Chechen war 94 96 year. The war in Chechnya is a black page in the history of Russia. Everything was a betrayal and a feat

The first Chechen war lasted exactly one year and nine months. The war began on December 1, 1994, with the bombing of all three Chechen air bases - Kalinovskaya, Khankala and Grozny-Severny, which destroyed the entire Chechen aviation, which included several "corn" and a couple of antediluvian Czechoslovak fighters. The war ended on August 31, 1996 with the signing of the Khasavyurt agreements, after which the federals left Chechnya.

Military losses are depressing: 4,100 Russian servicemen were killed and 1,200 were missing. 15,000 militants were killed, although Aslan Maskhadov, who led the military operations, claimed that the militants lost 2,700 people. According to Memorial's human rights activists, 30,000 civilians in Chechnya were killed.

There were no winners in this war. The federals were unable to take control of the territory of the republic, and the separatists did not receive a real independent state. Both sides lost.

Unrecognized state and prerequisites for war

The only Chechen the whole country knew before the start of the war was Dzhokhar Dudayev. The commander of a bomber division, a combat pilot, at the age of 45 he became a major general of aviation, at 47 he left the army and went into politics. Moved to Grozny, quickly advanced to leadership positions and in 1991 he became president. True, the president is only the unrecognized Chechen Republic of Ichkeria. But the President! He was known to have a tough temper and determination. During the riots in Grozny, Dudayev and his supporters threw Vitaly Kutsenko, Chairman of the Grozny City Council, out of the window. He crashed, he was taken to the hospital, where the Dudaevites finished him off. Kutsenko died, and Dudayev became a national leader.

Now it is somehow forgotten, but Dudayev's criminal reputation was known back in that period in 1993. Let me remind you how much noise the “Chechen advice notes” have made at the federal level. After all, it was a real disaster for the national payment system. Fraudsters stole 4 trillion rubles from the Central Bank of Russia through shell companies and Grozny banks. That's a trillion! I will say for comparison that the budget of Russia in that very 93rd year was 10 trillion rubles. That is, almost half of the national budget was stolen from Chechen advice. Half of the annual salary of doctors, teachers, military personnel, officials, miners, half of all government revenues. Huge damage! Subsequently, Dudayev recalled how money was brought to Grozny by trucks.

It was with such marketers, democrats and supporters of national self-determination that Russia had to fight in 1994.

The beginning of the conflict

When did the first Chechen war start? December 11, 1994. So out of habit, many historians and publicists believe. They think that the first Chechen war of 1994-1996 began on the day when the President Russian Federation Boris Yeltsin signed a decree on the need to restore constitutional order in Chechnya. They forget that ten days earlier there had been an air strike on airfields in Chechnya. They forget about the burned-out cornfields, after which no one in Chechnya or in the Russian armed forces doubted that a war was going on.

But the ground operation really began on December 11. On this day, the so-called "Joint Group of Forces" (OGV), which then consisted of three parts, began to move:

western;
northwestern;
eastern.

The Western group entered Chechnya from North Ossetia and Ingushetia. Northwestern - from the Mozdok region of North Ossetia. Eastern - from Dagestan.

All three groups moved straight to Grozny.

The OGV was supposed to clear the city from the separatists, and then destroy the bases of the militants: first, in the northern, flat part of the republic; then in the southern, mountainous part of it.

IN short time The OGV was supposed to clear the entire territory of the republic from Dudayev's formations.

On the outskirts of Grozny, on December 12, the North-Western grouping reached the first and got involved in the battle near the village of Dolinsky. In this battle, the militants used the Grad multiple launch rocket system, and that day they did not allow Russian troops to pass to Grozny.

Gradually, two other groups moved in. By the end of December, the army approached the capital from three sides:

from the west;
from North;
from the east.

The assault was scheduled for December 31st. On New Year's Eve. And the eve of the birthday of Pavel Grachev - the then Minister of Defense. I will not say that they wanted to guess the victory for the holiday, but such an opinion is widespread.

