View source for Second Chechen War

{{short description|1999–2009 conflict in Chechnya and the North Caucasus}}
{{about|the war during the period of 1999–2009|the following conflict in North Caucasus|Insurgency in the North Caucasus}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2024}}
{{Infobox military conflict
| partof            = the [[Chechen-Russian conflict]] and the [[Post-Soviet conflicts]]
| image             = {{Multiple image
| perrow            = 2/2/1
| total_width       = 360
| border=infobox
| image1=После боя. БТР, подбитый боевиками.jpg
| image2=Russian troops on their way to Grozny, 1999.jpg
| image3=Russian troops firing from.jpg
| image4=Dmitry Medvedev 27 March 2009-2.jpg
| image5=RUSSIAN_TANKS_ENTER_THE_KOMSOMOLSKOYE_VILLAGE.jpg
}}
'''From top to bottom, left to right:'''<br />
[[BTR-80]] armored personnel carrier disabled by militants during the [[2000 Zhani-Vedeno ambush]]; Russian troops en route to Grozny on 18 November 1999; Russian troops firing their artillery from [[Achkhoy-Martan]] on 2 December 1999; [[President of Russia|Russian President]] [[Dmitry Medvedev]] meets [[Federal Security Service|FSB]] director [[Alexander Bortnikov]] in March 2009 to discuss the end of counter-terrorism operations inside Chechnya; Russian [[2S3 Akatsiya]] [[self-propelled gun]] enters {{ill|Goy-Chu|lt=Komsomolskoye|ru|Гой-Чу}} village
| conflict          = Second Chechen War
| date              = '''Main phase:'''<br />7 August 1999 – 30 April 2000<ref>{{Cite book |last=Galeotti |first=Mark |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yvRfEAAAQBAJ&dq=%22Start+of+Second+Chechen+War%22&pg=PA2005 |title=Putin's Wars: From Chechnya to Ukraine |date=2022-11-10 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |isbn=978-1-4728-4753-9 |pages=20 |language=en}}</ref><br />(8 months and 24 days)<br />'''Insurgency phase:'''<br />1 May 2000 – 16 April 2009<ref name="bbc-endwar"/><br />(8 years, 11 months and 15 days)
| place             = [[North Caucasus]], mainly [[Chechnya]], [[Dagestan]] and [[Ingushetia]]<br />Spillovers in [[Georgia (country)|Georgia]], [[North Ossetia]], [[Kabardino-Balkaria]], and [[Karachay-Cherkessia]] 
  <br />Suicide attacks in [[Russia]]
| result            = '''Russian victory'''
* Fall and exile of the [[Chechen Republic of Ichkeria]]
* Establishment of the [[Chechnya|Chechen Republic]]
* Beginning of the [[insurgency in the North Caucasus]]
| territory         = Chechnya reincorporated into Russia
| combatant1        = {{flag|Russia}}
* {{flagicon image|Flag of the Chechen Republic (before 2004).svg}} Provisional Council (until 2000)
* {{flagicon image|Flag of the Chechen Republic.svg}} [[Chechnya|Chechen Republic]] (from 2000)
| combatant2        = {{Flagicon image|Flag of Chechen Republic of Ichkeria.svg}} [[Chechen Republic of Ichkeria]] (1999–2007)
* {{Flagicon image|Flag of the Caucasian Front.png}} [[Caucasian Front (Chechen War)|Caucasian Front]] (2005–2007)
{{Flagicon image|Flag of Caucasian Emirate.svg}} [[Caucasus Emirate]] (2007–2009)
* North Caucasian volunteers
{{flagicon image|Flag_of_Jihad.svg}} [[Chechen Mujahideen|Mujahideen]]<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.jamestown.org/single/?tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=30233&no_cache=1#.VN-g-C7SWUk|title=Turkish Volunteers in Chechnya|work=The Jamestown Foundation|access-date=20 May 2015|archive-date=3 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303210947/http://www.jamestown.org/single/?tx_ttnews&#91;tt_news&#93;=30233&no_cache=1#.VN-g-C7SWUk|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Google books|id=PnjAlei9fe0C|page=237|title=The Chechens: A Handbook}}</ref><ref>{{Google books|id=ZomsAgAAQBAJ|page=68|title=Politics of Conflict: A Survey}}</ref><ref>{{Google books|id=FTaMAQAAQBAJ|page=66|title=Energy and Security in the Caucasus}}</ref>
{{flagicon image|Grey Wolves Gokturk Flag.svg}} [[Grey Wolves (organization)|Grey Wolves]]<ref name="Cooley">{{cite book|last1=Cooley|first1=John K.|author-link1=John K. Cooley|title=Unholy Wars: Afghanistan, America and International Terrorism|date=2002|publisher=[[Pluto Press]]|location=London|isbn=978-0-7453-1917-9|page=[http://content.yudu.com/Library/A1pdon/PoliticsUnholyWarsAf/resources/195.htm 195]|edition=3rd|quote=A Turkish Fascist youth group, the "Grey Wolves," was recruited to fight with the Chechens.}}</ref><ref name="Goltz">{{cite book|last=Goltz|first=Thomas|author-link=Thomas Goltz|title=Chechnya Diary: A War Correspondent's Story of Surviving the War in Chechnya|date=2003|publisher=Thomas Dunne Books|location=New York|isbn=978-0-312-26874-9|page=[https://archive.org/details/chechnyadiarywar00thom/page/22 22]|quote=I called a well-informed diplomat pal and arranged to meet him at a bar favored by the pan-Turkic crowd known as the Gray Wolves, who were said to be actively supporting the Chechens with men and arms. <br />...the Azerbaijani Gray Wolf leader, Iskander, Hamidov...|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/chechnyadiarywar00thom/page/22}}</ref><ref name="Isingor">{{cite news|last=Isingor|first=Ali|title=Istanbul: Gateway to a holy war|url=http://edition.cnn.com/2000/WORLD/europe/09/06/chechnya.istanbul/|agency=[[CNN]]|date=6 September 2000|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141017193747/http://edition.cnn.com/2000/WORLD/europe/09/06/chechnya.istanbul/|archive-date=17 October 2014}}</ref>
| commander1        = {{nowrap|{{flagicon|RUS}} [[Boris Yeltsin]]{{efn|Until 31 December 1999.}}<br />{{flagicon|RUS}} [[Vladimir Putin]]{{efn|From 31 December 1999 until 8 May 2008.}}<br /> {{flagicon|RUS}} [[Dmitry Medvedev]]{{efn|From 8 May 2008.}}<br /> {{flagicon|RUS}} [[Vladimir Shamanov]]<br />{{flagicon|RUS}} [[Igor Sergeyev]]<br />{{flagicon|RUS}} [[Anatoly Kvashnin]]<br />{{flagicon|RUS}} [[Viktor Kazantsev]]<br />{{flagicon|RUS}} [[Nikolai Patrushev]]<br />{{flagicon|RUS}} [[Gennady Troshev]]<br />'''Killed generals:'''<br />{{flagicon|RUS}} [[German Ugryumov]]{{KIA}}<br />{{flagicon|RUS}} [[Mikhail Malofeev]]{{KIA}}<br />{{flagicon|RUS}} {{ill|Mikhail Rudchenko|ru|Рудченко, Михаил Мефодьевич}}{{KIA}}<br />{{flagicon|RUS}} {{ill|Nikolai Garidov|ru|Гаридов, Николай Петрович}}{{KIA}}<br />{{flagicon|RUS}} {{ill|Igor Shifrin|ru|Шифрин, Игорь Леонидович}}{{KIA}}<br />{{flagicon|RUS}} {{ill|Pavel Varfolomeev|ru|Варфоломеев, Павел Николаевич}}{{KIA}}<br />{{flagicon|RUS}} [[Gennady Shpigun]]{{POW}}<br />{{flagicon|RUS}} {{ill|Alexandr Otrakovsky|ru|Отраковский, Александр Иванович}}{{KIA}}<br />{{flagicon|RUS}} {{ill|Stanislav Korovinsky|ru|Коровинский, Станислав Павлович}}{{KIA}}<br />{{flagicon|RUS}} [[Gaidar Gadzhiyev]]{{KIA}}<br />'''Pro-Russian Chechens''':<br />{{flagicon|RUS}}{{flagicon image|Flag of the Chechen Republic.svg}} [[Akhmad Kadyrov]]{{Assassinated}}<br />{{flagicon|RUS}}{{flagicon image|Flag of the Chechen Republic.svg}} [[Ramzan Kadyrov]]<br />{{flagicon|RUS}}{{flagicon image|Flag of the Chechen Republic.svg}} [[Alu Alkhanov]]}}<br />{{flagicon|RUS}}{{flagicon image|Flag of the Chechen Republic.svg}} [[Ruslan Yamadayev]]{{Assassinated}}<br />{{flagicon|RUS}}{{flagicon image|Flag of the Chechen Republic.svg}} [[Sulim Yamadayev]]{{Assassinated}}<br />{{flagicon|RUS}}{{flagicon image|Flag of the Chechen Republic.svg}} [[Said-Magomed Kakiyev]]<br />{{flagicon|RUS}}{{flagicon image|Flag of the Chechen Republic.svg}} [[Adam Delimkhanov]] <br />{{flagicon|RUS}}{{flagicon image|Flag of the Chechen Republic.svg}} [[Buvadi Dakhiyev]]{{KIA}}<br />{{flagicon|RUS}}{{flagicon image|Flag of the Chechen Republic.svg}} [[Apti Alaudinov]]
| commander2        = {{flagicon image|Ichkeria president flag.png}} [[Aslan Maskhadov]]{{KIA}}<br />{{flagicon image|Ichkeria president flag.png}} [[Abdul-Halim Sadulayev|Abdul Halim Sadulayev]]{{KIA}} <br />{{flagicon image|Ichkeria president flag.png}}{{flagicon image|Flag of Caucasian Emirate.svg}} [[Dokka Umarov]]<br />{{flagicon|Chechen Republic of Ichkeria}} [[Zelimkhan Yandarbiyev]]{{Assassinated}}<br />{{flagicon|Chechen Republic of Ichkeria}} [[Shamil Basayev]]{{KIA}}<br />{{flagicon|Chechen Republic of Ichkeria}} [[Ruslan Gelayev]]{{KIA}}<br />{{flagicon|Chechen Republic of Ichkeria}} [[Akhmed Zakayev]]<br />{{flagicon|Chechen Republic of Ichkeria}} {{ill|Aslanbek Ismailov|ru|Исмаилов, Асланбек Абдуллаевич}}{{KIA}}<br />{{flagicon|Chechen Republic of Ichkeria}} [[Vakha Arsanov]]{{POW}}<br />{{flagicon|Chechen Republic of Ichkeria}} [[Aslambek Abdulkhadzhiev]]{{KIA}}<br />{{flagicon|Chechen Republic of Ichkeria}} [[Ramzan Akhmadov]]{{KIA}}<br />{{flagicon|Chechen Republic of Ichkeria}} [[Rizvan Akhmadov]]{{KIA}}<br />{{flagicon|Chechen Republic of Ichkeria}} [[Zelimkhan Akhmadov]]{{Assassinated}}<br />{{flagicon|Chechen Republic of Ichkeria}} [[Khunkar-Pasha Israpilov]]{{KIA}}<br />{{flagicon|Chechen Republic of Ichkeria}} [[Isa Astamirov]]{{KIA}}<br />{{flagicon|Chechen Republic of Ichkeria}} [[Aydamir Abalayev]]{{KIA}}<br />{{flagicon|Chechen Republic of Ichkeria}} [[Akhmed Avdorkhanov|Akhmad Avdorkhanov]]{{KIA}}<br />{{flagicon|Chechen Republic of Ichkeria}} [[Ruslan Alikhadzhiyev]]{{POW}}<br />{{flagicon|Chechen Republic of Ichkeria}} [[Turpal-Ali Atgeriyev]]{{POW}} <br />{{flagicon|Chechen Republic of Ichkeria}} [[Lechi Dudayev]]{{KIA}}<br />{{flagicon|Chechen Republic of Ichkeria}} [[Arbi Barayev]]{{KIA}}<br />'''After 2006''':<br />{{flagicon|Chechen Republic of Ichkeria}} [[Khuseyn Gakayev]]<br />{{flagicon|Chechen Republic of Ichkeria}} [[Aslambek Vadalov]]<br />{{flagicon|Chechen Republic of Ichkeria}} [[Aslan Byutukayev]]<br />{{flagicon|Chechen Republic of Ichkeria}} [[Supyan Abdullayev]]<br />{{flagicon|Chechen Republic of Ichkeria}} [[Tarkhan Gaziyev]]<br />'''Arab Mujahideen''':<br />{{flagicon image|Flag of Jihad.svg}} [[Ibn al-Khattab]]{{Assassinated}}<br />{{flagicon image|Flag of Jihad.svg}} [[Abu al-Walid]]{{KIA}}
| strength1         = '''Russian claim''':<br /> 80,000 (in 1999)<ref>{{cite book |editor1-last=Кривошеев |editor1-first=Г. Ф. |title=Россия и СССР в войнах XX века. Потери вооруженных сил |date=2001 |publisher=Олма-Пресс |isbn=5-224-01515-4 |page=593 |language=ru}}</ref><br />'''Chechen claim''': 462,000<ref>{{YouTube|LsH1_PbBalg|Interview with Shamil Basayev}}</ref>
| strength2         = 9,000 (in 1999)<ref name="chenumbers">{{cite web |title=Breaking the Conflict Trap: Civil War and Development Policy |url=https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/bitstream/handle/10986/13938/567930PUB0brea10Box353739B01PUBLIC1.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y |publisher=World Bank Policy |access-date=17 June 2022 |archive-date=23 April 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220423225126/https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/bitstream/handle/10986/13938/567930PUB0brea10Box353739B01PUBLIC1.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y |url-status=live }}</ref><br /> 7,000 (in 2000)<ref name="chenumbers" /> <br />'''Russian claim''': ~22,000<ref>[http://old.cry.ru/text.shtml?199911/19991104131700.inc Федеральным силам в Чечне противостоят 22 тыс. боевиков] Russian Ministry of Defense  {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927183744/http://old.cry.ru/text.shtml?199911%2F19991104131700.inc |date=27 September 2007 }}</ref>
| casualties1       = '''Russian military data''': <br /> 6,000–6,300 soldiers killed <br>1,072 Chechen police officers killed<ref>Military: 3,688 killed in Chechnya (1999–2007),[http://www.wps.ru/en/pp/military/2008/02/01.html] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160104192209/http://www.wps.ru/en/pp/military/2008/02/01.html |date=4 January 2016 }} 28 killed in Chechnya (2008),[https://web.archive.org/web/20110711091133/http://georgiandaily.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=7859&Itemid=65] 10 killed in Dagestan (2005),[http://www.islamweb.net/ver2/archive/article.php?lang=E&id=92365] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240312113255/https://www.islamweb.net/en/article/92365/ |date=12 March 2024 }} total of 3,726 reported killed.</ref><ref>Interior ministry troops: 1,615-1,825 killed in Chechnya (1999–2002),[http://www.da.mod.uk/colleges/arag/.../06(05)mas.pdf][https://web.archive.org/web/20131005011346/http://russialist.org/7067-8.php] 279 killed in Chechnya (2004–2005),[https://srbpodcast.org/2006/08/30/interior-ministry-releases-casualties-in-chechnya/] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211201181728/https://srbpodcast.org/2006/08/30/interior-ministry-releases-casualties-in-chechnya/ |date=1 December 2021 }} 200 killed in Dagestan (2002–2006), 45 killed in Chechnya and Dagestan (2007),[https://web.archive.org/web/20070626105733/http://en.rian.ru/russia/20070621/67579434.html] 226 killed in the North Caucasus (2008),[https://web.archive.org/web/20131004230126/http://georgiandaily.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=9349&Itemid=6] total of 2,400–2,600 reported killed.</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://old.wps.ru/en/pp/military/2008/02/01.html|title=Defense and Security / PressPATROL / Media Monitoring Agency WPS|website=old.wps.ru|access-date=2 January 2023|archive-date=4 January 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160104192209/http://www.wps.ru/en/pp/military/2008/02/01.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.historyguy.com/chechen_war_two.html|title=The History Guy: The Second Chechen War|website=www.historyguy.com|access-date=23 January 2023|archive-date=3 May 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190503232233/https://www.historyguy.com/chechen_war_two.html|url-status=live}}</ref><br>'''Chechen claim''':<br>2,004 killed (1999–May 2000)<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.rferl.org/a/1094006.html|title=Chechnya: Rebels Give Count Of Losses|date=9 April 2008|via=www.rferl.org}}</ref><br>'''Independent estimates''': <br /> 9,000–11,000+ killed (1999-Feb. 2002; [[Janes Information Services|Janes]])<ref>{{cite news |title=Russian Authorities Said To Be Underreporting Combat Deaths |url=https://jamestown.org/program/russian-authorities-said-to-be-underreporting-combat-deaths-2/ |newspaper=Jamestown |access-date=13 December 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170321051443/https://jamestown.org/program/russian-authorities-said-to-be-underreporting-combat-deaths-2/ |archive-date=21 March 2017}}</ref><br /> 5,810 killed (Aug. 2002-Aug. 2003; [[International Institute for Strategic Studies|IISS + CSIS]] )<ref>{{cite web |title=CHECHNYA: Independence, Islam and Bloodshed |url=http://www.dw.com/en/focus-on-terror-2/a-1317003 |website=Deutsche welle |access-date=13 December 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170321051329/http://www.dw.com/en/focus-on-terror-2/a-1317003 |archive-date=21 March 2017}}</ref><br />14,000 killed (1999-March 2005; [[Union of the Committees of Soldiers' Mothers of Russia|Committee of Soldiers' Mothers]])<ref name = "Soldiers' Mothers 500">{{cite web|url=http://www.spacewar.com/2005/050330150830.fsye02lj.html|title=Russia acknowledges 500 soldiers killed in Chechnya since 2006|publisher=Spacewar.com|date=30 March 2016|access-date=17 October 2011|archive-date=13 February 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210213222036/https://www.spacewar.com/2005/050330150830.fsye02lj.html|url-status=live}}</ref><br />
| casualties2       = '''Chechen claim''': <br />3,500+ killed (1999–2004)<ref>{{cite news |last1=Babitskiy |first1=Andrey |title=Shamil Basayev's interview with Andrei Babitsky aired by the American channel ABC on July 28, 2005 |url=https://m.babr24.com/?IDE=23227 |access-date=20 December 2022 |archive-date=20 December 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221220125901/https://m.babr24.com/?IDE=23227 |url-status=live }}</ref><br />
'''Russian military data''':<br />14,113 killed (1999–2002)<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.rferl.org/a/1344690.html |title=Security Watch: December 24, 2002 |publisher=Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty |access-date=24 December 2002 |archive-date=15 August 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180815075730/https://www.rferl.org/a/1344690.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.myplainview.com/news/article/Russian-Officers-Killed-in-Chechnya-8781497.php|title=Russian Officers Killed in Chechnya|first=Yuri |last=Bagrov |date=17 December 2002|website=Plainview Herald}}</ref><br>2,186 killed (2003–2009)<ref>{{cite web|url=https://ria.ru/20091007/187905617.html|title=Более 2 тысяч боевиков уничтожено на Юге России с 2003 года|date=7 October 2009|access-date=19 March 2023|archive-date=19 March 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230319170930/https://ria.ru/20091007/187905617.html|url-status=live}}</ref><br>6,295 captured (2003–2009)<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/160376|title=МВД РФ: с 2003 года в ЮФО убиты более 2 тысяч боевиков|website=Кавказский Узел}}</ref>
| casualties3       = '''[[Casualties of the Second Chechen War|Civilian casualties]]'''<br />Estimate total number of casualties:<br />'''30,000''' civilians dead (25,000 killed and 5,000 missing) according to [[Amnesty International|AI]]<ref name="jamestown.org">[http://www.jamestown.org/chechnya_weekly/article.php?articleid=2373419 Amnesty International Issues Reports on Disappearances] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081010022751/http://www.jamestown.org/chechnya_weekly/article.php?articleid=2373419 |date=10 October 2008 }} Jamestown Foundation, 24 May 2007</ref><br />'''~80,000''' killed in Chechnya ([[Society for Threatened Peoples|GfbV]] estimate)<ref>Sarah Reinke: ''Schleichender Völkermord in Tschetschenien. Verschwindenlassen – ethnische Verfolgung in Russland – Scheitern der internationalen Politik.'' Gesellschaft für bedrohte Völker, 2005, page 8 ([http://www.gfbv.de/show_file.php?type=report&property=download&id=15 PDF] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140812015310/http://www.gfbv.de/show_file.php?type=report&property=download&id=15 |date=12 August 2014 }})</ref><br />More in neighbouring regions<br />'''40,000–50,000''' civilians killed (Kramer)<ref>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 ({{JSTOR|30043870}})</ref> <br />More than '''600''' killed during attacks in Russia proper.<br />'''Total killed military/civilian: ~50,000–80,000'''
}}
{{Campaignbox Second Chechen War}}
{{Campaignbox Chechen–Russian conflict}}
{{Campaignbox Post-Soviet Conflicts}}<onlyinclude>{{#ifeq:{{{transcludesection|Second_Chechen_War_lead}}}|Second_Chechen_War_lead|
The '''Second Chechen War''' ({{langx|ru|Втора́я чече́нская война́}},{{efn|The entirety of 1994—2017 conflict in [[Chechnya]] and some other North Caucasus regions in general is officially known as '''counter-terrorist operations on the territory of North Caucasus''' ({{langx|ru|контртеррористические операции на территории Северо-Кавказского региона}})<ref name="veteran-law">Federal law of 12 January 1995 N 5-FЗ «On veterans», appendix, part III</ref>}} {{Langx|ce|ШолгIа оьрсийн-нохчийн тӀом|lit=Second Russian-Chechen War}}<ref>{{Cite web|title="Путине болчул а алсам цабезам бу сан Кадыровга"|url=https://www.radiomarsho.com/a/30221817.html|access-date=24 May 2021|website=Маршо Радио|date=17 October 2019|language=ce|archive-date=21 October 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201021052453/https://www.radiomarsho.com/a/30221817.html|url-status=live}}</ref>) took place in [[Chechnya]] and the border regions of the [[North Caucasus]] between the [[Russia|Russian Federation]] and the breakaway [[Chechen Republic of Ichkeria]], from August 1999 to April 2009.

