all the criminals and relied on crime when coming to power - something began to happen in the republic that is very difficult to describe.

It became “anything is possible!” Moreover, against the backdrop of the fact that the Russian-speaking population in the USSR knew that the state would protect, that it was necessary to uphold the law and that " man is man's friend, comrade and brother ". Serious infantilism, inability to unite and fight back without orders from above made the situation worse . I will also add that Caucasian men have always had a craving for weapons, and not having a gun in the Caucasus was ugly. Not like a man. Because when general robbery and violence began, the Chechen could still defend himself - behind him was family, tape, consanguinity , but Russian speakers turned out to be completely defenseless. Moreover, not only on the territory of Chechnya. The Chechen bandits felt at home in Moscow, especially since many Moscow leaders actively helped them. The robbery went from the very top to the very bottom. More than 4 trillion rubles were stolen in the Russian Federation using false payment orders (advice notes). The cash was transported to Chechnya by trucks. Trains traveling through ChRI were robbed en masse. Moreover, not only goods, but also passenger ones - it happened that passengers were robbed several times during one flight. Armed Chechens simply walked along the carriages and took whatever they liked.

“Before my eyes, train passengers, regardless of nationality and religious affiliation, were subjected to unheard-of humiliation and abuse from unruly Chechen thugs with machine guns, who stopped trains while they were moving and burst into carriages.

Passengers were stripped naked searched and took away all the money, gold jewelry was torn off women, they shamelessly gave free rein to their hands, humiliating women's dignity. Until my death I will not forget the face of an elderly man, covering his nakedness under the ridicule of unbelted youths; a disheveled woman sobbing on empty bags. Heading to winter Moscow, her fur coat was taken away, and as punishment for resistance, all the fruit she wanted to treat to her relatives in Russia was shaken out of her bags and trampled on. The roar of broken bottles and windows is still ringing in my ears." From the testimony of witness I. Bibaeva (from the White Book, 1995).

M. Olev: “In October 1993, our employee A.S., a train dispatcher, was raped for about 18 hours right at the station and several people were beaten. At the same time, a dispatcher named Sveta was raped. The police spoke with the criminals in Chechen and let them go." The Russian government responded by accepting a brilliant move - they began to put policemen on trains - without weapons- so that they do not allow very terrible crimes, such as rape and murder. I can’t imagine how an unarmed lone cop could resist an armed gang. The robberies intensified and cops were killed. As a result, in October 1994, train traffic through Chechnya was stopped.

Beatings on the street, open robberies, murders, and rapes have become completely commonplace. Naturally, they robbed everyone, but It is somewhat more difficult to rob an armed Chechen with a tape behind his back than to rob defenseless Russian speakers. They got the full measure. The number of killed and “missing” people is estimated at about 30,000.

V. Minkoeva: “In 1992, in Grozny, a neighboring school was attacked. Children were taken hostage, and gang rape the entire class and residents. In 1993, my classmate M. was kidnapped. In the summer of 1993, on the platform of the railway station, in front of my eyes, a man was shot by Chechens.”

V. Doronina: “In the village of Nizhnedeviuk (Assinovka), in an orphanage, armed Chechens raped all the girls and teachers. Neighbor Yunus threatened to kill my son and demanded that he sell him the house. At the end of 1991, they broke into my relative’s house armed Chechens demanded money, threatened to kill, killed my son.”

Slavery became popular. The number of slaves in CRI is estimated from 46,000 to 50,000. For those who are interested in the living conditions of slaves, I recommend the film “War” - it is shown practically documented there. Zindans for slaves appeared in almost all villages of Chechnya. “At night we were lowered into an earthen pit. We were fed once a day with scraps. We lost track of time, we knew only work and beatings - we turned into cattle.” - T. Former slave.

Compare with Lugansk and Donetsk regions. Did any of the above take place before the start of the ATO?