Assault on Grozny

The assault has begun. The assault groups immediately ran into difficulties. The fact is that the commanders made two serious mistakes:

Firstly. They did not complete the encirclement of Grozny. The problem was that Dudayev's formations actively used the gap in the open ring of encirclement. In the south, in the mountains, militant bases were located. From the south, the militants brought ammunition and weapons. The wounded were evacuated to the south. Reinforcements were coming in from the south;
Secondly. We decided to massively use tanks. 250 combat vehicles entered Grozny. Moreover, without proper intelligence support and without infantry support. Tanks were helpless in the narrow streets of urban development. The tanks were on fire. 131st separate Maykop motorized rifle brigade was surrounded and 85 people were killed.

Parts of the Western and Eastern groups were unable to penetrate deep into the city and retreated. Only part of the North-Eastern group under the command of General Lev Rokhlin entrenched themselves in the city and took up defense. Some units were surrounded and suffered losses. Street fighting broke out in various districts of Grozny.

The command quickly learned the lessons of what had happened. The commanders changed tactics. Abandoned the massive use of armored vehicles. The battles were fought by small, mobile units of assault groups. Soldiers and officers quickly gained experience and improved their combat skills. January 9, the feds took the building oil institute, the airport passed under the control of the OGV. By January 19, the militants left the presidential palace and organized defense on Minutka Square. At the end of January, the federals controlled 30% of the territory of Grozny. At that moment, the federal grouping was increased to 70 thousand people, it was headed by Anatoly Kulikov.

The next important change occurred on February 3rd. To blockade the city from the south, the command formed the "South" grouping. Already on February 9, it blocked the Rostov-Baku highway. The blockade is closed.

Half the city was reduced to rubble, but the victory was won. On March 6, the last militant left Grozny under pressure from the OGV. It was Shamil Basayev.

Major fighting in 1995

By April 1995, federal forces had established control over almost the entire flat part of the republic. Argun, Shali and Gudermes were taken under control relatively easily. Remained out of control locality Bamut. Fighting there continued intermittently until the end of the year, and even into the next 1996.

Quite a public outcry was received by the operation of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in Samashki. The propaganda campaign against Russia, professionally carried out by the Chechen-press Dudayev agency, seriously influenced the world public opinion about Russia and its actions in Chechnya. Many still believe that the casualties among the civilian population in Samashki were prohibitive. There are unverified rumors about thousands of deaths, while the human rights organization Memorial, for example, believes that the number of civilians killed during the cleansing of Samashki is measured in dozens.

What is true here, and what is exaggeration - now it is no longer possible to make out. One thing is certain: war is a cruel and unjust business. Especially when civilians are dying.

Advancement in the mountainous regions was more difficult for the federal forces than a campaign across the plains. The reason was that the troops often got bogged down in the defense of the militants, there were even such unpleasant incidents as, for example, the capture of 40 paratroopers of the Aksai special forces. In June, the federals took control of the district centers of Vedeno, Shatoi and Nozhai-Yurt.

The most socially significant and resonant episode of the first Chechen war of 1995 was the episode associated with the release of events outside of Chechnya. The main negative character of the episode was Shamil Basayev. At the head of a gang of 195 people, he made a raid on trucks in the Stavropol Territory. The militants entered the Russian city of Budyonnovsk, opened fire in the center of the city, broke into the building of the city department of internal affairs, shot several policemen and civilians.

The terrorists took about 2,000 hostages and herded them into the building complex of the city hospital. Basayev demanded to withdraw troops from Chechnya and start negotiations with Dudayev with the participation of the UN. The Russian authorities decided to storm the hospital. Unfortunately, there was a leak of information, and the bandits had time to prepare. The assault was not unexpected, and failed. The special forces captured a number of auxiliary buildings, but did not break into the main building. On the same day they made a second attempt to storm, and she also failed.

In short, the situation began to become critical, and the Russian authorities were forced to enter into negotiations. The then Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin was on the telephone line. The whole country was watching the TV report intently, when Chernomyrdin spoke into the phone: "Shamil Basayev, Shamil Basayev, I am listening to your demands." As a result of the negotiations, Basayev received a vehicle and left for Chechnya. There he released the 120 remaining hostages. In total, 143 people died during the events, 46 of them were security officials.