In August 1999, rogue [[Islamists]] from Chechnya [[War of Dagestan|infiltrated Dagestan in Russia]]. Later in September, [[Russian apartment bombings|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, [[Russians|Russian]] military and pro-Russian [[Chechens|Chechen]] paramilitary forces faced Chechen separatists in open combat and seized the Chechen capital [[Grozny]] after a winter [[Battle of Grozny (1999–2000)|siege]] that lasted from December 1999 until February 2000. Russia established direct rule over Chechnya in May 2000, although Chechen militant [[Resistance movement|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. [[Second Chechen War crimes and terrorism|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 (Russia)|Ministry of Internal Affairs]] in mid-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.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/russia/|title=CIA – The World Factbook – Russia|publisher=Cia.gov|access-date=17 October 2011|archive-date=9 January 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210109173026/https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/russia/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2008/sep/30/russia.chechnya It's over, and Putin won] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130121192414/http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/sep/30/russia.chechnya |date=21 January 2013 }} [[The Guardian]] Retrieved on 23 February 2009</ref>

In April 2009, the government operation in Chechnya officially ended.<ref name="bbc-endwar">{{Cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/8001495.stm|title=Russia 'ends Chechnya operation'|date=16 April 2009|access-date=14 April 2009|work=BBC News|archive-date=12 August 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170812011314/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/8001495.stm|url-status=live}}</ref> 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, but the total loss of human life, including combatants and non-combatants, is estimated to be over 60,000.
}}</onlyinclude>

==Names==
The Second Chechen War is also known as the '''Second Chechen Campaign''' ({{langx|ru|Втора́я чече́нская кампа́ния}}) or the '''Second Russian Invasion of Chechnya''' from the [[Chechens|Chechen]] insurgents' point of view.{{efn|Known officially from the Russian point of view as "Counter-terrorist operations on territories of North Caucasian region" ({{langx|ru|Контртеррористические операции на территории Северо-Кавказского региона}}).}}<ref name="veterans-law">Федеральный закон № 5-ФЗ от 12 января 1995 (в редакции от 27 ноября 2002) "О ветеранах" {{in lang|ru}}</ref>

==Historical basis of the conflict==
{{Main|Chechen–Russian conflict|History of Chechnya}}

===Russian Empire===
{{Main|Caucasian War}}

[[File:Chechnya and Caucasus.png|thumb|[[Chechnya]] and the [[Caucasus]] region]]

[[Chechnya]] is an area in the [[North Caucasus|Northern Caucasus]] which has constantly fought against foreign rule, including the [[Ottoman Turks]] in the 15th century. The Russian [[Terek Cossacks|Terek Cossack Host]] was established in lowland Chechnya in 1577 by free [[Cossacks]] who were resettled from the [[Volga]] to the [[Terek River]]. In 1783, the [[Russian Empire]] and the [[Georgia (country)|Georgian]] [[Kingdom of Kartli-Kakheti]] signed the [[Treaty of Georgievsk]], under which Kartli-Kakheti became a Russian [[protectorate]].<ref>{{Cite book|last=Jones|first=Stephen F.|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/881415856|title=The Making of Modern Georgia, 1918-2012 : the First Georgian Republic and its Successors.|publisher=Taylor and Francis|year=2014|isbn=978-1-317-81593-8|location=Hoboken|pages=77|oclc=881415856|access-date=7 October 2020|archive-date=12 March 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240312113344/https://search.worldcat.org/title/881415856|url-status=live}}</ref> To secure communications with Georgia and other regions of the [[Transcaucasia]], the Russian Empire began spreading its influence into the [[Caucasus]] region, starting the [[Caucasus War]] in 1817. Russian forces first moved into [[Highland (geography)|highland]] Chechnya in 1830, and the conflict in the area lasted until 1859, when a 250,000-strong army under General [[Aleksandr Baryatinsky]] broke down the highlanders' resistance. Frequent uprisings in the Caucasus also occurred during the [[Russo-Turkish War, 1877–78|Russo–Turkish War of 1877–78]].

