View source for Grozny ballistic missile attack

{{Short description|1999 Russian ballistic missile attack in Chechnya}}
{{Infobox civilian attack
|title=Grozny ballistic missile attack
|partof= the [[Second Chechen War]]
|caption= Location of Chechnya in Russia
|map= File:Map of Chechnya in Russia.svg
|map_size= 250px
|location=[[Grozny]], [[Chechnya]]
|target=Various civilian and government/military targets
|date=October 21, 1999
|time=
|timezone=
|type=[[Ballistic missile]] strike
|fatalities=Est. more than 100 instantly
|injuries=About 250 to over 400
|perps=[[Strategic Rocket Forces]]
|motive=
}}{{Campaignbox Second Chechen War}}{{Campaignbox Second Chechen War civilian attacks}}

The '''Grozny ballistic missile attack''' was a wave of Russian [[ballistic missile]] strikes on the [[Chechnya|Chechen]] [[Capital (political)|capital]] [[Grozny]] on October 21, 1999, early in the [[Second Chechen War]]. The attack killed at least 118 people according to initial reports,<ref name=disarray>[https://www.theguardian.com/world/1999/oct/23/chechnya.ameliagentleman Russians in disarray over Grozny strike], ''[[The Guardian]]'', October 23, 1999</ref> mostly [[civilian]]s, or at least 137 immediate dead according to the [[HALO Trust]] count.<ref name="mcc">[http://mcc.org/clusterbombs/resources/research/death/chapter3.html#3E96 The October 21, 1999, Cluster Bomb Attack on the Grozny Market], [[Mennonite Central Committee]], 2000  {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070630221659/http://mcc.org/clusterbombs/resources/research/death/chapter3.html#3E96 |date=June 30, 2007 }}</ref> Hundreds of people were also injured, many of whom later died.

==The attack==
The first reports from the region suspected the use of [[Scud]] missiles (SS-1).<ref>[http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_/ai_n14281954 60 dead as Russian missiles hit Grozny], ''[[The Independent]]'', October 22, 1999</ref> The [[Hypersonic speed|hypersonic]] missiles, ten in number according to Chechen officials (other sources reported less),<ref name="odds"/> fell without warning, as the Chechen [[air defense]] systems had been destroyed in the earlier Russian air strikes. The explosions occurred at around 18:15 hours in several areas of the capital, mostly in the [[downtown]] area including the crowded, central outdoor [[marketplace]].

Two of the missiles exploded outside the city's only functioning [[maternity]] hospital, which was located near [[Aslan Maskhadov]]'s [[presidential palace]] building (the palace itself was not damaged in the attack), and near the city's main [[post office]].<ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/world/1999/oct/22/chechnya.ameliagentleman Russian rockets hit Grozny market], ''[[The Guardian]]'', October 22, 1999</ref> Another missile hit the [[mosque]] in the village of Kalinina, a [[suburb]] of Grozny.<ref name="odds">[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/482193.stm Russians at odds over market attack], [[BBC News]], October 22, 1999</ref> According to official Chechen sources, about 30–35 people died at the hospital; a correspondent for the [[Agence France-Presse|AFP]] counted 27 bodies, most of them women and newborn babies.<ref name=blast>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/481663.stm World: Europe: Rockets blast Grozny], [[BBC News]], October 21, 1999</ref> Most of the casualties from the post office strike seemed to have been people waiting for [[public transport]] outside the building, as several [[bus]]es were at the stop at the moment of the explosion.<ref name=memo/> In the [[Kalinin (surname)|Kalinina]] mosque, some 41 people who had gathered for evening prayer were said to have been killed.<ref>[https://www.amnesty.org.ru/library/Index/ENGEUR460381999?open&of=ENG-369 Open Letter to the United Nations from the Secretary General of Amnesty International], [[Amnesty International]], November 2, 1999</ref>