Combat clashes of varying intensity took place in the republic until the end of the year. On October 6, militants made an attempt on the life of the commander of the United Forces, General Anatoly Romanov. In Grozny, on Minutka Square, in a tunnel under the railway, the Dudayevites detonated a bomb. The helmet and body armor saved the life of General Romanov, who was passing through the tunnel at that moment. From the wound he received, the general fell into a coma, and subsequently became a deep invalid. After this incident, “retaliation strikes” were delivered to the militant bases, which, however, did not lead to a serious change in the balance of power in the confrontation.

Fighting in 1996

The new year began with another episode of hostage-taking. And again outside of Chechnya. The story is like this. On January 9, 250 militants made a bandit raid on the Dagestan city of Kizlyar. First, they attacked a Russian helicopter base, where they destroyed 2 incapacitated MI-8 helicopters. Then they seized the Kizlyar hospital and the maternity hospital. From the neighboring buildings, the militants drove up to three thousand citizens.

The bandits locked people on the second floor, mined it, and barricaded themselves on the first floor, and put forward demands: the withdrawal of troops from the Caucasus, the provision of buses and a corridor to Grozny. Negotiations with the militants were conducted by the authorities of Dagestan. Representatives of the command of the federal forces did not participate in these negotiations. On January 10, the Chechens were provided with buses, and the militants with a group of hostages began to move towards Chechnya. They were going to cross the border near the village of Pervomaiskoye, but did not reach it. The federal security forces, who were not going to put up with the fact that the hostages would be taken to Chechnya, opened warning fire, and the column had to stop. Unfortunately, as a result of insufficiently organized actions, there was confusion. This allowed the militants to disarm a checkpoint of 40 Novosibirsk policemen and capture the village of Pervomaiskoye.

The militants fortified themselves in Pervomaisky. The confrontation continued for several days. On the 15th, after the Chechens shot six captured policemen and two negotiators - Dagestan elders, the security forces launched an assault.

The assault failed. The confrontation continued. On the night of January 19, the Chechens broke through the encirclement and left for Chechnya. They took with them the captured policemen, who were later released.

During the raid, 78 people were killed.

Fighting in Chechnya continued throughout the winter. In March, the militants tried to retake Grozny, but the attempt ended in failure. In April, a bloody clash took place near the village of Yaryshmardy.

A new turn in the development of events was introduced by the liquidation of Chechen President Dzhokhar Dudayev by federal forces. Dudayev often used the satellite phone of the Inmarsat system. On April 21, from an aircraft equipped with a radar station, the Russian military located Dudayev. 2 SU-25 attack aircraft were raised into the sky. They fired two air-to-ground missiles along the bearing. One of them was right on target. Dudaev died.

Contrary to the expectations of the federals, the elimination of Dudayev did not lead to decisive changes in the course of hostilities. But the situation in Russia has changed. The election campaign for the presidential elections was approaching. Boris Yeltsin was keenly interested in freezing the conflict. Negotiations were underway until July, and the activity of both the Chechens and the federals has noticeably decreased.

After Yeltsin was elected president fighting activated again.

The final battle chord of the first Chechen war sounded in August 1996. The separatists again attacked Grozny. The divisions of General Pulikovsky had a numerical superiority, but they could not hold Grozny. At the same time, the militants captured Gudermes and Argun.

Russia was forced to enter into negotiations.

The first and second Chechen wars, otherwise called the "First Chechen conflict"and" counter-terrorist operation on the territory North Caucasus»became, perhaps, the most bloody pages recent history Russia. These military conflicts are striking in their cruelty. They brought terror and explosions of houses with sleeping people to the territory of Russia. But, in the history of these wars, there were people who, perhaps, can be considered criminals no less terrible than terrorists. These are traitors.