===Soviet Union===
Following the [[Russian Revolution|Russian Revolution of 1917]], Chechens established a short-lived Caucasian [[Imamate]] which included parts of Chechnya, [[Dagestan]] and [[Ingushetia]]; there was also the [[Secularity|secular]] [[Pan-Caucasianism|pan-Caucasian]] [[Mountainous Republic of the Northern Caucasus]].<ref>Armstrong, Patrick. "Conflict in Chechnya: A Background Perspective." ''Journal of Conflict Studies.'' November 1999; Evangelista, Matthew. ''The Chechen Wars: Will Russia Go the Way of the Soviet Union?'' Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution Press, 2003. {{ISBN|0-8157-2498-5}}; Dunlop, John B. ''Russia Confronts Chechnya: Roots of a Separatist Conflict.'' Cambridge, Mass.: Cambridge University Press, 1998. {{ISBN|0-521-63184-X}}; Seely, Robert. ''Russo-Chechen Conflict, 1800–2000: A Deadly Embrace.'' Florence, Ky.: Routledge, 2000. {{ISBN|0-7146-4992-9}}.</ref> Most of the resistance was defeated by [[Bolshevik]] troops by 1922. Then, months before the creation of the [[Soviet Union]], the [[Chechen Autonomous Oblast]] of the [[Russian SFSR]] was established. It annexed a part of the territory of the former [[Terek Cossack Host]]. Chechnya and neighboring Ingushetia formed the [[Checheno-Ingush Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic|Checheno–Ingush Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic]] in 1936. In 1941, during [[World War II]], a [[1940-1944 Chechnya insurgency|small-scale Chechen revolt]] broke out, led by [[Hasan Israilov]]. In 1944, the entire Chechen people [[Deportation of the Chechens and Ingush|were deported]] to the [[Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic|Kazakh SSR]] and [[Kirghiz Soviet Socialist Republic|Kirghiz SSR]] in an act of [[ethnic cleansing]]; this was done under the false pretext of Chechen mass collaboration with [[Nazi Germany]]. An estimated 1/4 to 1/3 of the Chechen population perished due the harsh conditions.<ref>In one estimate, based on a report by [[Lavrenti Beria]] to [[Joseph Stalin]], 150,000 of 478,479 deported Ingush and [[Chechen people]] (or 31.3 percent) died within the first four years of the resettlement. See: Kleveman, Lutz. ''The New Great Game: Blood and Oil in Central Asia.'' Jackson, Tenn.: Atlantic Monthly Press, 2003. {{ISBN|0-87113-906-5}}. Another scholar puts the number of deaths at 22.7 percent: Extrapolating from [[NKVD]] records, 113,000 Ingush and Chechens died (3,000 before deportation, 10,000 during deportation, and 100,000 after resettlement) in the first three years of the resettlement out of 496,460 total deportees. See: Naimark, Norman M. ''Fires of Hatred: Ethnic Cleansing in Twentieth-Century Europe.'' Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2001. {{ISBN|0-674-00994-0}}. A third source says a quarter of the 650,000 deported Chechens, Ingush, Karachais and Kalmyks died within four years of resettlement. See: Mawdsley, Evan. ''The Stalin Years: The Soviet Union 1929–1953.'' Manchester, England: Manchester University Press, 2003. {{ISBN|0-7190-6377-9}}. However, estimates of the number of deportees sometimes vary widely. Two scholars estimated the number of Chechen and Ingush deportees at 700,000, which would halve the percentage estimates of deaths. See: Fischer, Ruth and Leggett, John C. ''Stalin and German Communism: A Study in the Origins of the State Party.'' Edison, N.J.: Transaction Publishers, 2006. {{ISBN|0-87855-822-5}}</ref><ref>Conquest, Robert. ''The Nation Killers.'' New York: Macmillan, 1970. {{ISBN|0-333-10575-3}}</ref><ref>The [[European Parliament]] recognized this as an act of [[genocide]] on 26 February 2004.[http://www.massviolence.org/The-Massive-Deportation-of-the-Chechen-People-How-and-why?artpage=8#outil_sommaire_5 Campana, Aurélie. "Case Study: The Massive Deportation of the Chechen People: How and why Chechens were Deported." Online Encyclopedia of Mass Violence. November 2007.] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160306174909/http://www.massviolence.org/The-Massive-Deportation-of-the-Chechen-People-How-and-why?artpage=8#outil_sommaire_5 |date=6 March 2016 }} Accessed 11 August 2008; [http://www.canada.com/topics/news/world/story.html?id=9f271375-e372-4ce9-acb0-64ce7bf80458 Nurbiyev, Aslan. "Relocation of Chechen 'Genocide' Memorial Opens Wounds." ''Agence France Press.'' 4 June 2008] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081202185101/http://www.canada.com/topics/news/world/story.html?id=9f271375-e372-4ce9-acb0-64ce7bf80458 |date=2 December 2008 }}; Jaimoukha, Amjad M. ''The Chechens: A Handbook.'' Florence, Ky.: Routledge, 2005. {{ISBN|0-415-32328-2}}.</ref> Many scholars recognize the deportation as an act of [[genocide]], as did the [[European Parliament]] in 2004.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Texts adopted - Thursday, 26 February 2004 - EU-Russia relations - P5_TA(2004)0121|url=https://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=TA&language=EN&reference=P5-TA-2004-0121|access-date=9 August 2020|website=www.europarl.europa.eu|archive-date=12 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210412125329/https://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=TA&language=EN&reference=P5-TA-2004-0121|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|date=4 June 2012|title=UNPO: Chechnya: European Parliament recognises the genocide of the Chechen People in 1944|url=http://www.unpo.org/article/438|access-date=9 August 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120604125012/http://www.unpo.org/article/438|archive-date=4 June 2012}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Узел|first=Кавказский|title=European Parliament recognizes deportation of Chechens and Ingushetians ordered by Stalin as genocide|url=https://www.eng.kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/2288/|access-date=9 August 2020|website=Caucasian Knot|archive-date=19 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210419184033/https://www.eng.kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/2288/|url-status=live}}</ref> In 1992 the separatist government built a [[Memorial to the Victims of the Deportation of 1944|memorial dedicated to the victims of the acts of 1944]]. The pro-Russian government would later demolish this memorial.<ref>{{Cite web|language=ru|author=Алексей Андреев|title=Память не слышит приказы сверху|url=http://wordyou.ru/v-rossii/pamyat-ne-slyshit-prikazy-sverxu|date=18 February 2014|website=Слово без границ|access-date=19 July 2019|archive-date=1 March 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170301010535/http://wordyou.ru/v-rossii/pamyat-ne-slyshit-prikazy-sverxu|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|language=ru|author=Елена Снежная|title=В Грозном убирают Мемориал памяти жертв сталинской депортации|url=http://novayagazeta-ug.ru/news/u3327/2014/02/15/41199|date=15 February 2014|website=ЮГ|access-date=19 July 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190714002019/http://novayagazeta-ug.ru/news/u3327/2014/02/15/41199|archive-date=14 July 2019|url-status=dead}}</ref> Tombstones which were an integral part of the memorial were found planted on the [[Akhmat Kadyrov Square|Akhmad Kadyrov Square]] next to granite steles honoring the losses of the local pro-Russian power.<ref>{{Cite web|language=ru|author1=Муслим Ибрагимов|author2=Александр Иванов|title=Чеченские власти демонтируют Мемориал памяти жертв депортации в Грозном|url=https://www.kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/238169|date=14 February 2014|website=Кавказский узел|access-date=19 July 2019|archive-date=14 July 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190714002018/https://www.kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/238169/|url-status=live}}</ref>

===First Chechen War===
{{Main|First Chechen War}}
[[File:Evstafiev-helicopter-shot-down.jpg|thumb|A Russian helicopter downed by [[Chechens|Chechen]] militants near the capital [[Grozny]], during the [[First Chechen War]]]]

During the [[dissolution of the Soviet Union]] in 1991, there was an [[Chechen Revolution|anti-Soviet revolution]] in Chechnya, which ultimately led to Chechnya [[declaration of independence|declaring independence]]. In 1992, Chechen and [[Ingush people|Ingush]] leaders signed an agreement splitting the joint Checheno–Ingush republic in two, with Ingushetia joining the Russian Federation and Chechnya remaining independent. The tension between Chechnya and Russia over independence ultimately led to [[Russian Intervention in Ichkeria|Russian intervention in the republic]], in which the Russians covertly tried to oust the government of [[Dzhokhar Dudayev]]. The [[First Chechen War]] began in 1994, when Russian forces entered Chechnya on the premise of restoring constitutional order. Following nearly two years of brutal fighting, with a death toll exceeding 100,000 by some estimates, the 1996 [[Khasav-Yurt Accord|Khasavyurt ceasefire]] agreement was signed and Russian troops were withdrawn from the republic.<ref>Campana, Aurelie."The Effects of War on the Chechen National Identity Construction."Article 8.2(2006):129–148</ref>

==Prelude to the Second Chechen War==

===Instability in Chechnya===
[[File:Cadets of the Ichkeria Chechen national guard 1999.jpg|thumb|Cadets of the Ichkeria Chechen National Guard, 1999]]

[[File:Interwar Crisis in Chechnya 1997-1999.png|thumb|Situation in Chechnya in the period between the end of the First Chechen War and the beginning of the Second Chechen War: In red the territory under the control of the [[Russian Federation]], in green the territory under the control of the [[Chechen Republic of Ichkeria]] and in grey the areas under the control of the [[Islamists]]{{citation needed|date=August 2024}}.]]