8 Terrorism and hostage taking

Kidnapping hostages for ransom has become one of the economic items. Just a few cases: “On November 9, 1991, a group of eight people of Chechen nationality hijacked a Tu-154 plane flying on the route Mineralnye Vody - Yekaterinburg. The plane landed in Ankara / Turkey /. In Turkey, the terrorists surrendered to local authorities and achieved this so that they would be sent to Chechnya.The plane with the passengers was returned to Grozny.

In August 1992, a terrorist, a Chechen by nationality, hijacked a Tu-154 plane flying from Grozny to Moscow. The criminal, threatening to detonate a grenade, demanded to change course and head to Turkey. The plane landed in Vnukovo to refuel. Negotiations with the terrorist did not produce results, and a platoon of riot police carried out an operation, as a result of which the hijacker was killed. The crew and passengers were not injured.

On May 26, 1994, near the village of Kinzhal, Stavropol Territory, four armed Chechens seized a Vladikavkaz-Stavropol excursion bus with schoolchildren, their parents and teachers. About 30 people were taken hostage. The terrorists demanded drugs, a refueled helicopter without a crew, $10 million and weapons. After negotiations with the authorities, the terrorists released all the children and several adults. On May 27, a helicopter carrying terrorists took off and headed for Dagestan. Due to a change in the flight route, the plane landed on the territory of Chechnya. An hour later the bandits were neutralized. The hostages were not injured." http://podrobnosti.ua/accidents/2002/10/26/39951.html

And there were many such cases. Constantly regular buses were hijacked. People were sneaking around in neighboring areas. Those who did not pay the ransom had their ears cut off on video cameras, their fingers shot off, and their heads cut off. All these videos were sold even in Moscow. Journalist Masyuk, who actively preached the holiness of “Chechen paladins of freedom and fighters against Russian imperialism,” herself ended up in the zindan of her idols and was ransomed. And the video of her rape also went on sale.

Are videos of this kind from the Lugansk and Donetsk regions being sold in Kyiv? Are Lugansk residents kidnapping Galicians for ransom?

You can write further, because the differences between gangster Ichkeria and the labor Lugansk and Donetsk regions are colossal - to the point that CRI did not produce anything except terrorism, but Lugansk and Donetsk gave Ukraine more than a clear income, but it seems to me that the differences already mentioned are enough.

And yes - the Ukrainians were completely lost in pursuit of a mythical European paradise - having killed the goose that laid the golden eggs for them. They will get the effect of their stupidity very soon. And they are already receiving it.

Chechen Republic of Ichkeria

The Chechen Republic of Ichkeria is an unrecognized separatist state formation (1991-2000), created after the collapse of the Soviet Union on part of the territory of the former Chechen-Ingush Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic and liquidated by the Russian army during the Second Chechen War.

Status

On October 1, 1991, by decision of the Supreme Council of the RSFSR, the Chechen-Ingush Republic was divided into the Chechen and Ingush Republics (without defining borders).

The decree of the President of the Republic of Georgia recognizing the state independence of the Chechen Republic, while being in Grozny after his expulsion from his homeland, was signed in March 1992 by the President of Georgia Zviad Gamsakhurdia.

Story

Already at the beginning of 1992, Dzhokhar Dudayev demanded the withdrawal, without weapons and military equipment, of Russian troops stationed in Chechnya on a permanent basis. Despite the refusal, the Chechen formations forcibly seized a significant part of the weapons belonging to the group of Russian troops. Subsequently, the transfer of weapons and military equipment to the Chechen side was carried out on the instructions of the Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation Pavel Grachev. The Chechens bought some of the weapons for money. As a result, the leadership of Chechnya had quite a lot of weapons at its disposal, which allowed Dudayev, expecting a clash with Russia, to begin building a regular Chechen army. By July 7, 1992, Russian troops left the Chechen Republic.

Russia could not come to terms with the de facto independence of Ichkeria. Apparently, from the very beginning, two approaches competed in the military-political leadership of Russia: to follow the path of a political settlement or to follow the path of a forceful solution to the problem. At that time, the second opinion prevailed among Yeltsin’s entourage.