Sergei Orel

He fought in the North Caucasus under a contract. In December 1995, he was taken prisoner by militants. They released him a year later and sent the rescued "prisoner of the Caucasus" to Grozny. And then the incredible happened: languishing in cruel captivity and a happily released Russian soldier stole a Kalashnikov assault rifle, uniforms and personal belongings from the military prosecutor's office, stole a Ural truck and sped off towards the militants. Here, in fact, it became clear that in captivity Orel was by no means in poverty, but allowed himself to be recruited without much trouble. He converted to Islam, studied sapper business in one of the Khattab camps, and took part in the hostilities. In 1998, with a fake passport in the name of Alexander Kozlov, he showed up in Moscow, where he controlled the construction markets. He transferred the proceeds through special contacts to the Caucasus, to support his “brothers in arms”. This business stopped only when the special services came on the trail of Orel-Kozlov. The defector was tried, and he received a serious sentence.

Limonov and Klochkov

Privates Konstantin Limonov and Ruslan Klochkov in the fall of 1995 decided to somehow go for vodka. They left their checkpoint and went to the village of Katyr-Yurt, where the militants tied them up without any problems. Once in captivity, Limonov and Klochkov did not think for a long time and almost immediately agreed to become guards in the federal prisoner of war camp. Limonov even took the name Kazbek. They performed their duties very diligently, surpassing even the Chechens themselves in cruelty. One of the captives, for example, was smashed in the head with a rifle butt. Another was thrown onto a red-hot furnace. The third was beaten to death. Both participated in the execution of sixteen Russian soldiers sentenced to death by Islamists. One of the militants personally showed them an example by cutting the throat of the first convict, and then handed the knife to the traitors as well. Those carried out the order, and then finished off the agonizing soldiers from the machine gun. All this was recorded on video. When in 1997 the federal troops cleared the area where their gang operated, Limonov and Klochkov tried to impersonate the released hostages and hoped that the most serious thing that threatened them was a term for desertion. However, the investigation made their "exploits" known to Russian justice.

Alexander Ardyshev - Seraji Dudayev

In 1995, the unit in which Ardyshev served was transferred to Chechnya. Alexander had very little to serve, just a few weeks. However, he decided to drastically change his life and deserted from the unit. It was in the village of Vedeno. By the way, it cannot be said about Ardyshev that he betrayed his comrades, since he had no comrades. During his service, he was distinguished by the fact that he periodically stole things and money from his fellow soldiers, and there was not a single one among the soldiers of his unit who would treat Ardyshev as a friend. First, he got into the detachment of the field commander Mavladi Khusain, then fought under the command of Isa Madaev, then in the detachment of Khamzat Musaev. Ardyshev converted to Islam and became Seraji Dudayev. Seraji's new job was to guard captives. Stories about how the yesterday's Russian soldier Alexander, and now the warrior of Islam Seraji, subjected his former colleagues to bullying and torture, are simply terrible to read. He beat the prisoners, shot the unwanted on the orders of his superiors. One soldier, wounded and exhausted by captivity, was forced to memorize the Koran, and when he made a mistake, he was beaten. Once, for the amusement of the militants, he set fire to gunpowder on the back of the unfortunate. He was so sure of his impunity that he did not even hesitate to show up to the Russian side in his new guise. Once he arrived in Vedeno with his commander Mavladi to settle the conflict between local residents and federal troops. Among the federals was his former boss, Colonel Kukharchuk. Ardyshev approached him to show off his new status and threatened him with reprisals.

When the military conflict ended, Seraji got his own house in Chechnya and began to serve in the border and customs service. And then one of the Chechen bandits Sadulayev was convicted in Moscow. His comrades and associates in Chechnya decided that a respected person should be exchanged. And they exchanged for ... Alexander-Seradzhi. The deserter and traitor was completely uninteresting to the new owners. To avoid unnecessary trouble, Seraji was drugged with tea with sleeping pills, and when he passed out, he was handed over to the authorities of the Russian Federation. Surprisingly, once outside of Chechnya, Seraji immediately remembered that he was Alexander and began to ask to return to the Russians and Orthodox. He was sentenced to 9 years of strict regime.