The authority of the government in Grozny was opposed by extremist warlords like [[Arbi Barayev]], who, according to some sources, was in cooperation with the [[Federal Security Service|FSB]].<ref name="Littell">[http://www.psan.org/document551.html The Security Organs of the Russian Federation. A Brief History 1991–2004] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080807054247/http://www.psan.org/document551.html |date=7 August 2008 }} by [[Jonathan Littell]], Psan Publishing House 2006.</ref> Kidnapping in Chechnya reached large proportions, and the total turnover reached tens of millions of dollars.<ref>Tishkov, Valery. ''Chechnya: Life in a War-Torn Society.'' Berkeley: University of California Press, 2004. Page 114.</ref> In 1998, [[1998 abduction of foreign engineers in Chechnya|a group of four Western hostages was murdered]]. [[FSB (Russia)|Russian special services]] were accused of being involved in kidnappings.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Litvinenko |first=Alexander |title=Blowing up Russia |pages=208}}</ref>{{Better source needed|reason=The current source is insufficiently reliable ([[WP:NOTRS]]).|date=November 2023}} In 1998, a [[state of emergency]] was declared by the authorities in Grozny. In July 1998, a confrontation occurred in [[Gudermes]] between Chechen National Guard troops and a fundamentalist faction, leading to many casualties.<ref>{{Cite web |date=24 July 1998 |title=Internal clashes in Chechnya |url=https://reliefweb.int/report/russian-federation/internal-clashes-chechnya |website=Reliefweb |access-date=4 August 2023 |archive-date=12 March 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240312113226/https://reliefweb.int/report/russian-federation/internal-clashes-chechnya |url-status=live }}</ref>

Some scholars linked Chechen resistance to Russia to the [[Al-Qaeda]] global jihad movement. According to Gordon Hahn, the connections between the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria and Al-Qaeda "were common knowledge by the late 1990s among U.S. government officials, intelligence analysts, and terrorism experts" and there were about five hundred foreign jihad fighters in Chechnya at the start of the second war.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Hahn |first1=Gordon M. |title=Getting the Caucasus Emirate Right |date=2011 |publisher=Center for Strategic and International Studies |isbn=9780892066650 |pages=2–3}}</ref><ref>{{Google books |id=yGOpAgAAQBAJ |page=239 |title=Routledge Handbook of Russian Politics & Society }} Graeme Gill, Professor Department of Government Graeme Gill, James Young. 2013. {{ISBN|978-1-136-64102-2}}, page 239</ref> Most Western observers prior to 11 September regarded the alleged al-Qaida links claimed by the Russian government with skepticism. The Clinton and Bush administrations, as well as other NATO governments, uniformly dismissed Moscow's rhetoric concerning the existence of Chechens in Afghanistan and Afghans in Chechnya as Soviet-style "[[agitprop]]" (agitation-propaganda) until 11 September occurred.<ref>{{cite web| publisher=Jamestown Foundation| title=Shattering the al-Qaeda-Chechen Myth| date=23 April 2013| url=http://www.jamestown.org/single/?no_cache=1&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=40771#.VpjSncuFOM8| author=Brian Glyn Williams| access-date=15 January 2016| archive-date=4 March 2016| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304042158/http://www.jamestown.org/single/?no_cache=1&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=40771#.VpjSncuFOM8| url-status=live}}</ref>

===Russian–Chechen relations (1996–1999)===
Political tensions were fueled in part by allegedly Chechen or pro-Chechen terrorist and criminal activity in Russia, as well as by border clashes. On 16 November 1996, in [[Kaspiysk]] (Dagestan), a bomb destroyed an apartment building housing Russian border guards, killing 68 people. The cause of the blast was never determined, but many in Russia blamed Chechen separatists.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/1976776.stm|work=BBC News|title=Deadly blast hits Russian parade|date=9 May 2002|access-date=23 May 2010|archive-date=2 April 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200402001719/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/1976776.stm|url-status=live}}</ref> Three people died on 23 April 1997, when a bomb exploded in the Russian railway station of [[Armavir, Russia|Armavir]] ([[Krasnodar Krai]]), and two on 28 May 1997, when another bomb exploded in the Russian railway station of [[Pyatigorsk]] ([[Stavropol Krai]]). On 22 December 1997, forces of Dagestani militants and Chechnya-based [[Arab]] warlord [[Ibn al-Khattab]] raided the base of the 136th Motor Rifle Brigade of the [[Russian Ground Forces|Russian Army]] in [[Buynaksk]], Dagestan, inflicting heavy casualties.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.jamestown.org/publications_details.php?volume_id%3D2%26issue_id%3D328%26article_id%3D3598 |title=Chechen Gunmen Attack Russian Army Unit in Dagestan |work=The Jamestown Foundation |access-date=22 March 2006 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060322132744/http://www.jamestown.org/publications_details.php?volume_id=2&issue_id=328&article_id=3598 |archive-date=22 March 2006 }}</ref>

The 1997 election brought to power the separatist president [[Aslan Maskhadov]]. In 1998 and 1999, President Maskhadov survived several assassination attempts,<ref>[https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1485209/Aslan-Maskhadov.html Aslan Maskhadov - Telegraph] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170314193702/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1485209/Aslan-Maskhadov.html |date=14 March 2017 }}, "Aslan Maskhadov." The Telegraph. Telegraph Media Group, 9 March 2005. Web. Retrieved 7 May 2017.</ref> blamed on the Russian intelligence services. In March 1999, General [[Gennady Shpigun]], the [[Kremlin]]'s envoy to Chechnya, was kidnapped at the airport in Grozny and ultimately found dead in 2000 during the war. On 7 March 1999, in response to the abduction of General Shpigun, Interior Minister [[Sergei Stepashin]] called for an invasion of Chechnya. However, Stepashin's plan was overridden by the prime minister, [[Yevgeny Primakov]].<ref name="russell">{{Cite book|last=Russell|first=John|title=Chechnya: From Past to Future|editor=Richard Sakwa|publisher=Anthem Press|location=London|year=2005|edition=1st|pages=239–265|chapter=Chechnya, 11 September and the War Against Terrorism|isbn=978-1-84331-164-5}}</ref> Stepashin later said:<ref>from the Russian original of an interview given by Stepashin: В отношении Чечни могу сказать следующее. План активных действий в этой республике разрабатывался начиная с марта. И мы планировали выйти к Тереку в августе-сентябре. Так что это произошло бы, даже если бы не было взрывов в Москве. Я активно вел работу по укреплению границ с Чечней, готовясь к активному наступлению. Так что Владимир Путин здесь ничего нового не открыл. Об этом вы можете спросить его самого. Он был в то время директором ФСБ и владел всей информацией.</ref>

{{blockquote|The decision to invade Chechnya was made in March 1999... I was prepared for an active intervention. We were planning to be on the north side of the Terek River by August–September [of 1999] This [the war] would happen regardless to the [[Russian apartment bombings|bombings in Moscow]]... [[Vladimir Putin|Putin]] did not discover anything new. You can ask him about this. He was the director of FSB at this time and had all the information.<ref name="Assassins 1">[[Yuri Felshtinsky]] and [[Vladimir Pribylovsky]] ''The Age of Assassins. The Rise and Rise of Vladimir Putin'', Gibson Square Books, London, 2008, {{ISBN|1-906142-07-6}}, page 105. The interview was given on 14 January 2000.</ref><ref>[http://www.ng.ru/politics/2000-01-14/1_ovr.html Sergey Pravosudov. Interview with Sergei Stepashin.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220325191700/https://www.ng.ru/politics/2000-01-14/1_ovr.html |date=25 March 2022 }} [[Nezavisimaya Gazeta]], 14 January 2000 (in Russian)</ref>}} According to [[Robert Bruce Ware]], these plans should be regarded as contingency plans. However, Stepashin did actively call for a military campaign against Chechen separatists in August 1999 when he was the prime minister of Russia. But shortly after his televised interview where he talked about plans to restore constitutional order in Chechnya, he was replaced in the PM's position by Vladimir Putin.<ref name="ware">{{Cite book|title=Chechnya: From Past to Future|editor=Richard Sakwa|publisher=Anthem Press|year=2005|pages=79–115|chapter=Robert Bruce Ware: Mythology and Political Failure in Chechnya|isbn=978-1-84331-164-5}}</ref>

In late May 1999, Russia announced that it was closing the Russian-Chechnya border in an attempt to combat attacks and criminal activity;<ref>{{Cite news |last=Wines |first=Michael |date=19 June 1999 |title=Russia Closes Posts on Border After Clashes With Chechens |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1999/06/19/world/russia-closes-posts-on-border-after-clashes-with-chechens.html |access-date=21 September 2023 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=11 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231011194710/https://www.nytimes.com/1999/06/19/world/russia-closes-posts-on-border-after-clashes-with-chechens.html |url-status=live }}</ref> border guards were ordered to shoot suspects on sight.<ref>{{Cite web |date=27 April 1999 |title=Stepashin declares border with Chechnya closed - Russian Federation {{!}} ReliefWeb |url=https://reliefweb.int/report/russian-federation/stepashin-declares-border-chechnya-closed |access-date=21 September 2023 |website=reliefweb.int |language=en |archive-date=12 March 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240312113226/https://reliefweb.int/report/russian-federation/stepashin-declares-border-chechnya-closed |url-status=live }}</ref> On 18 June 1999, seven servicemen were killed when Russian border guard posts were attacked in Dagestan.<ref>{{Cite web |date=18 June 1999 |title=Seven Russians die in Chechen border clashes - Russian Federation {{!}} ReliefWeb |url=https://reliefweb.int/report/russian-federation/seven-russians-die-chechen-border-clashes |access-date=21 September 2023 |website=reliefweb.int |language=en |archive-date=12 March 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240312113230/https://reliefweb.int/report/russian-federation/seven-russians-die-chechen-border-clashes |url-status=live }}</ref> On 29 July 1999, the Russian Interior Ministry troops destroyed a Chechen border post near the city of Kizlyar and marched several kilometers into Chechnya.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.nhc.no/en/25-years-since-the-second-chechen-war-began/ | title=25 years since the Second Chechen War began | date=22 August 2024 }}</ref> On 22 August 1999, 10 Russian policemen were killed by an [[anti-tank mine]] blast in [[North Ossetia]], and, on 9 August 1999, six servicemen were kidnapped in the Ossetian capital [[Vladikavkaz]].{{citation needed|date=March 2023}}

===Dagestan===
{{Main|War of Dagestan}}

On 7 August 1999, [[Shamil Basayev]] together with Ibn al-Khattab, led two groups of up to 2,000 Chechen, Dagestani, Arab [[mujahideen]] from Chechnya into the neighboring Republic of Dagestan. This war saw the first (unconfirmed) use by Russia of aerial-delivered [[fuel air explosive]]s (FAE) in mountainous areas, notably in the village of [[Tando]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.hrw.org/news/2000/02/17/dont-use-fuel-air-weapons-chechnya |title=Don't Use Fuel-air Weapons in Chechnya &#124; Human Rights Watch |publisher=Hrw.org |date=18 February 2000 |access-date=1 October 2013 |archive-date=2 April 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200402001721/https://www.hrw.org/news/2000/02/17/dont-use-fuel-air-weapons-chechnya |url-status=live }}</ref> By mid-September 1999, the militants were routed from the villages they had captured and retreated into Chechnya. According to Russia, several hundred militants were killed in the fighting and the Russian side reported 275 servicemen killed and approximately 900 wounded.<ref name="mdb_chechnya">{{Cite journal|last=Pashin |first=Alexander |title=Russian Army Operations and Weaponry During Second Military Campaign in Chechnya |journal=[[Moscow Defense Brief]] |publisher=[[Centre for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies]] |issue=3/2002 |url=http://mdb.cast.ru/mdb/3-2002/ac/raowdsmcc/ |access-date=29 May 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140501050127/http://mdb.cast.ru/mdb/3-2002/ac/raowdsmcc/ |archive-date=1 May 2014 }}</ref>

===Russian apartment bombings===
{{Main|1999 Russian apartment bombings}}

Before the wake of the Dagestani campaign had settled, a series of bombings took place in Russia (in [[Moscow]], [[Volgodonsk]] and Buynaksk). On 4 September 1999, 62 people died in an apartment building housing members of families of Russian soldiers. Over the next two weeks, the bombs targeted three other apartment buildings and a mall; in total, over 350 people were killed. Then Prime Minister Putin quickly blamed the attacks on Chechen militants and despite no evidence linking the bombings to Chechens; ordered the bombing campaign of Chechnya.<ref name="Cardin">{{cite web |last1=Cardin |first1=Ben |title=PUTIN'S ASYMMETRIC ASSAULT ON DEMOCRACY IN RUSSIA AND EUROPE: IMPLICATIONS FOR U.S. NATIONAL SECURITY |url=https://www.foreign.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/FinalRR.pdf |website=Senate Committee on Foreign Relations |publisher=U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE |access-date=15 February 2023 |page=10 |date=10 January 2018 |archive-date=9 February 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210209193625/https://www.foreign.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/FinalRR.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> In February 2000, the [[United States Secretary of State|US Secretary of State]] [[Madeleine Albright]] stated they had not seen any evidence that tied the bombings to Chechnya.<ref name="Cardin" /> 

On 22 September 1999, Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) agents were caught by local [[police]] planting a bomb at an apartment complex in [[Ryazan]]. They were later released on orders from Moscow. FSB chief [[Nikolai Patrushev]] announced on television that the apparent bomb had been part of a “training exercise”.<ref name="AmyKnight">{{cite magazine |last1=Knight |first1=Amy |date=22 November 2012 |title=Finally we Know About the Moscow Bombings |url=http://www.nybooks.com/articles/2012/11/22/finally-we-know-about-moscow-bombings/ |magazine=The New York Review |access-date=14 August 2024 |archive-date=7 December 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211207194054/https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2012/11/22/finally-we-know-about-moscow-bombings/ |url-status=live }}</ref> 