Most of the casualties occurred at the central market, which was filled with hundreds of shoppers at the time of the attack. The victims were not limited to [[Chechen people|Chechens]], but included also many [[Russian people|ethnic Russians]] and others. A rain of large ball-shaped [[Shrapnel shell|shrapnel]] from the [[cluster munition]] [[airburst]]s showered the market, nearby streets, and open-air [[café]]s, with each blast affecting a large area. According to an investigation by [[Human Rights Watch]], the first explosion hit a building about {{convert|50|yard|m}} northeast of the [[bazaar]] at the corner of the city's main Prospekt Svobody and Mira streets, and adjacent to a city bus caught in traffic. However, most of the marketplace deaths came from the second and third explosions, which occurred within 100 yards of each other in the central [[bazaar]] area, "near the flowers and [[confection]]ery stalls."<ref name=evidence/> According to the [[Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty]] correspondent [[Andrei Babitsky]], the worst hit area was the so-called ''[[kolkhoz]]'' sector of the market, located near the building of the Chechen military [[headquarters]].<ref name=memo/> [[Reuters]] reporter Maria Eismont counted at least 90 bodies on the scene,<ref name=putin/> while the local AFP correspondent said he witnessed 17 corpses recovered from the market.<ref name=blast/> Some time afterwards, another missile fell about 200 meters from the bazaar, claiming the life of [[Supian Ependiyev]], the first journalist to be killed while covering the Second Chechen War.<ref name="cpj">[http://www.cpj.org/protests/99ltrs/Chechnya5nov99.html Correspondent killed in Grozny rocket attack], [[Committee to Protect Journalists]], November 5, 1999</ref>

===Aftermath===

Many of the blasts' victims were brought to the central Grozny hospital, where doctors operated without electricity. Some of the hundreds of injured, about 100 of them in a [[Medical state|critical state]], were immediately [[emergency evacuation|evacuated]] across the [[border]] to the neighboring republic of [[Ingushetia]] that same night. Others were taken across one or two days later, and [[ambulance]]s faced lengthy delays at [[roadblock]]s when the Russian troops attempted to seal the border.<ref name=evidence/> The attacks unleashed widespread [[panic]] in Grozny and a new wave of thousands of [[refugee]]s headed for Ingushetia.<ref name="refugees">[https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E0CE3DF1F39F930A15753C1A96F958260 Blasts in Chechen Capital Unleash New Wave of Refugees], ''[[The New York Times]]'', October 23, 1999</ref> More than 177,000 refugees had already fled the fighting.<ref name="odds"/> Russia closed the border; one of the refugee convoys from Grozny [[Baku-Rostov highway bombing|was bombed]] after being turned back. The city's streets were reported to be largely empty after the attack, as those residents who had not yet fled were too scared to venture outside.<ref name="noose">[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/483510.stm World: Europe: Russia tightens noose around Grozny], [[BBC News]], October 23, 1999</ref> Two weeks later, Chechen separatist officials gave an updated death toll of more than 280 people.<ref>[https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1999-nov-07-mn-31029-story.html Chechens Believe Russia’s Aim Is to Obliterate Nation], ''[[Los Angeles Times]]'', November 07, 1999</ref>

There were further reports of tactical missiles being used on Grozny as the [[Russian Ground Forces]] were [[siege|besieging]] and shelling the city.<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/507958.stm World: Europe: Russia pounds Grozny], [[BBC News]], November 7, 1999</ref> For example, in an attack on October 27–28, the homes of field commanders [[Shamil Basayev]] and [[Arbi Barayev]] and of the former acting president [[Zelimkhan Yandarbiyev]] were destroyed, as were numerous civilian buildings (at least five multi-flat houses, one five-storied apartment building and many smaller houses) and a busy [[taxicab|taxi]] parking.<ref>[http://www.crimesofwar.org/expert/chech-oleg.html War Crimes and Human Rights Violations in Chechnya] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110222152431/http://www.crimesofwar.org/expert/chech-oleg.html |date=2011-02-22 }}, Oleg Orlov of Memorial, May 26, 2000</ref> Basayev himself said that he had created a special unit of [[suicide attack|suicide fighters]] to carry out "acts of [[sabotage]]" in retaliation for the market attack.<ref>[http://www.friends-partners.org/friends/news/omri/1999/10/991029I.html RFE/RL NEWSLINE Vol. 3, No. 211, Part I] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120229144359/http://www.friends-partners.org/friends/news/omri/1999/10/991029I.html |date=2012-02-29 }}, [[Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty]], 29 October 1999</ref> Basayev and the formation, named [[Riyad-us Saliheen Brigade of Martyrs|Riyadus-Salikhin Reconnaissance and Sabotage Battalion of Chechen Martyrs]], took responsibility for a series of suicide bombing and mass [[hostage]] taking incidents over the next five years, culminating in the disastrous [[Beslan school hostage crisis]] in September 2004 that claimed more than 300 victims.