Chechnya found itself in a financial, economic, political and information blockade. Russian troops were concentrated along the perimeter of its borders with other subjects of the federation (Ingushetia, North Ossetia, Stavropol Territory, Dagestan).

An agreement was concluded between the presidents of Chechnya and Ingushetia, Dzhokhar Dudayev and Ruslan Aushev, that the borders between the two Vainakh republics would not be demarcated.

At the end of July 1993, Moscow offered the Chechen Republic membership in the Federation with a special status, with greater autonomy than Tatarstan, but this option did not find support from the authorities of Ichkeria.

On December 12, 1993, elections for a new Russian parliament took place in the Russian Federation. Chechnya did not participate in these elections and did not delegate its representatives to the highest authorities of the Russian Federation. On February 25, 1994, the Russian State Duma adopted a resolution on a political settlement of relations with Chechnya, but the negotiations did not bring results. Yeltsin’s meeting with Dudayev, the possibility of which was seriously discussed during this period, also did not take place. It is possible that the fact that this important meeting was disrupted was the work of hardliners.

In August 1994, Moscow set a course for a forceful solution to the Chechen problem. Initially, it was planned to do this by organizing an inter-Chechen conflict, the result of which would be the overthrow of Dudayev and the coming to power in the Chechen Republic of a puppet government submissive to the federal center.

In Chechnya, with the help of some influential persons who were personally dissatisfied with Dudayev, an opposition began to form, whose armed units were equipped with Russian money and from the warehouses of the Russian army and the Ministry of Internal Affairs. The overall command of the anti-Dudaev forces was assumed by former police officer Umar Avturkhanov. He was also the chairman of the so-called. "Provisional Council" of the opposition. Avturkhanov's headquarters was in the village of Znamenskoye, in the north-west of Chechnya, not far from the North Ossetian city of Mozdok, one of Russia's main military bases in the North Caucasus.

Opposition leaders made belligerent statements, promising to seize Grozny and overthrow Dudayev by the end of 1994, but, in fact, they relied mainly on Russian military assistance. The feds allocated dozens of tanks and armored personnel carriers, anti-aircraft guns, mortars, vehicles, small arms, tons of ammunition, and fuel for Avturkhanov’s group. Only 12 opposition tanks were manned by Chechen crews, the rest by Russian military personnel. Russian generals and officers participated in the development of plans to capture Grozny. From the air, the operation was to be supported by the Russian Air Force.

On the morning of November 26, 1994, armored vehicles and infantry under the opposition flag attacked Grozny from three sides, but came under heavy fire from the defenders of the Chechen capital. During the six-hour battle, the attackers were completely defeated and scattered, suffering heavy losses. Avturkhanov himself fled. Many Russian officers were captured.

However, the “war party” in the Russian leadership decided to finish what they started and throw in the regular army, whose victory over the Chechen “militants”, few among high-ranking Moscow politicians and military men doubted.

First Chechen War (1994-1996)

On November 29, Yeltsin, addressing the participants in the armed conflict in Chechnya, ordered a ceasefire within 48 hours, lay down arms and disband all armed formations.

On December 1, 1994, the President of the Russian Federation issued a decree on the North Caucasus, according to which all persons illegally possessing weapons must hand them over to law enforcement agencies within 15 days. The decree is not being implemented.

On December 7, a meeting of the Security Council of the Russian Federation took place. It was decided to openly use force to return Chechnya to Russian jurisdiction. This action was officially called the “restoration of constitutional order” in the Chechen Republic (although the new Russian constitution of 1993 had never been in force there before).

On December 11, 1994, the Russian army launched a large-scale military operation against the Chechen Republic. Thus began the war, which today is called the “First Chechen” (except for the Russian-Chechen wars and armed conflicts of the 18th - first half of the 20th centuries).

What forces and means did the warring sides deploy at the beginning of the First Chechen Campaign?

