The Second Chechen War was a violent armed strife between the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria and the Russian Federation. It took place in Chechnya and its capital Grozny, from August 26, 1999, and May 31, 2000. It was the continuation of the First Chechen War, which had been fought between 1994 and 1996, with Russia losing to the separatist Chechen forces and being forced to sign a cease-fire agreement. In the second conflict, however, Russia defeated the rebel seceding faction, incorporating the whole territory to the Russian Federation. The last President of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria was Aslan Maskhadov.
Lying in the Caucasus region, between the Caspian and Black Sea, Chechnya was a Soviet Republic during the Cold War. Following the CIA-sponsored secession of Lithuania, Ukraine, Georgia, and other Soviet region from the former Soviet Union, a separatist, Islamic government was created in Chechnya in 1991, gaining only recognized partial political autonomy. After a series of civil unrest and revolts, however, due to bad economic situation and social malaise, the secessionist Chechens broke all political attachment to the Kremlin in 1993, declaring their complete independence from the Russian Federation in January 1994 as the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria, with Dzhokhar Dudayev being the first President. However, a large portion of Chechnya remained faithful to Russia, from whom the loyalists requested help. This had led to the First Chechen War.
Summary
The cause of the Second Chechen War was the Chechen invasion of Degestan. Certainly, on August 7, 1999, the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria's Islamist forces, under Shamil Basayev, invaded Dagestan, which was part of the Russian Federation. As a result, on August 26, 1999, the Russian Federation began a massive bombing campaign on enemy targets in the separatist Republic's territory. After the Russian air raids were paused, the war entered a new phase in early October 1999, when Russian Army units moved their way into Chechnya's rebel territory as they headed towards Grozny, the capital of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria.
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| An BMP-2 amphibious infantry fighting vehicle patrolling the streets of Grozny in February 2000. |
On October 12, the Russian Army crossed the Terek River after commando units had secured a bridgehead on the other side. From there, they started a two-pronged maneuver as they closed in on Grozny. By October 15, the Russian forces had reached the outskirts of Grozny, the capital, where the remainder of the war would be fought. Thus, a vicious street by street and house-to-house fighting would take place in Grozny, with both sides suffering heavy casualties from December 1999 and May 2000. During this urban battle, the capital of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria was totally destroyed. The devastation and destruction were reminiscent of the WWII Battle of Stalingrad.
The third and final phase of the Second Chechen War began in early 2000, with bombing campaigns, hitting targets in the local mountains south of Grozny. In late February, Russian General Gennady Troshev communicated to the press that the counter-terrorism operations in Chechnya were practically over, but it would take a few more weeks to carry out the final mop-up operations, to clear the last pockets of resistance. Therefore, on May 5, 2000, Vladimir Putin appointed Akhmad Kadyrov as the head of a temporary pro-Russian government. This interim President took office on May 31, 2000.
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| A map of Chechnya in the Caucasus |