==Responsibility for the attack and the question of its legality==
The attack was met with an official [[denial]] on the part of the Russian authorities, who insisted that no civilians died in the blasts and provided a number of widely varying and conflicting alternative explanations.<ref name="mcc" /><ref name=putin>[http://www.cnn.com/WORLD/europe/9910/22/russia.chechnya.02/ Putin contradicts Russian army spokesman on Chechen explosions; Many dead, wounded in Grozny blasts] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071204185337/http://www.cnn.com/WORLD/europe/9910/22/russia.chechnya.02/ |date=2007-12-04}}, [[CNN]], October 22, 1999</ref> Despite an early admission by Aleksandr Veklich, a Russian military spokesman in the region, that the market (Russian officials typically characterised the marketplace as "an ammunition market" and "terrorist headquarters"<ref name=memo />) was destroyed in a "special operation in which no artillery or aircraft were involved",<ref name=disarray /><ref name="odds" /><ref name=putin /> Russian prime minister [[Vladimir Putin]] claimed that the explosions were the results of a "clash between gangs" and denied information that the Russian forces were involved in any way in the events in Grozny.<ref name=disarray /><ref name="mcc" /><ref name="odds" /><ref name=putin /><ref name="refugees" /><ref name="pressure" /><ref name="cbc.ca">[https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/russia-denies-deadly-attack-on-grozny-1.177665 Russia denies deadly attack on Grozny], [[CBS]], November 10, 2000</ref> In this version, Putin was joined by the army general Vladislav Putilin, who was quoted as saying that "the military forces have nothing to do with that affair". Another official, the chief of the Center of Public Relations of the [[Federal Security Service (Russia)|FSB]], Aleksandr Zdanovitch, alleged a self-explosion of the ammunition stored there "because the terrorists thought there would be no air or artillery strikes at the place of large concentrations of people".<ref name=memo /> In another conflicting version, provided by the First Deputy Chief of the [[General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation|Russian General Staff of the Armed Forces]], General Valery Manilov spoke about "a rapid special operation, independent of the regular armed forces" that "resulted in a conflict between two large bandit groups which had been enemies for a long time".<ref name=disarray /><ref name="mcc" /> This confrontation supposedly led to an accidental explosion of "one large [[ammunition depot]]" during the alleged fighting in that area. Later, some Russian officials actually suggested "a terrorist act prepared by the terrorists themselves" and the press office of the Russian Defense Ministry even called anyone who blamed Russia for the massacre "a liar", accusing the reporters at the scene of "misleading international public opinion".<ref name=disarray />

According to a report by the Russian [[human rights]] organization [[Memorial (society)|Memorial]] who had analyzed the television footage of the aftermath, an explosion of "one or several compact powerful explosive mechanisms" at ground level in this case is out of the question, as all the vertical elements in the rows of stalls remained standing, while the horizontal ones (tents and overhead covers) were destroyed and broken. In addition, those who were not protected by overhead cover received multiple [[Fragmentation (weaponry)|fragmentation]] wounds, and the foreground showed the characteristic traces of cassette (cluster) ammunition of so-called "ball bombs" (munitions used in the ''Tochka'' missile [[warhead]]s and intended for destruction of non-protected live forces in large areas). Finally, apparent fragments of "enormous" ground-to-ground missiles and cluster sub-munition canisters were found at the scene (as reported by Babitsky). There were also reports in the Russian media on the use of cassette tactical missiles against "terrorists" in Chechnya earlier that month, which were corroborated by the refugees.<ref name=memo /> "The mosque and the maternity home, about which the Russian officials have chosen to keep silent, are undoubtedly civil objects, the attack of which is explicitly prohibited," Memorial added.<ref name=memo>[http://www.memo.ru/eng/memhrc/texts/bom.shtml THE MISSILE BOMBING OF GROZNY, OCTOBER 21 1999] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090729210824/http://www.memo.ru/eng/memhrc/texts/bom.shtml |date=2009-07-29}}, [[Memorial (society)|Memorial]], 26 October 1999</ref>

According to Human Rights Watch, the possibility of arms merchants or military installations in the bazaar did not justify "the tremendous amount of force" used against the market in a strike which may have been illegal. In its report titled ''Evidence of [[war crime|War Crimes]] in Chechnya'', the watchdog concluded: "Although there is some evidence that there may have been legitimate [[military]] targets located near or within the Grozny bazaar, the size and extent of the blasts, combined with the large number of [[noncombatant]]s in the immediate vicinity, strongly suggests that the Russian attack was grossly disproportionate. If Chechen commander Shamil Basayev did indeed situate his headquarters within the Grozny market, that too would be a serious abuse of [[international law]]. Although Chechen fighters are not parties to the [[Geneva Conventions]], as individuals within the territory of a state party [Russia], they are bound to respect the basic precept of civilian immunity. Human Rights Watch calls upon Chechen commanders to immediately redeploy their troops, headquarters, and weapons storage facilities out of populated areas."<ref name=evidence>[http://hrw.org/english/docs/1999/11/03/russia1974.htm Evidence of War Crimes in Chechnya], [[Human Rights Watch]], November 3, 1999</ref>