According to Russian military sources, as of December 11, 1994, Chechen formations numbered about 13 thousand personnel. They had 40 tanks, 50 armored personnel carriers and infantry fighting vehicles, up to 100 field artillery pieces and mortars and other weapons. It was a small but well-organized and combat-ready army.

The Russian group, consisting of troops from the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Internal Affairs, numbered 23.8 thousand people before the invasion. It was armed with 80 tanks, 182 guns and mortars, and 208 armored combat vehicles. By the end of December, the group's forces had increased to 38 thousand people, 230 tanks, 454 armored vehicles, 388 guns and mortars. In addition, air support for the ground forces was provided by a powerful aviation armada, which had at its disposal front-line bombers, fighters, attack aircraft, reconnaissance aircraft, as well as attack and military transport helicopters. The Chechens also had a number of Czechoslovak-made combat training aircraft, but almost all of them were destroyed by Russian aviation at airfields in the first days of the war.

The military superiority of the Russian army gave many in Moscow the confidence that the organized resistance of the Chechens would be broken by the end of 1994. However, supporters of a military solution to the Chechen problem did not take into account the historical experience of Russian-Chechen relations, which shows that “pacifying” Chechnya by force of arms is a long and bloody undertaking. Periodically repeated genocide taught us to fight back even in the most seemingly unfavorable conditions. Therefore, when Russian armored columns moved towards Grozny to restore “constitutional order”, and military aircraft began to destroy peaceful settlements, even people very far from politics took up arms.

The very first weeks of hostilities showed that the military qualities of the Chechens had not changed during the half-century period of peaceful life. Chechen detachments skillfully combined the methods of action of regular troops and partisan formations. The further course of the war showed that the Russian army was unable to fully adapt to such combined forms of action.

By December 20, Russian troops approached Grozny by 10 kilometers, and on December 31, the first assault on the capital of Chechnya began, repulsed by its defenders. The attackers lost many tanks, which, as one would expect, were very vulnerable on the city streets. On January 18, a meeting between Russian Prime Minister Chernomyrdin and representatives of Dudayev took place, but the agreement reached on a ceasefire was not implemented in practice. Meanwhile, fierce street fighting continued in Grozny, and on January 19 the presidential palace fell. Only by March 11, 1995, the “federals” managed, at the cost of heavy losses, to take control of almost the entire city, which had already been largely turned into ruins.

Until June, other important settlements and centers of the Chechen Republic were also occupied. Chechen formations retreated to the mountains and switched mainly to guerrilla methods of war. A mine war broke out in the rear of the federal troops; reconnaissance and sabotage groups of partisans operated in Grozny and other cities. The Russian military, for its part, landed several helicopter landings in the mountains, behind the lines of the Chechen formations. Therefore, it is difficult to talk about more or less clear lines of armed confrontation, or fronts, in the Russian-Chechen war.

Observers noted the exceptionally cruel nature of the actions of the “federals” against local residents. Aviation and artillery carried out devastating attacks on populated areas, regardless of the presence of civilians, as a result of which the proportion of civilian casualties in this war was exceptionally high. It accounted for up to 95% of all deaths. No one has counted how many people have become victims of endless police checks (“cleansing operations”), “filtration points,” etc. .

Until the summer of 1995, military operations took place almost exclusively on the territory of Chechnya, but on June 14, 1995, the world media reported a daring raid by a Chechen detachment under the command of the famous field commander Shamil Basayev, who broke into the city of Budennovsk (Stavropol Territory) and seized the hospital from its residents and other civilians (more than 500 people). Basayev explained this action with a desire to draw the attention of the world community to what was happening in Chechnya. During these tense days, Prime Minister Chernomyrdin took on great responsibility, entering into negotiations with Basayev and opening his way back to Chechnya. With this, Chernomyrdin saved the lives of hundreds of people who probably would have died if the federal troops surrounding the hospital had not stopped shelling and launched a general assault. However, in Budennovsk, 28 people were still killed and 65 were injured.

