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 fighting 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. Many soldiers lost the 131st Maikop motorized rifle brigade.
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 also commanded the 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. 
Russian soldiers drink champagne in the center of Grozny 
Russian soldiers are preparing to be sent home after the signing of the Khasavyurt Accords 
According to human rights activists, up to 35,000 civilians died during the First Chechen War. 
Photo: AP PHOTO / ROBERT KING
In Chechnya, the signing of the Khasavyurt agreements was perceived as a victory. In fact, that's what she was. 
Photo: AP Photo / Misha Japaridze
The Russian troops left with nothing, losing many soldiers and leaving ruins behind them.
In 1999, the Second Chechen War will begin ...
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. The 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, hostilities intensified 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 Russian general to be awarded the title of Hero of Russia even before the end of the First Chechen War was Colonel General Anatoly Romanov. In July 1995, he, being the commander Internal Troops Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation, headed the Joint Grouping of Federal Forces in the Chechen Republic.
Anatoly Alexandrovich served in this position for less than three months - in October 1995, the convoy, which included the general's car, was blown up in Grozny by a radio-controlled landmine. Romanov survived, having received severe injuries. He is still undergoing treatment in a military hospital. Anatoly Alexandrovich, in addition to the medical staff themselves, is supported by relatives, all these years his wife Larisa has always been there.
Anatoly Alexandrovich was a brilliant negotiator who worked hard and fruitfully to peacefully resolve the military conflict in Chechnya.
A. A. Romanov received the highest title of Russia a month after the assassination attempt. Earlier, in 1994, he was awarded the Order of Military Merit. Anatoly Alexandrovich's maroon beret"(April 1995, for the development of special forces of explosives). These are only the awards that General Romanov received during the First Chechen War. Previously, there were the Orders of the Red Star (1988) and For Personal Courage (1993), the medal For Impeccable Service, and commemorative medals.
For the heroism shown in the First Chechen campaign, the Star of the Hero was received by another general of the Internal Troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation - Major General Nikolai Skrypnik, Deputy Commander of the North Caucasian District VV. Nikolai Vasilyevich replaced his seriously wounded predecessor at his post, Skrypnik led the tactical grouping of the Internal Troops in Chechnya.
In the summer of 1996, in the area of one of the Chechen villages, under the direct supervision of N.V. Skrypnik, units of Russian troops carried out an operation to destroy a large gang of militants led by field commander Doku Makhaev. Skrypnik's armored personnel carrier, just like General Romanov's UAZ, was blown up by a radio-controlled landmine. The mortally wounded general did not live even an hour, dying without regaining consciousness.
The title of Hero of Russia was posthumously awarded to him after the formal end of the First Chechen campaign, in November 1996.
This is rarely mentioned. The crowd is inwardly "fried" news about the rich "majors" and "street racers", these topics procrastinate all over the Internet.
Heroes of Russia lived and live among us, study with us in the same schools, walk along the same streets Russian cities. But the crowd is told that there are no such people left in Russia.
Black leeches are constantly mumbling - "f-f-so bad - bad"!
... And yet I will remind you that the heroes are the sons of generals and officers HONOR HAVE AND RUSSIANS DO NOT GIVE UP!
Let's see how many responses this article gets.
During the war in Chechnya in 1994-1996, the sons died:
Lieutenant General ANOSHIN Gennady Yakovlevich;
Major General NALETOV Gennady Afanasyevich;
Lieutenant General Suslov Vyacheslav Fedorovich;
Lieutenant General PULIKOVSKY Konstantin Borisovich;
Major General FILIPENK Anatoly Mikhailovich;
Major General of Aviation CHIGASHOV Anatoly;
Colonel General ShPAK Georgy Ivanovich.
Lieutenant General Shchepin Yuri.
Here they are, the generals' sons of the Russian Fatherland.
Senior Lieutenant Anoshin Alexander Gennadievich, commander of a tank platoon of the 81st motorized rifle regiment.
The father-general did not even know that his son was in Chechnya. Anoshin Sr. served in Ussuriysk. Anoshin Jr. - near Samara. Before leaving for the war, Alexander only briefly notified his parents by telegram: "I'm fine".
Senior Lieutenant Anoshin had a choice - an order to send for further service on Far East already lay with the commander of the regiment. However, the officer decided to leave for Chechnya along with his unit.
He died in Chechnya on January 1, 1995. Platoon of senior lieutenant Anoshin in that new year's eve fought for the railway station in Grozny. His body was found only on February 4th. He was buried at the Rubezhnoye Cemetery in Samara.
Captain Pulikovsky Alexei Konstantinovich, deputy commander of a tank battalion.
He died on December 14, 1995 in an operation to free an ambushed reconnaissance group of the regiment near Shatoi. Buried in Krasnodar. Awarded the Order of Courage (posthumously).
Lieutenant Filipyonok Evgeny Anatolyevich helicopter pilot.
He died in Chechnya on January 25, 1995. His helicopter was shot down during a sortie. Filipenko was buried at the Northern Cemetery in St. Petersburg. The Order of Courage is kept by his widow Natasha.
Lieutenant Chigashov Sergei Anatolyevich, platoon commander.
He died in Chechnya on January 1, 1995. During the battle, he changed 2 tanks. He shot the first, damaged car, from a cannon so that the enemy would not get it. https://vk.com/russianarmynews When the driver died, he sat in his place, was later shot down again and was shot by snipers when leaving the burning car along with the gunner. Buried in Ulyanovsk.
Guard Lieutenant Shpak Oleg Georgievich, commander of a paratrooper platoon.
He died in Chechnya on March 29, 1995 at the age of 22, blown up by a BMD during a combat mission.
Captain Shchepin Yury Yuryevich, company commander of the tank battalion of the 131st separate motorized rifle brigade.
He died on January 1, 1995 at the Grozny railway station, during the evacuation of the wounded from the station square.
Hero of Russia Lieutenant Solomatin Alexander Viktorovich, platoon commander of the 245th regiment.
He died in Chechnya on December 1, 1999. Moving along the route, the group stumbled upon a bandit formation advancing towards them, which intended to arrange a meat grinder for the regiment in the form of an ambush.
Eight against five hundred - the ratio is not the most favorable, but the scouts boldly entered the battle. With this ratio, it is impossible to prevent the encirclement by remaining in place, so the group commander gave the command to retreat. He covered the retreat himself.
SYRIA
Among the dead in Syria was Lieutenant Colonel of the RF Armed Forces Alexander Aleshin, son of the first deputy chief of the radio engineering troops of the Air Force - chief of staff, Major General Alexander Aleshin.
- HOMELAND, LIKE MOTHER - DO NOT CHOOSE!
and even more so do not offend their whining!