A Russian criminal investigation of the bombings was completed in 2002. The results of the investigation, and the court ruling that followed, concluded that they were organized by [[Achemez Gochiyaev]], who remains at large, and ordered by Khattab and [[Abu Omar al-Saif]] (both of whom were later killed), in retaliation for the Russian counteroffensive against their incursion into Dagestan. Six other suspects have been convicted by Russian courts.<ref>{{cite magazine |last1=Knight |first1=Amy |date=22 November 2012 |title=Finally we Know About the Moscow Bombings |url=http://www.nybooks.com/articles/2012/11/22/finally-we-know-about-moscow-bombings/ |magazine=The New York Review |access-date=28 October 2018 |archive-date=7 December 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211207194054/https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2012/11/22/finally-we-know-about-moscow-bombings/ |url-status=live }}</ref> 

Many observers, including [[State Duma]] deputies [[Yuri Shchekochikhin]], [[Sergei Kovalev]] and [[Sergei Yushenkov]], cast doubts on the official version and sought an independent investigation. Some others, including [[David Satter]], [[Yury Felshtinsky]], [[Vladimir Pribylovsky]] and [[Alexander Litvinenko]], as well as the secessionist Chechen authorities, claimed that the 1999 bombings were a [[false flag]] attack coordinated by the FSB in order to win public support for a new full-scale war in Chechnya, which boosted the popularity of Prime Minister and former FSB Director Vladimir Putin, brought the pro-war [[Unity (political party, Russia)|Unity Party]] to the State Duma in the [[1999 Russian legislative election|1999 parliamentary election]], and secured Putin [[President of Russia|as president]] within a [[2000 Russian presidential election|few months]].  A description of the bombings as FSB false-flag operations appears in the book ''Blowing Up Russia'', which is banned in the Russian Federation.<ref name="Assassins 2">''The Age of Assassins. The Rise and Rise of Vladimir Putin'', [[Vladimir Pribylovsky]] and [[Yuri Felshtinsky]], Gibson Square Books, London, 2008, {{ISBN|1-906142-07-6}}; pages 105–111.</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.hudson.org/files/publications/SatterHouseTestimony2007.pdf |title=David Satter – House committee on Foreign Affairs |access-date=17 October 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110927065706/http://www.hudson.org/files/publications/SatterHouseTestimony2007.pdf |archive-date=27 September 2011 }}</ref><ref name="Satter">David Satter. ''Darkness at Dawn: The Rise of the Russian Criminal State''. Yale University Press. 2003. {{ISBN|0-300-09892-8}}, pages 24–33 and 63–71.</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/eur46/012/2006/en/ |title=Russian Federation: Amnesty International's concerns and recommendations in the case of Mikhail Trepashkin |work=Amnesty International |date=23 March 2006 |access-date=10 September 2009 |archive-date=22 November 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181122054145/https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/eur46/012/2006/en/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>[https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1999-sep-10-mn-8677-story.html Bomb Blamed in Fatal Moscow Apartment Blast], Richard C. Paddock, [[Los Angeles Times]], 10 September 1999</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cnn.com/WORLD/europe/9909/10/russia.explosion.03/ |title=At least 90 dead in Moscow apartment blast |work=CNN |date=10 September 1999 |access-date=13 July 2016 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20000823013738/http://www.cnn.com/WORLD/europe/9909/10/russia.explosion.03/ |archive-date=23 August 2000 }}</ref><ref>''The Chechen Wars: Will Russia Go the Way of the Soviet Union?'', page 81, Matthew Evangelista, pub. Brookings Institution Press, 2002, {{ISBN|0-8157-2499-3}}, {{ISBN|978-0-8157-2499-5}}</ref>

==1999–2000 Russian offensive==
===Air war===
{{Main|1999 Russian bombing of Chechnya}}
{{See also|List of Russian aircraft losses in the Second Chechen War}}
In late August and early September 1999, Russia mounted a massive [[Aerial warfare|aerial campaign]] over Chechnya, with the stated aim of wiping out militants who invaded Dagestan earlier in the same month. On 26 August 1999, Russia acknowledged bombing raids in Chechnya.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cnn.com/WORLD/europe/9908/26/russia.chechnya/ |title=Russia acknowledges bombing raids in Chechnya |website=[[CNN]] |access-date= |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20000919000313/http://www.cnn.com/WORLD/europe/9908/26/russia.chechnya/ |archive-date=19 September 2000 }}, CNN, 26 August 1999</ref> The Russian air strikes were reported to have forced at least 100,000 Chechens to flee their homes to safety; the neighbouring region of Ingushetia was reported to have appealed for United Nations aid to deal with tens of thousands of refugees.<ref>[http://www.rte.ie/news/1999/0927/russia.html Russia launches more air strikes against Chechnya] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121002221916/http://www.rte.ie/news/1999/0927/russia.html |date=2 October 2012 }}, RTÉ news, 27 September 1999</ref> On 2 October 1999, Russia's [[Ministry of Extraordinary Situations (Russian Federation)|Ministry of Emergency Situations]] reported that 78,000 people had fled the air strikes in Chechnya; most of them went to Ingushetia, where they arrived at a rate of 5,000 to 6,000 a day.{{citation needed|date=August 2023}}

As of 22 September 1999, Deputy [[Minister of Internal Affairs (Russia)|Interior Minister]] Igor Zubov said that Russian troops had surrounded Chechnya and were prepared to retake the region, but the military planners were advising against a ground invasion because of the likelihood of heavy Russian casualties.{{citation needed|date=August 2023}}

===Land war===
[[File:Mass grave in Chechnya.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|A [[Mass graves in Chechnya|mass grave in Chechnya]]]]

The Chechen conflict entered a new phase on 1 October 1999, when Russia's new Prime Minister Putin declared the authority of Maskhadov and his parliament illegitimate.{{Citation needed|date=October 2009}} At this time, Putin announced that Russian troops would initiate a land war but progress only as far as the Terek River, which cuts the northern third of Chechnya off from the rest of the republic. Putin's stated intention was to take control of Chechnya's northern plain and establish a ''[[Cordon sanitaire (politics)|cordon sanitaire]]'' against further Chechen aggression; he later recalled that the cordon alone was "pointless and technically impossible," apparently because of Chechnya's rugged terrain. According to Russian accounts, Putin accelerated a plan for a major crackdown against Chechnya that had been drawn up months earlier.<ref>David Hoffman [http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/63/251.html Miscalculations Paved Path to Chechen War] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303171802/http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/63/251.html |date=3 March 2016 }} ''[[Washington Post]]'', 20 March 2000</ref>

The Russian army moved with ease in the wide open spaces of northern Chechnya{{Citation needed|date=July 2024|reason=The latter part of this sentence is sourced, the prior is not.}} and reached the Terek River on 5 October 1999. On this day, a bus filled with refugees was reportedly hit by a Russian [[Shell (projectile)|tank shell]], killing at least 11 civilians;<ref>[http://www.cnn.com/WORLD/europe/9910/07/chechnya.bus/ Refugee bus reportedly shelled by Russian tank] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081218053859/http://www.cnn.com/WORLD/europe/9910/07/chechnya.bus/ |date=18 December 2008 }}  CNN, 7 October 1999</ref> two days later, Russian [[Su-24]] [[fighter bomber]]s dropped [[cluster bomb]]s on the village of [[Elistanzhi]], [[Elistanzhi cluster bomb attack|killing some 35 people]].<ref name="villagers">[https://web.archive.org/web/20080115001724/http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_19991011/ai_n14278495 Russian warplanes kill dozens of villagers] [[The Independent]], 11 October 1999</ref> On 10 October 1999, Maskhadov outlined a peace plan offering a crackdown on renegade warlords;<ref name="villagers"/> the offer was rejected by the Russian side. He also appealed to [[NATO]] to help end fighting between his forces and Russian troops, without effect.<ref>[http://www.indianexpress.com/res/web/pIe/ie/daily/19991009/ige09005.html Russia to 'display' truth on Chechnya] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081212032853/http://www.indianexpress.com/res/web/pIe/ie/daily/19991009/ige09005.html |date=12 December 2008 }}, Reuters, 9 October 1999</ref>

On 12 October 1999, the Russian forces crossed the Terek and began a two-pronged advance on the capital, Grozny to the south. Hoping to avoid the significant casualties that plagued the first Chechen War, the Russians advanced slowly and in force, making extensive use of [[artillery]] and [[air power]] in an attempt to soften Chechen defences. Many thousands of civilians fled the Russian advance, leaving Chechnya for neighbouring Russian republics. Their numbers were later estimated to reach 200,000 to 350,000, out of the approximately 800,000 residents of the Chechen Republic. The Russians appeared to be taking no chances with the Chechen population in its rear areas, setting up "[[filtration camp system in Chechnya|filtration camps]]" in October in northern Chechnya for detaining suspected members of ''bandformirovaniya'' militant formations (literally: "bandit formations"). {{citation needed|date=March 2023}}

On 15 October 1999, Russian forces took control of a strategic ridge within artillery range of the Chechen capital, Grozny after mounting an intense tank and artillery barrage against Chechen fighters. In response, President Maskhadov declared a ''[[Ghazw|gazavat]]'' ([[religious war|holy war]]) to confront the approaching Russian army. [[Martial law]] was declared in Ichkeria, and [[Military reserves|reservists]] were called, but no martial law or state of emergency had been declared in Chechnya or Russia by the Russian government.<ref>[http://www.echr.coe.int/Eng/Press/2005/Feb/ChamberjudgmentsChechencases2422005.htm CHAMBER JUDGMENTS IN SIX APPLICATIONS AGAINST RUSSIA] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091222211935/http://www.echr.coe.int/Eng/Press/2005/Feb/ChamberjudgmentsChechencases2422005.htm |date=22 December 2009 }} [[European Court of Human Rights]], 24 February 2005</ref> The next day, Russian forces captured the strategic [[Tersky Heights]], within sight of Grozny, dislodging 200 entrenched Chechen fighters. After heavy fighting, Russia seized the Chechen base in the village of [[Goragorsky]], west of the city.<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/475791.stm Europe: Russians 'within sight' of Grozny] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160917004004/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/475791.stm |date=17 September 2016 }} BBC News, 16 October 1999</ref>

[[image:Ханкала 2001 год.jpg|thumb|Chief of the General Staff Anatoly Kvashnin at the headquarters of the group "West" together with [[Valery Gerasimov]] and [[Alexey Kim]], [[Urus-Martan]], 2000.]]
On 21 October 1999, a Russian [[Scud]] [[short-range ballistic missile]] strike on the central Grozny marketplace [[Grozny marketplace attack|killed more than 140 people]], including many women and children, and left hundreds more wounded. A Russian spokesman said the busy market was targeted because it was used by separatists as an arms [[bazaar]].{{citation needed|date=February 2023}} Eight days later, Russian aircraft carried out a rocket attack on a large convoy of refugees heading into Ingushetia, [[Baku-Rostov highway bombing|killing at least 25 civilians]] including [[Red Cross]] workers and journalists.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.crimesofwar.org/expert/chech-lohman.html |title=Crimes Of War Project > Expert Analysis |access-date=10 January 2008 |url-status=bot: unknown |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010725223509/http://www.crimesofwar.org/expert/chech-lohman.html |archive-date=25 July 2001 }}</ref> Two days later Russian forces conducted a heavy artillery and rocket attack on [[Samashki]]; some claimed that civilians were killed in Samashki in revenge for the heavy casualties suffered there by Russian forces during the first war.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.parliament.uk/commons/lib/research/rp2000/rp00-014.pdf |title=The Conflict in Chechnya |date=7 February 2000 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20000824155856/http://www.parliament.uk/commons/lib/research/rp2000/rp00-014.pdf |archive-date=24 August 2000 }}</ref>

On 12 November 1999, the [[Russian flag]] was raised over Chechnya's second largest city, Gudermes, when the local Chechen commanders, the [[Yamadayev brothers]], defected to the federal side; the Russians also entered the bombed-out former Cossack village of [[Assinovskaya]]. The fighting in and around Kulary continued until January 2000. On 17 November 1999, Russian soldiers dislodged separatists in [[Bamut]], the symbolic separatist stronghold in the first war; dozens of Chechen fighters and many civilians were reported killed, and the village was levelled in the [[thermobaric weapon|FAE]] bombing. Two days later, after a failed attempt five days earlier, Russian forces managed to capture the village of [[Achkhoy-Martan]].{{citation needed|date=August 2023}}