Basayev's raid, which showed that the war could easily spread to the internal regions of Russia, undoubtedly contributed to the start of a new round of Russian-Chechen negotiations to end the war (from June 29, 1995). The negotiations were attended by the chief of the general staff of the armed forces of Chechnya, Aslan Maskhadov, and the commander of the contingent of Russian troops, General Anatoly Romanov. On September 10, 1995, as a result of an agreement reached during negotiations, the partial withdrawal of Russian troops from the Chechen Republic began.

However, the peacekeeping initiative, apparently, had serious opponents. On October 6, 1995, in Grozny, as a result of a terrorist attack, General Romanov was seriously wounded. After this, further negotiations and the withdrawal of troops are suspended. The war resumed with renewed vigor.

The determined resistance of the Chechens forced the Russian command to increase its forces in the combat zone. By the end of 1995, according to a statement by Doku Zavgaev, the head of the pro-Russian administration in the republic, there were 462 thousand federal troops on the territory of Chechnya. The degree of saturation of the Russian group with long-range fire weapons was also very high. Thus, at the end of 1995, in the federal troops in Chechnya there was one weapon of fire destruction for every 63 people, which is considered an excellent indicator of the technological equipment of the troops. For example, during the Gulf War in the UN Multinational Force, this figure was 1:110.

On April 22, 1996, Dzhokhar Dudayev was killed as a result of a targeted missile attack. Dudayev's death, however, did not disorganize the Chechen resistance. Vice President Zelimkhan Yandarbiev, a writer by profession, became the President of the Chechen Republic. The military direction was headed by Aslan Maskhadov, a former colonel of the Soviet Army. It was he who developed the plan to capture Grozny in the summer of 1996. In early August, when Russian troops were advancing on the mountain positions of the partisans in the south of the republic, part of the Chechen formations, having infiltrated the blockade zone established by the “federals,” entered the city and took control of it (August 5-6, 1996). Separate parts of the Russian Grozny garrison were strictly blocked by the Chechens.

Apparently, this turn of events came as a complete surprise to the Russian command. Troops began to be urgently transferred to Grozny, and fighting began. However, despite the messages of the generals reporting to Moscow that they had achieved a turning point in favor of the federal forces, the situation in the city did not change. Subjecting half-destroyed Grozny to massive artillery and air strikes meant dooming the Russian units blocked in it to death.

On August 12, 1996, peace negotiations began in the city of Khasavyurt (Dagestan). The Russian side was represented by the Special Commissioner of the Russian Federation - General Alexander Lebed, the Chechen side was represented by Aslan Maskhadov. The negotiations ended on August 31 with a joint (Lebed and Maskhadov) statement on the foundations of relations between Russia and Chechnya. This agreement was subsequently formalized during the meeting between Chernomyrdin and Maskhadov, who signed on November 23, 1996, the “Temporary Agreement on the Fundamentals of Relations between the Russian Federation and the Chechen Republic.” The agreement was of a compromise nature: Russia de jure did not recognize the independence of Chechnya, but in fact agreed with its independent existence. The final status of the Chechen Republic was to be determined in five years, i.e. in 2001. Before the signing of the treaty, Russian troops left the territory of Chechnya.

Between the wars

In January 1997, presidential elections were held in the Chechen Republic. Aslan Maskhadov won them. A significant event in the subsequent period was his meeting in Moscow with Russian President Boris Yeltsin, at which an agreement on peace and the principles of relations between the Russian Federation and the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria was concluded (May 12, 1997). The parties officially declared their renunciation of the use of force in resolving controversial issues and the desire to build their relations in accordance with generally recognized principles and norms of international law. The adopted document emphasized that the agreement is the basis for the conclusion of further contracts and agreements across the entire range of relationships.

The Chechen people celebrated the end of the war. It seemed to people that the long-awaited peace had finally arrived. However, it soon became clear that it was too early to calm down. Less than three years had passed before the torn country faced an even greater test.