Yuri Rybakov

This man, too, was by no means wounded and unconscious in the captivity of the militants. He defected to them voluntarily in September 1999. Having undergone special training, he became a sniper. I must say that Rybakov was a good sniper. In just one month, he made 26 notches on the butt of his rifle - one for each “removed” fighter. Rybakov was taken in the village of Ulus-Kert, where federal troops surrounded the militants.

Vasily Kalinkin - Wahid

This man served as an ensign in one of the parts of Nizhny Tagil, and he was stealing big. And when it smelled of fried food, he ran away and joined the army of "free Ichkeria". Here he was sent to study at an intelligence school in one of the Arab countries. Kalinkin converted to Islam, became known as Wahid. They took him in Volgograd, where the newly-minted spy appeared for reconnaissance and preparation of acts of sabotage.

Corpses in the back of a truck in Grozny. Photo: Mikhail Evstafiev

Exactly 23 years ago, on December 11, 1994, Russian President Boris Yeltsin signed a decree "On Measures to Ensure Law, Law and Order and Public Security on the Territory of the Chechen Republic." On the same day, units of the Joint Group of Forces (Ministry of Defense and Ministry of Internal Affairs) began hostilities in Chechnya. Maybe some of the participants in the first clashes were mentally prepared for death, but hardly any of them suspected that they would get stuck in this war for almost two years. And then it will come back again.

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

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

Photo: Mikhail Evstafiev

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

Photo: AP Photo / Anatoly Maltsev

Dudayev's militants pray in front of the Presidential Palace in Grozny

Photo: Mikhail Evstafiev

In January 1995, the palace looked like this:

Photo: Mikhail Evstafiev

Dudayev's militant with a handicraft submachine gun in early January 1995. In Chechnya in those years they gathered different types weapons, including small arms.

Photo: Mikhail Evstafiev

Padded BMP-2 of the Russian army

Photo: Mikhail Evstafiev

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

Photo: Mikhail Evstafiev

Action

Photo: Mikhail Evstafiev

Field commander Shamil Basayev rides in a bus with hostages

Photo: Mikhail Evstafiev

Chechen fighters ambushed a column of Russian armored vehicles

Photo: AP PHOTO / ROBERT KING

On the eve of the new year 1995, the clashes in Grozny were especially cruel. The 131st Maykop motorized rifle brigade lost many soldiers.

The militants fire back from the advancing Russian units.

Photo: AP PHOTO / PETER DEJONG

Children play in the suburbs of Grozny

AP PHOTO / EFREM LUKATSKY

Chechen fighters in 1995

Photo: Mikhail Evstafiev / AFP

Photo: Christopher Morris

Minutka Square in Grozny. Evacuation of refugees.

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

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

Photo: Reuters

Intersection of Rosa Luxembourg and Tamanskaya streets

Photo: Christopher Morris

Chechen fighters run for cover

Photo: Christopher Morris

Grozny, view from the Presidential Palace. March 1995

Photo: Christopher Morris

A Chechen sniper who has settled in a destroyed building is aiming at Russian servicemen. 1996

Photo: James Nachtwey

Chechen negotiator enters the neutral zone

Photo: James Nachtwey

Children from the orphanage play on a damaged Russian tank. 1996

Photo: James Nachtwey

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

Photo: Piotr Andrews

Chechen militant holding a machine gun while praying

Photo: Piotr Andrews

A wounded soldier in a hospital in Grozny. 1995

Photo: Piotr Andrews

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

Photo: Piotr Andrews

Russian checkpoint near the Council of Ministers, 1995

Photo: AP Photo

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

Photo: AP Photo / Alexander Zemlianichenko

People are fleeing the war zone

Photo: AP Photo / David Brauchli

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

Photo: AP Photo / Efrem Lukatsky

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

Photo: Christopher Morris

By the end of 1995, most of Grozny was a ruin

Photo: AP Photo / Mindaugas Kulbis

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

Photo: AP Photo

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

Photo: AP Photo

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

Photo: AP Photo

Election campaign

Photo: Piotr Andrews

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

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