According to the HALO Trust, "Grozny market ... is a great sprawling area of wooden stalls laid out each morning and packed away in the evenings. It is the equivalent of all your department stores rolled into one. Thus you can buy fresh bread, a TV set, a wedding dress, a bag of nails, and an [[AK-47]] in one open area the size of a couple of sports fields. Each section is clearly marked and the area where weapons are sold is very small and set right against the edge. The center of destruction was some 150&nbsp;m away from the area set aside for selling weapons. It was right over the clothes and food section. With the use of such munitions in such an area it was impossible not to have foreseen massive [[collateral damage]].<ref name="mcc" />

A study by the [[Foreign Military Studies Office]] evaluated: "In a surprising and threatening move, the federal forces relied heavily on [[fuel-air explosive]]s and tactical missiles (SCUD and SCARAB). (...) Such strikes were designed for maximum psychological pressure—to demonstrate the hopelessness of further resistance against a foe that could strike with impunity and that was invulnerable to countermeasures."<ref>[http://fmso.leavenworth.army.mil/documents/grozny2000/grozny2000.htm Grozny 2000: Urban Combat Lessons Learned] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080914160108/http://fmso.leavenworth.army.mil/documents/grozny2000/grozny2000.htm |date=2008-09-14 }}, [[Foreign Military Studies Office]], July–August 2000</ref> Major General [[Vladimir Shamanov]], Russia's commander in Chechnya, said the decision to attack was made at the highest level ("the very top" and "the highest chief"), meaning at least knowledge by Vladimir Putin and [[Boris Yeltsin|President Yeltsin]]. The same opinion was voiced by the president of Ingushetia, [[Ruslan Aushev]].<ref name=breaches>[http://web.amnesty.org/library/index/ENGEUR460461999 CHECHNYA: FOR THE MOTHERLAND Reported grave breaches of international humanitarian law] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050511091807/http://web.amnesty.org/library/index/ENGEUR460461999 |date=2005-05-11}}, [[Amnesty International]], December 1, 1999</ref> According to Aushev, a retired [[Red Army]] general and a veteran of the [[Soviet–Afghan War]], in all probability the missiles had been fired from the base of the [[58th Army]] near the village of Tarskoye in North Ossetia.<ref name=memo />

==World reaction==
{{over-quotation|section|date=October 2017}}
{{EU}} : The [[President of the European Parliament]], [[Lord Russell-Johnston]], expressed shock at the death toll and accused the Russian government of human rights violations and lawbreaking. The [[President of the European Union]], [[Paavo Lipponen]] of Finland, said the group was "deeply worried about the deteriorating situation" in Chechnya.<ref name="refugees"/> [[Chancellor of Germany (Federal Republic)|Chancellor of Germany]], [[Gerhard Schröder]] condemned the "massacre on the Grozny marketplace," and German politicians urged [[International sanctions|sanctions]] against Russia.<ref>[http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4179/is_19991024/ai_n11737268 Chechnya: Two Russian warplanes shot down], [[The Associated Press]], October 24, 1999</ref> European leaders also demanded Putin put forward a plan to end the war in Chechnya.<ref name="refugees"/><ref name="pressure"/><ref name="cbc.ca"/>

{{UNO}} : [[United Nations Secretary-General|UN Secretary-General]] [[Kofi Annan]] issued a statement in which he expressed his "strong hope that special care is taken to avoid innocent civilian casualties in the current conflict and that the provisions of [[international humanitarian law|humanitarian law]] in armed conflict are respected."<ref name="pressure">[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/482821.stm Russia under pressure over Chechnya], [[BBC News]], October 22, 1999</ref>

{{USA}} : The [[White House]] spokesman [[Joe Lockhart]] said that there were "conflicting reports and statements" about the blasts, but "what's clear is that there's a tragic situation there with terrible loss of life."<ref name="refugees"/><ref name="pressure"/> [[United States Secretary of State|U.S. Secretary of State]] [[Madeleine Albright]] called the incident "deplorable and ominous" and said that the Russians should have learnt in their [[First Chechen War|previous war in Chechnya]] that "this kind of violence is not a solution".<ref name="noose"/>