Having managed to defend actual independence, but not receiving legal recognition, the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria found itself in a difficult situation after the 1994-1996 war. The country's economy was destroyed, and the population's standard of living fell sharply. In the small republic, the number of unemployed reached 400 thousand people, a significant part of which were young people. In addition, there were tens of thousands of sick and disabled people in need of long-term medical rehabilitation. This difficult socio-economic picture was aggravated by the intensification of criminal groups involved in robberies, kidnappings, and drug trafficking. Illegal oil fishing flourished. There were constant provocations aimed at discrediting the Chechen government in the eyes of the world community. In this regard, special mention should be made of the murder of representatives of the organization Doctors Without Borders, which subsequently ceased its work in Chechnya, as well as four Englishmen who were installing satellite communications. Russian media widely covered these events, commenting on them as evidence of the criminal anarchy reigning in the rebellious republic. It was indeed difficult for the law enforcement structures of Chechnya to combat the rampant crime, the breeding ground for which was the post-war situation; There were not enough funds and experienced personnel. The head of the Department for Combating Kidnapping, Shahid Bargishev, was killed in an assassination attempt on October 25, 1998. It was on that day that the authorities planned to carry out a large-scale operation against criminals involved in kidnapping for ransom.

The forces opposing Maskhadov posed a serious danger to the internal stability of Chechnya. Thus, immediately after his election as president of the country, Zelimkhan Yandarbiev, who lost power, and his supporters accused Maskhadov of yielding to Moscow. Another component of the political opposition was the so-called. Wahhabis, representing a variety of Islam that penetrated into Chechnya in the first half of the 90s of the twentieth century and is different from the traditional Sufism here. Adherents of Wahhabism call themselves “monotheists,” or Salafis, followers of “pure” Islam that existed during the time of the Prophet Muhammad and his companions. They call their organizations jamaat (community).

The “Wahhabis” fought bravely in 1994 - 1996 and thereby gained respect among the Chechens, but, on the other hand, people were repelled from them by the political and religious radicalism of this movement, as well as the methods by which the Wahhabis tried to impose their ideology on Chechen society. Supporters of Sufi Islam, traditional in Chechnya, Ingushetia and Dagestan, accuse the Wahhabis of sectarianism. Those, in turn, consider Sufism to be a delusion, a deviation from the true faith. The moderate spiritual and political leaders of the North Caucasus are accused of collaborating with the Russian authorities and betraying the national and religious interests of the North Caucasian peoples. The peak of the confrontation between supporters and opponents of Wahhabism in Chechnya occurred on July 14, 1998, when the conflict in the city of Gudermes, which began on domestic grounds, escalated into a real battle, in which more than 50 people, mostly young people, died on both sides. This was one of the few major battles ever fought between the Chechens. The Wahhabis suffered heavy losses.

After the bloody events in Gudermes, Maskhadov outlawed Wahhabism and called on imams of mosques and heads of local administrations to expel its supporters from their territories. However, the Vice President of Chechnya Vakha Arsanov and Shamil Basayev stood up for the “Wahhabis” and persuaded Maskhadov not to deepen the internecine conflict. The Wahhabis, who escaped defeat, soon recovered and continued to increase their strength.

It is interesting that in such a situation Moscow acted as the defender of Wahhabism. On July 22, 1998, the Commission under the President of Russia on countering political extremism, with the participation of Minister of Justice Pavel Krashennikov, Director of the FSB Nikolai Kovalev, Minister of Internal Affairs Sergei Stepashin, Minister of Nationalities Evgeniy Sapiro, came to the conclusion that Wahhabism is not extremist.

According to political scientist Vahit Akayev, “the fact that Wahhabism, officially banned in Chechnya and Ingushetia and assessed as Islamic fundamentalism in Dagestan, is recognized by Russian security ministers as a peaceful, non-extremist movement, suggests that this movement has support in certain political circles in Moscow, often pursuing selfish goals."

It must be assumed that in this case the federal center supported Wahhabism as a force capable of playing the role of a counterweight to the legally elected government in the Chechen Republic.

