Top left: BTR-80 armored personnel carrier disabled by militants during the 2000 Zhani-Vedeno ambush Top right: Russian troops en route to Grozny on 18 November 1999 Bottom left: Russian troops firing their artillery from Achkhoy-Martan on 2 December 1999 Bottom right: Russian PresidentDmitry Medvedev meets FSB director Alexander Bortnikov in March 2009 to discuss the end of counter terrorism operations inside Chechnya
Date
7 August 1999 – 30 April 2000[8] (8 months and 24 days) Insurgency phase: 1 May 2000 – 16 April 2009[9] (8 years, 11 months and 15 days)
Russian military data: 6,000-7,000 killed (1999–2009)[20][21]
Civilian casualties Estimate total number of casualties: 30,000 civilians dead (25,000 killed and 5,000 missing) according to AI[22] ~80,000 killed in Chechnya (GfbV estimate)[23] More in neighbouring regions 40,000–50,000 civilians killed (Kramer)[24] More than 600 killed during attacks in Russia proper. Total killed military/civilian: ~50,000–80,000
In August 1999, rogue Islamists from Chechnya infiltrated Dagestan in Russia. Later in September apartment bombings occurred in Russian cities, killing over 300 people. Russian authorities were quick to blame Chechens for the bombings, although no Chechen, field commander or otherwise, took responsibility for the attacks. During the initial campaign, Russian military and pro-Russian Chechen paramilitary forces faced Chechen separatists in open combat and seized the Chechen capital Grozny after a winter siege that lasted from December 1999 until February 2000. Russia established direct rule over Chechnya in May 2000 although Chechen militant resistance throughout the North Caucasus region continued to inflict many Russian casualties and challenge Russian political control over Chechnya for several years. Both sides carried out attacks against civilians. These attacks drew international condemnation.
In mid-2000, the Russian government transferred certain military responsibilities to pro-Russian Chechen forces. The military phase of operations was terminated in April 2002, and the coordination of the field operations was given first to the Federal Security Service and then to the Ministry of Internal Affairs in the summer of 2003.
By 2009, Russia had disabled the Chechen separatist movement and mass fighting ceased. Russian army and Interior Ministry troops ceased patrolling. Grozny underwent reconstruction and much of the city and surrounding areas were rebuilt quickly. Sporadic violence continued in the North Caucasus; occasional bombings and ambushes against federal troops and forces of the regional governments in the area still occur.[27][28]
In April 2009, the government operation in Chechnya officially ended.[9] As the bulk of the army was withdrawn, responsibility for dealing with the low-level insurgency was shouldered by the local police force. Three months later, the exiled leader of the separatist government, Akhmed Zakayev, called for a halt to armed resistance against the Chechen police force from August. This marked the end of the Second Chechen War. The death toll of the conflict is unknown, although the total loss of human life, including combatants and non-combatants, is estimated to be over 60,000.
^Cooley, John K. (2002). Unholy Wars: Afghanistan, America and International Terrorism (3rd ed.). London: Pluto Press. p. 195. ISBN978-0-7453-1917-9. A Turkish Fascist youth group, the "Grey Wolves," was recruited to fight with the Chechens.
^Military: 3,688 killed in Chechnya (1999–2007),[1]Archived 4 January 2016 at the Wayback Machine 28 killed in Chechnya (2008),[2] 10 killed in Dagestan (2005),[3]Archived 12 March 2024 at the Wayback Machine total of 3,726 reported killed.
^Interior ministry troops: 1,615-1,825 killed in Chechnya (1999–2002),[4][5] 279 killed in Chechnya (2004–2005),[6]Archived 1 December 2021 at the Wayback Machine 200 killed in Dagestan (2002–2006), 45 killed in Chechnya and Dagestan (2007),[7] 226 killed in the North Caucasus (2008),[8] total of 2,400–2,600 reported killed.
^Sarah Reinke: Schleichender Völkermord in Tschetschenien. Verschwindenlassen – ethnische Verfolgung in Russland – Scheitern der internationalen Politik. Gesellschaft für bedrohte Völker, 2005, page 8 (PDFArchived 12 August 2014 at the Wayback Machine)
^Mark Kramer: "Guerrilla Warfare, Counterinsurgency and Terrorism in the North Caucasus: The Military
Dimension of the Russian-Chechen Conflict", Europe-Asia Studies, Vol. 57, No. 2 (March 2005), p.210 (JSTOR30043870)
^Federal law of 12 January 1995 N 5-FЗ «On veterans», appendix, part III
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