[[Amnesty International]] declared that "even assuming that these weapons [being sold at several stalls in one corner of the market] were indeed the target of the attack, the use by Russian forces of [[high explosive]] weapons in a market place crowded with civilians suggests that this attack may have been [[Indiscriminate attack|indiscriminate]] within the meaning of Article 51 of Protocol I Additional to the Geneva Conventions, to which the Russian Federation is a party, and therefore a grave breach of this Protocol." Regarding this and other incidents of civilian casualties in Chechnya, the organization called on Russia to:

<blockquote>
comply with the provisions of international humanitarian law prohibiting indiscriminate attacks and direct attacks on civilians and civilian objects, and should therefore immediately desist from carrying out any such attacks in the context of its military offensive in Chechnya [and] take sufficient precautions to protect civilians. In addition to selecting and vetting targets for their genuine military significance, it should give civilians effective advance warning of its attacks - "unless circumstances do not permit" - in compliance with international humanitarian law. Other rules require specific precautions to be taken when launching attacks, including desisting from an attack if it becomes apparent that the objective is not a military one, or the attack risks being disproportionate to the military objective. (...) The Russian authorities should hold comprehensive and impartial investigations into alleged abuses of international humanitarian law such as direct attacks on civilians and civilian objects, including hospitals and medical vehicles, which have been reported to have occurred in the course of their military offensive in Chechnya. The government should bring all military and government officials responsible for such violations to justice. The Russian government should grant immediately safe access to Chechnya to a team of international investigators to conduct independent investigation into allegations of violations of international humanitarian law, to establish the truth and to identify those responsible.<ref name=breaches/>
</blockquote>

The [[Committee to Protect Journalists]] protested the death of Supian Ependiyev in an open letter to President Yeltsin,<ref name="cpj"/> while Human Rights Watch said the assault "may have been a serious violation of the [[laws of war]]" and urged the Russian authorities to vigorously investigate the incident and publish their findings.<ref name=evidence/>

==See also==
*[[1995 Shali cluster bomb attack]]
*[[Battle of Grozny (1999-2000)]]
*[[Bombing of Katyr-Yurt]]
*[[Russian war crimes]]
*[[Elistanzhi cluster bomb attack]]
*[[OTR-21 Tochka]]
*[[Second Chechen War crimes and terrorism]]
*[[Terror bombing]]
*[[1999 Grozny refugee convoy shooting]]
*[[Baku-Rostov highway bombing]]

==References==
{{Reflist|2}}

==External links==
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20050307202428/http://www.cnn.com/WORLD/europe/9910/22/russia.chechnya.03/index.html Grozny residents in shock after attack], [[CNN]], October 22, 1999
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20101028200731/http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,33058,00.html Carnage in Chechnya Has West Worried], ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'', October 22, 1999
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20121024072505/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/these-desperate-dispossessed-people-on-the-edge-of-europe-are-victims-of-a-dirty-war-the-west-chooses-to-ignore-740289.html Victims of a dirty war the West chooses to ignore], ''[[The Independent]]'', 3 November 1999
*[http://www.gfbv.it/3dossier/cecenia/cecen-en.html Russia is committing war crimes and genocide], [[Society for Threatened Peoples]], November 18. 1999
*[http://mcc.org/clusterbombs/resources/research/death/chapter3.html Clusters of Death: Cluster Munitions Use by Russian Federation Forces in Chechnya] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080513183237/http://mcc.org/clusterbombs/resources/research/death/chapter3.html |date=2008-05-13 }}, [[Mennonite Central Committee]], 2000
*[https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B0DE7DA1031F934A25751C0A9669C8B63 In Chechnya's Shattered Capital, Survivors See Their Own Reflection], ''[[The New York Times]]'', February 17, 2000
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20121024115406/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/welcome-to-mr-putins-grozny-719434.html Welcome to Mr Putin's Grozny], ''[[The Independent]]'', 18 April 2000
*[https://www.theguardian.com/world/2002/dec/14/russia.politics Silent screams], ''[[The Guardian]]'', December 14, 2002
*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIfH8RWjB6Q Russian Warcrimes in Chechnya, 3], [[YouTube]]

{{coord missing|Chechnya}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Grozny Ballistic Missile Attack}}
[[Category:Conflicts in 1999]]
[[Category:Marketplace attacks in Russia]]
[[Category:Cluster bomb attacks]]
[[Category:Grozny in the Second Chechen War|Ballistic]]
[[Category:Massacres in Russia]]
[[Category:Mass murder in Russia]]
[[Category:Mass murder in 1999]]
[[Category:War crimes of the Second Chechen War]]
[[Category:October 1999 in Russia]]
[[Category:Wartime hospital bombings in Europe]]
[[Category:Attacks on hospitals during the Chechen–Russian conflict]]
[[Category:Airstrikes conducted by Russia]]