In 1997-1998, repeated attempts were made to organize the organizational and structural consolidation of the Chechen and Dagestan “Wahhabis” and the political forces sympathizing with them. Thus, in April 1998, the “Congress of the Peoples of Ichkeria and Dagestan” was created in Grozny ( ), chaired by Shamil Basayev. Dagestan Islamists who moved to Chechnya also played an active role in it. Two of Basayev's three deputies were Dagestanis. On behalf of the peoples of Dagestan and Chechnya, "Congress" ( the organization is recognized as terrorist in Russia, its activities are prohibited by the court - approx. "Caucasian Knot") endowed himself with the rights to any actions, including political ones.

Special literature notes that on the path to creating a North Caucasian confederation, the next task of the “Islamists” and, one might add, national radicals, since these two directions differ little from each other (like a century and a half ago, Islam is a unifying factor in the political struggle for a multilingual population region), there was a separation of Dagestan from Russia and its reunification with Chechnya with the aim of creating a single state "Degistan".

In many regions of Dagestan, the influence of “Wahhabism” was noticeable. The difficult socio-economic and ethno-political situation, high unemployment, government corruption and the lack of a clear life perspective for many make the idea of ​​an Islamic “jamaat” attractive. In Central Dagestan, in the so-called. In the Kadar zone (the villages of Kadar, Karamakhi, Chabanmakhi), by May 1998, a kind of “Wahhabi republic” even emerged: local peasants declared the independence of their villages and completely escaped the control of the Russian and Dagestan authorities. However, according to some sources, this revolt was not so much of a religious and political nature as of a social one: armed peasants expelled corrupt officials and police who were involved in extorting bribes. The tension that arose in connection with this fact was temporarily defused by Russian Prime Minister Stepashin, who made a trip to the Kadar zone and, after meeting with its population, declared: “normal people live in these villages, and they should not be touched.”

However, in general, the population of Dagestan greeted the activity of the “Wahhabis” with ambiguity. In some cases, it came to clashes with followers of traditional Islam. All this, against the backdrop of a clan struggle for power in the republic, frequent terrorist attacks, as well as attacks on Russian troops stationed here, created an explosive situation in Dagestan.

Invasion of Dagestan and the beginning of the Second Chechen Campaign (1999-2009)

In such a situation, on August 2, 1999, armed Chechen-Dagestan detachments penetrated from the territory of Chechnya into mountainous Dagestan and occupied several border villages in the west of the republic, in the Botlikh and Tsumadinsky regions. These forces were commanded by Shamil Basayev, Bagautdin Magomed, Magomed Tagaev and Khattab, operating under the flag of the Congress of the Peoples of Ichkeria and Dagestan ( the organization is recognized as terrorist in Russia, its activities are prohibited by the court - approx. "Caucasian Knot"). Russian media focused attention on the participation of Chechen commanders in this action - Basayev and Khattab, presenting the case as an exclusively Chechen invasion of the territory of one of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation. At the same time, it was overlooked that the Chechen side of the operation involved mainly forces opposed to President Maskhadov.

The military invasion of Nagorno-Dagestan gave the Russian authorities a reason to accuse Ichkeria of violating agreements and aggression. True, nothing indicated the involvement of the official authorities of the republic and Aslan Maskhadov personally in this action, but on the other hand, the President of Chechnya did not publicly condemn the armed invasion of the neighboring republic, nor did he give his assessment of the events taking place. Maskhadov's restraint can be explained by his reluctance to deepen the rift with the opposition, led by the popular military leader Shamil Basayev; Apparently, the president feared a split in Chechen society in the context of confrontation with Russia.

Thus, the fragile peace that had been preserved for three years was disrupted in the North Caucasus. The Russian government, which these days was headed by Vladimir Putin, hastily transferred a powerful army group to Dagestan and stubborn fighting began in the area of ​​​​the village of Botlikh. Regular troops, with the participation of the Dagestan police, managed to push the “Islamist” formations back into the territory of Chechnya.