On 26 November 1999, Deputy Army [[Chief of staff (military)|Chief of Staff]] [[Valery Manilov]] said that phase two of the Chechnya campaign was just about complete, and a final third phase was about to begin. According to Manilov, the third phase aimed to destroy "bandit groups" in the mountains. A few days later, Russia's Defense Minister Igor Sergeyev said Russian forces might need up to three more months to complete their military campaign in Chechnya, while some generals said the offensive could be over by New Year's Day. The next day, the Chechens briefly recaptured the town of [[Novogroznensky]].<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/597594.stm Can Russia win the Chechen war?] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160609014018/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/597594.stm |date=9 June 2016 }} BBC News, 10 January 2000</ref>

On 1 December 1999, after weeks of heavy fighting, Russian forces under [[Major General]] [[Vladimir Shamanov]] took control of [[Alkhan-Yurt]], a village just south of Grozny. The Chechen and foreign fighters inflicted heavy losses on the Russian forces, reportedly killing more than 70 Russian soldiers before retreating,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.hrw.org/reports/2000/russia_chechnya2/index.htm#TopOfPage|title=Russia/Chechnya: "No Happiness Remains": Civilian Killings, Pillage, And Rape In Alkhan-Yurt, Chechnya|publisher=Hrw.org|access-date=17 October 2011|archive-date=13 March 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220313074554/https://www.hrw.org/reports/2000/russia_chechnya2/index.htm#TopOfPage|url-status=live}}</ref> suffering heavy losses of their own.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.army.lv/?s=79&id=658|title=A letter of Sgt. S.Durov|publisher=Army.lv|access-date=17 October 2011|archive-date=20 March 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120320112816/http://www.army.lv/?s=79&id=658|url-status=dead}}</ref> On the same day, Chechen separatist forces began carrying out a series of counter-attacks against federal troops in several villages as well as in the outskirts of Gudermes. Chechen fighters in [[Argun, Chechen Republic|Argun]], a small town five kilometres east of Grozny, put up some of the strongest resistance to federal troops since the start of Moscow's military offensive.{{Citation needed|date=April 2008}} The separatists in the town of [[Urus-Martan]] also offered fierce resistance, employing [[guerilla tactics]] Russia had been anxious to avoid; by 9 December 1999, Russian forces were still bombarding Urus-Martan, although Chechen commanders said their fighters had already pulled out.{{Citation needed|date=April 2008}}

On 4 December 1999, the commander of Russian forces in the North Caucasus, General [[Viktor Kazantsev]], claimed that Grozny was fully blockaded by Russian troops. The Russian military's next task was the seizure of the town of [[Shali, Chechen Republic|Shali]], 20 kilometres south-east of the capital, one of the last remaining separatist-held towns apart from Grozny. Russian troops started by capturing two bridges that link Shali to the capital, and by 11 December 1999, Russian troops had encircled Shali and were slowly forcing separatists out. By mid-December, the Russian military was concentrating attacks in southern parts of Chechnya and preparing to launch another offensive from Dagestan.{{citation needed|date=August 2023}}

===Siege of Grozny===
{{Main|Battle of Grozny (1999–2000)}}
[[File:Russian Army soldiers in Khankala, Chechnya.jpg|thumb|Russian Army soldiers in [[Khankala]], Chechnya]]
The Russian [[Battle of Grozny (1999–2000)|assault on Grozny]] began in early December, accompanied by a struggle for neighbouring settlements. The battle ended when the Russian army seized the city on 2 February 2000. According to official Russian figures, at least 134 federal troops and an unknown number of pro-Russian militiamen died in Grozny. The separatist forces also suffered heavy losses, including losing several top commanders. Russian Defense Minister [[Igor Sergeyev]] said that 1,500 separatists were killed trying to leave Grozny. The separatists said they lost at least 500 fighters in the [[mine field]] at [[Alkhan-Kala]].<ref>{{cite news |url=http://archives.cnn.com/2000/WORLD/europe/02/04/russia.chechnya.01/index.html |title=Russia may withdraw some troops from Chechnya |date=4 February 2000 |work=CNN |access-date=9 December 2004 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041209160644/http://archives.cnn.com/2000/WORLD/europe/02/04/russia.chechnya.01/index.html |archive-date=9 December 2004 }}</ref> The siege and fighting devastated the capital like no other European city since World War II. In 2003, the United Nations called Grozny the most destroyed city on Earth.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/6414603.stm |title=Scars remain amid Chechen revival |work=BBC News |date=3 March 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160731041611/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/6414603.stm |archive-date=31 July 2016}}</ref> The Russians also suffered heavy losses as they advanced elsewhere, and from Chechen counterattacks and convoy ambushes. On 26 January 2000, the Russian government announced that 1,173 servicemen had been killed in Chechnya since October,<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/618971.stm|title=Russia admits heavy casualties|date=26 January 2000|access-date=10 June 2006|work=BBC News|archive-date=10 December 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201210074452/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/618971.stm|url-status=live}}</ref> more than double the 544 killed reported just 19 days earlier.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/592919.stm|title=Russian army battered in Grozny|date=6 January 2000|access-date=10 June 2006|work=BBC News|archive-date=14 August 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080814031601/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/592919.stm|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Battle for the mountains===
Heavy fighting accompanied by massive shelling and bombing continued through the winter of 2000 in the mountainous south of Chechnya, particularly in the areas around Argun, [[Vedeno]] and [[Shatoy]], where fighting involving Russian [[paratroopers]] had raged since 1999.{{citation needed|date=August 2023}}

On 9 February 2000, a Russian tactical missile hit a crowd of people who had come to the local administration building in Shali, a town previously declared as one of the "safe areas", to collect their pensions. The attack was a response to a report that a group of fighters had entered the town. The missile is estimated to have killed some 150 civilians, and was followed by an attack by combat helicopters, causing further casualties.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.crimesofwar.org/expert/chech-oleg.html |author=Oleg Orlov |title=War Crimes and Human Rights Violations in Chechnya |work=crimesofwar.org |date=26 May 2000 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110222152431/http://www.crimesofwar.org/expert/chech-oleg.html |archive-date=22 February 2011}}</ref> [[Human Rights Watch]] called on the Russian military to stop using FAE, known in Russia as "[[vacuum bombs]]", in Chechnya, concerned about the large number of civilian casualties caused by what it called "widespread and often indiscriminate bombing and shelling by Russian forces".<ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/644087.stm |title=Russians urged to stop 'vacuum' bombings |work=BBC News |date=15 February 2000 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304091454/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/644087.stm |archive-date=4 March 2016}}</ref> On 18 February 2000, a Russian army transport helicopter was shot down in the south, killing 15 men aboard, Russian Interior Minister [[Vladimir Rushailo]] announced.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/648895.stm |title=Chechens down Russian helicopter |work=BBC News |date=19 February 2000 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090115101006/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/648895.stm |archive-date=15 January 2009 }}</ref>

[[File:После боя. БТР, подбитый боевиками.jpg|thumb|left|[[2000 Zhani-Vedeno ambush|Zhani-Vedeno ambush]], March 2000]]

On 29 February 2000, United Army Group commander [[Gennady Troshev]] said that "the counter-terrorism operation in Chechnya is over. It will take a couple of weeks longer to pick up splinter groups now." Russia's Defense Minister, [[Marshal of the Russian Federation]] Igor Sergeyev, evaluated the numerical strength of the separatists at between 2,000 and 2,500 men, "scattered all over Chechnya." On the same day, a Russian [[Russian Airborne Troops|VDV]] paratroop company from [[Pskov]] was [[Battle of Hill 776|attacked by Chechen and Arab fighters]] near the village of [[Ulus-Kert]] in Chechnya's southern lowlands; at least 84 Russian soldiers were killed in the especially heavy fighting.{{citation needed|date=September 2021}} The official newspaper of the [[Russian Ministry of Defense]] reported that at least 659 separatists were killed, including 200 from the Middle East, figures which they said were based on radio-intercept data, intelligence reports, eyewitnesses, local residents and captured Chechens.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://usacac.army.mil/CAC/milreview/English/JulAug01/JulAug01/bobja01.pdf |title=Reassessing Strategy: A Historical Examination |publisher=Usacac.army.mil |date=11 October 2011 |access-date=17 October 2011 |url-status=dead  |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110721094635/http://usacac.army.mil/CAC/milreview/English/JulAug01/JulAug01/bobja01.pdf |archive-date=21 July 2011 }}</ref> On 2 March 2000, an [[OMON]] unit from [[Podolsk]] opened fire on a unit from [[Sergiyev Posad]] in Grozny; at least 24 Russian servicemen were [[Grozny OMON fratricide incident|killed in the incident]].

[[File:31 03 00 пермяки.jpg|thumb|Fallen Russian soldiers in the Zhani-Vedeno ambush]]

In March a large group of more than 1,000 Chechen fighters, led by field commander [[Ruslan Gelayev]], pursued since their withdrawal from Grozny, [[Battle of Komsomolskoye|entered the village of Komsomolskoye]] in the Chechen foothills and held off a full-scale Russian attack on the town for over two weeks;{{Citation needed|reason=please provide a reliable source for this dubious assertion|date=June 2009}} they suffered hundreds of casualties,{{Citation needed|date=April 2008}} while the Russians admitted to more than 50 killed. On 29 March 2000, about 23 Russian soldiers were killed in a [[2000 Zhani-Vedeno ambush|separatist ambush on an OMON convoy]] from [[Perm, Russia|Perm]] in Zhani-Vedeno.

On 23 April 2000, a 22-vehicle convoy carrying ammunition and other supplies to an [[Airborne forces|airborne unit]] was ambushed near [[Serzhen-Yurt]] in the Vedeno Gorge by an estimated 80 to 100 "bandits", according to General Troshev. In the ensuing four-hour battle, the federal side lost 15 government soldiers, according to the Russian defence minister. General Troshev told the press that the bodies of four separatist fighters had been found. The Russian Airborne Troops headquarters later stated that 20 separatists were killed and two taken prisoner.<ref>{{cite web |author=Captain Adam Geibel |url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0FDF/is_1_31/ai_78974282 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120529015401/http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0FDF/is_1_31/ai_78974282 |url-status=dead |archive-date=29 May 2012 |title=Ambush at Serzhen Yurt: Command-Detonated Mines in the Second Chechen War |work=Engineer: The Professional Bulletin for Army Engineers |date=February 2001}}</ref> Soon, the Russian forces seized the last populated centres of the organized resistance. (Another offensive against the remaining mountain strongholds was launched by Russian forces in December 2000.){{citation needed|date=August 2023}}

===Restoration of federal government===
{{Main|Federal government in Chechnya}}

In May 2000, the following month, Putin appointed [[Akhmad Kadyrov]] interim head of the pro-Moscow government. This development met with early approval in the rest of Russia, but the continued deaths of Russian troops dampened public enthusiasm. On 23 March 2003, a new Chechen constitution was passed in a referendum. The 2003 Constitution granted the Chechen Republic a significant degree of [[autonomy]], but still tied it firmly to Russia and Moscow's rule, and went into force on 2 April 2003. The referendum was strongly supported by the Russian government but met a harsh critical response from Chechen separatists; many citizens chose to boycott the ballot. {{Citation needed|date=January 2008}} Akhmad Kadyrov was assassinated by a bomb blast in 2004. Since December 2005, his son [[Ramzan Kadyrov]], leader of the pro-Moscow militia known as ''[[kadyrovtsy]]'', has been functioning as Chechnya's ''de facto'' ruler. Kadyrov has become Chechnya's most powerful leader and, in February 2007, with support from Putin, Ramzan Kadyrov replaced [[Alu Alkhanov]] as president.