The federal authorities, having restored control over the border regions of Western Dagestan, presented the jamaat of the Kadar zone with an ultimatum: to disarm and submit. Having received a refusal, government troops, using armored vehicles, artillery and combat aircraft, began a military siege of the rebellious villages of Karamakhi and Chabanmakhi. For many days, troops shelled, bombed and stormed villages until they completely suppressed the resistance of the Dagestani rebels. Karamakhi and Chabanmakhi were turned into ruins.

During this siege, military formations controlled by Basayev made another attempt to break into Dagestan, this time to the aid of the Kadars. The strike was carried out in the north-west of the republic, in the Novolaksky district, which was heavily damaged by the ongoing hostilities. Federal forces, which received reinforcements from the central regions of Russia, stopped the enemy’s advance in heavy battles and then threw them back to their starting line. These incursions from Chechnya provoked protest from a large part of the population of Dagestan.

Then terrible terrorist attacks occurred in the cities of Moscow and Volgodonsk: residential buildings with their inhabitants were blown up, killing hundreds of innocent people. The Russian side declared the same Basayev and Khattab to be the organizers of these crimes (although to this day documents confirming this accusation have not been made public), after which a massive air and ground offensive against Chechnya began. The Russian-Chechen treaties of 1996-1997 were denounced. On October 1, 1999, the federal army invaded the territory of Chechnya. The Second Chechen War began, which official Moscow called an “anti-terrorist operation.”

Liquidation of Ichkeria

As a result of the actions of federal forces, Ichkeria was de facto liquidated in 2000. On June 12, 2000, Vladimir Putin appointed the former Supreme Mufti of Ichkeria, Akhmad Kadyrov, as head of the pro-Russian provisional administration of the Chechen Republic. In 2003, a new Constitution of Chechnya was adopted, according to which the republic was a subject of the Russian Federation. In the same year, Akhmad Kadyrov was elected president of the Chechen Republic.

Formally, Aslan Maskhadov, who still remained the president of Ichkeria, was killed on March 8, 2005 as a result of a military special operation by the Russian FSB in the village of Tolstoy-Yurt, Grozny district of Chechnya. Maskhadov was replaced as head of the self-proclaimed state by the Chairman of the Supreme Shariah Court of the ChRI Abdul-Halim Sadulaev, who was also liquidated by Russian security forces in 2006.

On October 6, 2007, the fifth president of Ichkeria, Doku Umarov, announced the abolition of Ichkeria and proclaimed the formation of the “Caucasus Emirate” (a terrorist organization banned in Russia by the court). At the same time, Umarov resigned as president of Ichkeria and proclaimed himself " emir Mujahideen of the Caucasus", "leader jihad ", as well as "the only legitimate authority in all territories where there is Mujahideen ". Ichkeria (Nokhchiycho) was declared one of vilayats of the self-proclaimed emirate, along with Dagestan, Galgayche (Ingushetia), Iriston (North Ossetia), Nogai steppe (Stavropol Territory) and the united vilayat of Kabarda, Balkaria and Karachay.

Notes

1. Shevardnadze: Russia is not against the fact that a representative office of Chechnya operates in Georgia // Lenta.ru, 12/20/1999; The Taliban recognized the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria // Lenta.ru, 01/17/2000; Less Ichkeria! // News, 10/31/2002.
2. Russian military historiography estimates the losses of Chechen fighters in the First Chechen War at approximately 2,700 people, and the civilian population at more than 39,000 people. According to the same sources, irretrievable losses of federal troops (killed in battles, died from wounds and diseases, died in disasters, etc.) amounted to 5,551 people, and sanitary losses (wounded, shell-shocked, burned, sick, etc.) - 51,304 people. Alternative sources cite significantly higher numbers of casualties among civilians and military personnel.
3. The name of Khattab, a native of Saudi Arabia, became widely known after April 1996, when his formation in the Black Mountains ambushed a motorized rifle column of “federals,” losing 78 people killed.

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