==Insurgency==
===Guerrilla war in Chechnya===
{{Main|Guerrilla phase of the Second Chechen War}}
:''Guerrilla phase by year: [[Guerrilla phase of the Second Chechen War (2000)|2000]], [[Guerrilla phase of the Second Chechen War (2001)|2001]], [[Guerrilla phase of the Second Chechen War (2002)|2002]], [[Guerrilla phase of the Second Chechen War (2003)|2003]], [[Guerrilla phase of the Second Chechen War (2004)|2004]], [[Guerrilla phase of the Second Chechen War (2005)|2005]], [[Guerrilla phase of the Second Chechen War (2006)|2006]], [[Guerrilla phase of the Second Chechen War (2007)|2007]], [[Guerrilla phase of the Second Chechen War (2008)|2008]], [[Guerrilla phase of the Second Chechen War (2009)|2009]]''

Although large-scale fighting within Chechnya had ceased, daily attacks continued, particularly in the southern portions of Chechnya and spilling into nearby territories of the Caucasus, especially after the [[Caucasian Front (Chechen War)|Caucasus Front]] was established. Typically, small separatist units targeted Russian and pro-Russian officials, [[security force]]s, and military and police convoys and vehicles. The separatist units employed [[Improvised explosive device|IEDs]] and sometimes combined for larger raids. Russian forces retaliated with artillery and air strikes, as well as [[counter-insurgency]] operations. Most soldiers in Chechnya were ''kontraktniki'' (contract soldiers) as opposed to the earlier [[conscription|conscripts]]. While Russia continued to maintain a military presence within Chechnya, federal forces played less of a direct role. Pro-Kremlin Chechen forces under the command of Kadyrov, known as the ''kadyrovtsy'', dominated law enforcement and security operations, with many members (including Kadyrov himself) being former Chechen separatists who had defected since 1999. Since 2004, the Kadyrovtsy were partly incorporated into two Interior Ministry units, ''North'' and ''South'' (''Sever'' and ''Yug''). Two other units of the Chechen pro-Moscow forces, ''East'' and ''West'' ([[Special Battalions Vostok and Zapad|''Vostok'' and ''Zapad'']]), were commanded by [[Sulim Yamadayev]] (''Vostok'') and [[Said-Magomed Kakiyev]] (''Zapad'') and their men.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/elsewhere/journalist/story/0,,1796576,00.html|work=The Guardian|location=London|title=Land of the warlords|date=13 June 2006|access-date=23 May 2010|archive-date=12 March 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240312113244/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2006/jun/13/worlddispatch.russia|url-status=live}}</ref> The incorporation of the Kadyrovtsy improved the effectiveness of Russian counterinsurgency operations, perhaps due to Chechen soldiers having potential advantages over Russians with regards to the gathering of intelligence on local insurgents.<ref>Jason Lyall. "Are Coethnics More Effective Counterinsurgents? Evidence from the Second Chechen War" pp. 1, 15-17. ''American Political Science Review''. 2010;104(1):1-20. doi:10.1017/S0003055409990323</ref>

On 16 April 2009, the head of the FSB, [[Alexander Bortnikov]], announced that Russia had ended its "anti-terror operation" in Chechnya, claiming that stability had been restored to the territory.<ref name="smh-end">{{Cite news|url=http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-world/russia-ends-10year-chechnya-operation-20090416-a8mi.html|title=Russia ends 10-year Chechnya operation|last=Williams|first=Stuart|date=16 April 2009|work=The Sydney Morning Herald|access-date=17 April 2009|archive-date=19 November 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111119054626/http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-world/russia-ends-10year-chechnya-operation-20090416-a8mi.html|url-status=live}}</ref> "The decision is aimed at creating the conditions for the future normalisation of the situation in the republic, its reconstruction and development of its socio-economic sphere," Bortnikov stated. While Chechnya had largely stabilised, there were still clashes with militants in the nearby regions of Dagestan and Ingushetia.

===Suicide attacks===
{{Main|Chechen suicide attacks}}

Between June 2000 and September 2004, Chechen insurgents added [[suicide attack]]s to their tactics. During this period, there were 23 Chechen-related suicide attacks in and outside Chechnya, notably the [[Beslan school siege|hostage taking at an elementary school in Beslan]], in which at least 334 people died.

===Assassinations===
{{Main|List of Second Chechen War assassinations}}

Both sides of the war carried out multiple assassinations. The most prominent of these included the 13 February 2004 killing of exiled former separatist Chechen President [[Zelimkhan Yandarbiyev]] in Qatar, and the 9 May 2004 killing of Kadyrov during a parade in Grozny.

===Caucasus Front===
{{Main|Caucasian Front (militant group)}}

While anti-Russian local insurgencies in the North Caucasus started even before the war, in May 2005, two months after Maskahdov's death, Chechen separatists officially announced that they had formed a [[Caucasian Front (militant group)|Caucasus Front]] within the framework of "reforming the system of military–political power." Along with the Chechen, Dagestani and Ingush "sectors," the [[Stavropol]], [[Kabardians|Kabardin]]-[[Balkar]], [[Krasnodar]], [[Karachai]]-[[Circassians|Circassian]], [[Ossetians|Ossetian]] and [[Adyghe people|Adyghe]] ''jamaats'' were included. This meant that practically all the regions of Russia's south were involved in the hostilities.

The Chechen separatist movement took on a new role as the official ideological, [[logistical, and, probably, financial hub of the new insurgency in the North Caucasus.<ref>[http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/05/30/opinion/edaslan.php Beslan's unanswered questions], [[International Herald Tribune]], 30 May 2006, {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080521015033/http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/05/30/opinion/edaslan.php |date=21 May 2008 }}</ref> Increasingly frequent clashes between federal forces and local militants continued in Dagestan, while sporadic fighting erupted in the other southern Russia regions, such as Ingushetia, and [[October 2005 Nalchik attack|notably in Nalchik]] on 13 October 2005.

==Human rights and terrorism==

===Human rights and war crimes===
{{Main|Chechen genocide|Russian war crimes|Second Chechen War crimes and terrorism}}
The Second Chechen War saw a new wave of [[war crime|war crimes]] and violation of [[international humanitarian law]]. Both sides have been criticised by international organizations for violating the [[Geneva Conventions]]. However, a report by Human Rights Watch states that, without minimizing the abuses committed by Chechen fighters, the main reason for civilian suffering in the Second Chechen War came as a result of the abuses committed by the Russian forces on the civilian population.<ref name="warcrimesresponseofwest">{{cite web |date=29 February 2000 |title=War crimes in Chechnya and the response of the West |url=https://www.hrw.org/news/2000/02/29/war-crimes-chechnya-and-response-west |access-date=14 May 2022 |website=Human Rights Watch |archive-date=2 January 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190102073333/https://www.hrw.org/news/2000/02/29/war-crimes-chechnya-and-response-west |url-status=live }}</ref>  According to [[Amnesty International]], Chechen civilians have been purposely targeted by Russian forces, in apparent disregard of humanitarian law. The situation has been described by Amnesty International as a Russian campaign to punish an entire [[ethnic group]], on the pretext of "fighting crime and terrorism".<ref>{{cite web |title=Reported grave breaches of international humanitarian law. |url=http://www.amnesty.org/ailib/intcam/chechnya/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010619210713/http://www.amnesty.org/ailib/intcam/chechnya/ |archive-date=19 June 2001 |website=Amnesty International}}</ref> Russian forces have throughout the campaign failed to follow their Geneva Convention obligations, and have taken little responsibility for protecting the civilian population.<ref name="warcrimesresponseofwest" /> Amnesty International stated in their 2001 report that Chechen civilians, including medical personnel, have been the target of military attacks by Russian forces, and hundreds of Chechen civilians and prisoners of war are extrajudicially executed.<ref>[http://web.amnesty.org/web/ar2001.nsf/webeurcountries/RUSSIAN+Federation?OpenDocument Russian Federation 2001 Report] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010627213218/http://web.amnesty.org/web/ar2001.nsf/webeurcountries/RUSSIAN+Federation?OpenDocument |date=27 June 2001 }} [[Amnesty International]]  {{Cite web |url=http://web.amnesty.org/web/ar2001.nsf/webeurcountries/RUSSIAN%2BFederation?OpenDocument |title=Russian Federation. In: Amnesty International Report 2001 |access-date=24 May 2017 |archive-date=14 November 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071114184928/http://web.amnesty.org/web/ar2001.nsf/webeurcountries/RUSSIAN%2BFederation?OpenDocument |url-status=bot: unknown }}</ref>

According to human rights activists, Russian troops systematically committed the following crimes in Chechnya: the destruction of cities and villages, not justified by military necessity; shelling and bombardment of unprotected settlements; summary extrajudicial executions and killings of civilians; torture, ill-treatment and infringement of human dignity; serious bodily harm intentionally inflicted on persons not directly participating in hostilities; deliberate strikes against the civilian population, civilian and medical vehicles; illegal detentions of the civilian population and enforced disappearances; looting and destruction of civilian and public property; extortion; taking hostages for ransom; corpse trade.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Le Huérou |first1=A. |last2=Regamey |first2=A. |date=11 October 2012 |title=Massacres de civils en Tchétchénie |url=https://www.sciencespo.fr/mass-violence-war-massacre-resistance/fr/document/massacres-de-civils-en-tcha-tcha-nie |access-date=8 August 2022 |website=SciencesPo |language=fr |archive-date=3 April 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220403213838/https://www.sciencespo.fr/mass-violence-war-massacre-resistance/fr/document/massacres-de-civils-en-tcha-tcha-nie |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite periodical |last1=Divac Öberg |first1=M. |year=2004 |title=Le suivi par le Conseil de l'Europe du conflit en Tchétchénie |url=https://www.persee.fr/doc/afdi_0066-3085_2004_num_50_1_3820 |language=fr |location=Paris |publisher=CNRS Éditions |volume=50 |pages=758–759, 762 |periodical=Annuaire français de droit international |access-date=13 December 2022 |archive-date=21 April 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220421043945/https://www.persee.fr/doc/afdi_0066-3085_2004_num_50_1_3820 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Дмитриевский |first1=С. М. |url=https://www.kavkaz-uzel.eu/system/uploads/article_attachment/attach/0001/15746/Mezhdunarodnyy_tribunal_dlya_Chechni._Tom_II.pdf |title=Международный трибунал для Чечни: Правовые перспективы привлечения к индивидуальной уголовной ответственности лиц, подозреваемых в совершении военных преступлений и преступлений против человечности в ходе вооруженного конфликта в Чеченской Республике |last2=Гварели |first2=Б. И. |last3=Челышева |first3=О. А. |year=2009b |volume=2 |location=Нижний Новгород |pages=16–17, 22–26, 29–35, 55–56, 58–60, 62–65, 67, 104–105, 113, 130, 161, 175, 206, 226, 230, 339, 349–350, 378, 380, 388, 405, 474–475, 508 |language=ru |access-date=13 December 2022 |archive-date=31 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220331215739/https://www.kavkaz-uzel.eu/system/uploads/article_attachment/attach/0001/15746/Mezhdunarodnyy_tribunal_dlya_Chechni._Tom_II.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> There were also rapes,{{sfn|Дмитриевский|Гварели|Челышева|2009b|pp=23, 71, 73, 74, 76, 325–329, 339}}<ref>{{cite book |last1=Baiev |first1=Kh. |title=Le serment tchétchène: Un chirurgien dans la guerre |collaboration=with Ruth et Nicholas Daniloff |publisher=Jean-Claude Lattès |year=2005 |isbn=2-7096-2644-6 |location=Paris |pages=167, 312–313, 325, 413 |language=fr |translator-last1=Baranger |translator-first1=L. |author-link=Khassan Baiev}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url=http://www.omct.org/files/2004/05/2321/chechnya_russe.pdf |title=Чечня: без средств для жизни: Оценка нарушения экономических, социальных и культурных прав в Чеченской республике |publisher=Всемирная организация против пыток |year=2004 |isbn=2-88477-070-4 |location=Женева |pages=35 |language=ru |access-date=13 December 2022 |archive-date=31 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220331065149/http://www.omct.org/files/2004/05/2321/chechnya_russe.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> which, along with women, were committed against men.<ref name="Mandeville">{{cite web |last1=Мандевиль |first1=Л. |date=25 March 2002 |title=Глухое молчание Запада в ответ на геноцид чеченского народа: Запад изменяет отношение к Чечне |url=https://inosmi.ru/untitled/20020325/140373.html |access-date=8 August 2022 |website=ИноСМИ |language=ru |archive-date=12 March 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240312113312/https://inosmi.ru/20020325/140373.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Sylvaine |first1=P. |last2=Alexandra |first2=S. |date=23 March 2000 |title=Grozny, ville fantôme |url=https://www.lexpress.fr/informations/grozny-ville-fantome_637256.html |access-date=8 August 2022 |website=L'Express |language=fr |archive-date=21 April 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220421044301/https://www.lexpress.fr/informations/grozny-ville-fantome_637256.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Allaman |first1=J. |title=La guerre de Tchétchénie ou l'irrésistible ascension de Vladimir Poutine |publisher=Georg Éditeur |year=2000 |isbn=2-8257-0703-1 |location=Genève |pages=114 |language=fr}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Бовкун |first1=Е. |date=25 February 2000 |title=Видеозапись зверств российских войск в Чечне и реакция на неё в Германии |url=http://www.svoboda.org/a/24220678.html |access-date=8 August 2022 |website=Радио Свобода |language=ru |archive-date=9 April 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220409220502/https://www.svoboda.org/a/24220678.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Политковская |first1=А. |author-link=Anna Politkovskaya |date=6 February 2001 |title=Концлагерь с коммерческим уклоном: Отчёт о командировке в зону |url=https://politkovskaya.novayagazeta.ru/pub/2001/2001-14.shtml |access-date=8 August 2022 |website=Новая газета |language=ru |archive-date=21 April 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220421043946/https://politkovskaya.novayagazeta.ru/pub/2001/2001-14.shtml |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Бабицкий |first1=А. |author-link=Andrei Babitsky |date=6 August 2001 |title=Кавказские хроники |url=https://www.svoboda.org/a/24201983.html |access-date=8 August 2022 |website=Радио Свобода |language=ru |archive-date=21 April 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220421044304/https://www.svoboda.org/a/24201983.html |url-status=live }}</ref> According to the Minister of Health of Ichkeria, Umar Khanbiev, Russian forces committed [[Organ procurement|organ harvesting]] and [[organ trade]] during the conflict.<ref>{{cite news |title=Изъятие внутренних органов у заложников в Чечне Источник |url=https://www.kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/36730 |access-date=15 December 2022 |publisher=Кавказский Узел |date=14 March 2003 |language=ru |archive-date=14 December 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221214204452/https://www.kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/36730/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

Russian forces have, since the beginning of the conflict, indiscriminately and disproportionately bombed and shelled civilian objects, resulting in heavy civilian casualties. On one such occasion in October 1999, ten powerful hypersonic missiles fell without warning and targeted the city's only maternity hospital, post office, mosque, and a crowded market.<ref name="odds">[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/482193.stm Russians at odds over market attack] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230330193430/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/482193.stm |date=30 March 2023 }}, [[BBC News]], 22 October 1999</ref><ref name="disarray">[https://www.theguardian.com/world/1999/oct/23/chechnya.ameliagentleman Russians in disarray over Grozny strike] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130824021603/https://www.theguardian.com/world/1999/oct/23/chechnya.ameliagentleman|date=24 August 2013}}, ''[[The Guardian]]'', 23 October 1999</ref><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]]'', 7 November 1999</ref><ref>{{cite web |date=22 October 1999 |title=Russian rockets hit Grozny market |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/1999/oct/22/chechnya.ameliagentleman |access-date=15 May 2022 |website=The Guardian |archive-date=15 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220515164432/https://www.theguardian.com/world/1999/oct/22/chechnya.ameliagentleman |url-status=live }}</ref> Most of the casualties occurred at the central market, and the attack is estimated to have killed over 100 instantly and injuring up to 400 others.  Similar incidents include the [[Baku–Rostov highway bombing]] where the [[Russian Air Force]] perpetrated repeated rocket attacks on a large convoy of refugees trying to enter Ingushetia through a supposed "safe exit".<ref>{{cite web |title=A Summary of Human Rights Watch Research on Attacks on Fleeing Civilians and Civilian Convoys during the War in Chechnya, Russia between October 1999 to February 2000 |url=https://www.hrw.org/legacy/backgrounder/eca/chechnya0403/1.htm |website=Human Rights Watch |access-date=14 December 2022 |archive-date=8 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220308194454/https://www.hrw.org/legacy/backgrounder/eca/chechnya0403/1.htm |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=A Summary of Human Rights Watch Research on Attacks on Fleeing Civilians and Civilian Convoys during the War in Chechnya, Russia between October 1999 to February 2000 |url=https://www.hrw.org/legacy/backgrounder/eca/chechnya0403/6.htm |website=Human Rights Watch |access-date=14 December 2022 |archive-date=14 December 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221214204401/https://www.hrw.org/legacy/backgrounder/eca/chechnya0403/6.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> This was repeated in December 1999 when Russian soldiers [[1999 Grozny refugee convoy shooting|opened fire on a refugee convoy marked with white flags]].<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/549893.stm 'Russians fired on refugees'] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220224005421/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/549893.stm|date=24 February 2022}} [[BBC News]], 4 December 1999</ref>

The 1999–2000 siege and bombardments of Grozny caused between 5,000<ref>{{cite web| last=Jenkinson| first=Brett C.| year=2002| title=Tactical Observations from the Grozny Combat Experience, p.74| url=http://smallwarsjournal.com/documents/jenkinson.pdf| publisher=United States Military Academy, West Point, New York| access-date=13 December 2022| archive-date=11 February 2010| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100211181715/http://smallwarsjournal.com/documents/jenkinson.pdf| url-status=live}}</ref> and 8,000<ref>{{cite book|title=The Post-Soviet Wars: Rebellion, Ethnic Conflict, and Nationhood in the Caucasus|first=Christoph|last=Zürcher|author-link=Christoph Zürcher|publisher=NYU Press|year=2007|isbn=9780814797099|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kNoVCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA100|page=100|access-date=13 December 2022|archive-date=12 March 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240312113732/https://books.google.com/books?id=kNoVCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA100#v=onepage&q&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref> civilians to perish.  The Russian army issued an ultimatum during the Grozny siege urging Chechens to leave the city or be destroyed without mercy.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Russia Warns Civilians in Chechnya |url=https://apnews.com/article/02b63bc318b64ac6893a700769d75158 |access-date=2 March 2022 |website=AP NEWS |language=en |archive-date=2 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220302220409/https://apnews.com/article/02b63bc318b64ac6893a700769d75158 |url-status=live }}</ref> Around 300 people were killed while trying to escape in October 1999 and subsequently buried in a mass grave.<ref>[https://www.rferl.org/a/Watchdog_Alleges_Mass_Grave_In_Chechnya/1181240.html Watchdog alleges mass grave in Russia's Chechnya] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221213013056/https://www.rferl.org/a/Watchdog_Alleges_Mass_Grave_In_Chechnya/1181240.html |date=13 December 2022 }}, [[Reuters]], 1 July 2008</ref> The bombing of Grozny included banned Buratino thermobaric and fuel-air bombs, igniting the air of civilians hiding in basements.<ref name="Grozny and Aleppo">{{cite web |date=24 November 2016 |title=Grozny and Aleppo: a look at the historical parallels |url=https://www.thenational.ae/arts-culture/grozny-and-aleppo-a-look-at-the-historical-parallels-1.211868 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181226035341/https://www.thenational.ae/arts-culture/grozny-and-aleppo-a-look-at-the-historical-parallels-1.211868 |archive-date=26 December 2018 |access-date=18 November 2018 |publisher=The National}}</ref><ref name="Grozny Rules in Aleppo">{{cite web |last=Galeotti |first=Mark |date=29 September 2016 |title=Putin Is Playing by Grozny Rules in Aleppo |url=https://foreignpolicy.com/2016/09/29/putin-is-playing-by-chechen-rules-in-aleppo-syria-russia/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161012234150/http://foreignpolicy.com/2016/09/29/putin-is-playing-by-chechen-rules-in-aleppo-syria-russia/ |archive-date=12 October 2016 |access-date=18 November 2018 |publisher=Foreign Policy}}</ref> There were also reports of the use of chemical weapons, banned according to Geneva law.<ref>{{cite web |title=Welcome to Chechnya. Welcome to hell |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/1999/dec/10/chechnya |access-date=13 December 2022 |website=The Guardian |date=10 December 1999 |archive-date=13 December 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221213005100/https://www.theguardian.com/world/1999/dec/10/chechnya |url-status=live }}</ref> The Russian president, Putin vowed that the military would not stop bombing Grozny until Russian troops 'fulfilled their task to the end.'  In 2003, the [[United Nations]] called Grozny the most destroyed city on Earth.<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/6414603.stm Scars remain amid Chechen revival] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171207015130/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/6414603.stm |date=7 December 2017 }}, BBC News, 3 March 2007</ref>

Another occasion of indiscriminate and perhaps deliberate bombardment is the [[bombing of Katyr-Yurt]] which occurred on 4–6 February 2000. The village of Katyr Yurt was far from the war's front line, and jam-packed with refugees. It was untouched on the morning of 4 February when Russian aircraft, helicopters, fuel-air bombs and Grad missiles pulverised the village. After the bombing the Russian army allowed buses in, and allowed a white-flag refugee convoy to leave after which they bombed that as well.<ref>{{cite web |title=Revealed: Russia's worst war crime in Chechnya |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2000/mar/05/russia.chechnya |access-date=10 December 2022 |website=The Guardian |date=5 March 2000 |archive-date=10 December 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221210184132/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2000/mar/05/russia.chechnya |url-status=live }}</ref> Banned thermobaric weapons were fired on the village of [[Katyr-Yurt]]. Hundreds of civilians died as a result of the Russian bombardment and the following sweep.<ref>{{cite web |date=5 March 2000 |title=Revealed: Russia's worst war crime in Chechnya |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2000/mar/05/russia.chechnya |access-date=15 May 2022 |website=The Guardian |archive-date=15 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220515164433/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2000/mar/05/russia.chechnya |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Eyewitness: Chechnya's war goes on |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/673114.stm |access-date=15 May 2022 |website=BBC News |archive-date=7 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201007001636/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/673114.stm |url-status=live }}</ref> Thermobaric weapons have been used by the Russian army on several occasions according to Human Rights Watch.<ref>{{cite web |title=Chechnya Conflict: Use of Vacuum Bombs by Russian Forces |url=https://www.hrw.org/news/2000/02/01/chechnya-conflict-use-vacuum-bombs-russian-forces |access-date=15 May 2022 |website=Human Rights Watch |date=February 2000 |archive-date=1 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220301010430/https://www.hrw.org/news/2000/02/01/chechnya-conflict-use-vacuum-bombs-russian-forces |url-status=live }}</ref>

During the [[Alkhan-Yurt massacre]] where Russian soldiers went on a murdering spree throughout the village and summarily executing, raping, torturing, looting, burning and killing anyone in their way. Nearly all the killings were committed by Russian soldiers who were looting.''<ref name=":0">{{cite web |title=NO HAPPINESS REMAINS" CIVILIAN KILLINGS, PILLAGE, AND RAPE IN ALKHAN-YURT, CHECHNYA |url=https://www.hrw.org/legacy/reports/2000/russia_chechnya2/ |access-date=10 December 2022 |website=Human Rights Watch |archive-date=10 December 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221210181954/https://www.hrw.org/legacy/reports/2000/russia_chechnya2/ |url-status=live }}</ref>'' Civilian attempts to stop the killings were often met with death.<ref>[https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/28/AR2007032802068.html Bush Meets Russian Faulted For Atrocities] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210615000708/https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/28/AR2007032802068.html|date=15 June 2021}}, ''[[Washington Post]]'', 29 March 2007</ref> There has been no serious attempt conducted by the Russian authorities to bring to justice those accountable for the crimes committed at Alkhan-Yurt. Credible testimony suggests that Russian leadership in the region had knowledge of what was happening and simply chose to ignore it.<ref name=":0" /> Russian military leadership dismissed the incident as "fairy tales", claiming that the bodies were planted and the slaughter fabricated in order to damage the reputation of Russian troops.<ref>{{cite news |title=Bush Meets Russian Faulted For Atrocities |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/28/AR2007032802068.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210615000708/https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/28/AR2007032802068.html |access-date=12 December 2022 |newspaper=Washington post|archive-date=15 June 2021 }}</ref> Russian general Shamanov dismissed accountability for the abuses in the village saying "''Don't you dare touch the soldiers and officers of the Russian army. They are doing a sacred thing today- they are defending Russia. And don't you dare sully the Russian soldier with your dirty hands!"<ref name=":0" />''

In what is regarded as one of gravest war crimes in the war, Russian federal forces went on a village-sweep ([[zachistka]]), that involved [[summary execution]]s of dozens of people, [[murder]], [[looting]], [[arson]] and [[rape]] of Chechens (including committing other crimes) in what is known as the [[Novye Aldi massacre]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Russia Condemned for Chechnya Killings |url=https://www.hrw.org/news/2006/10/12/russia-condemned-chechnya-killings |access-date=12 December 2022 |website=Human Rights Watch |date=12 October 2006 |archive-date=12 December 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221212233309/https://www.hrw.org/news/2006/10/12/russia-condemned-chechnya-killings |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name=":1">{{cite web |title=February 5: A Day of Slaughter in Novye Aldi |url=https://www.hrw.org/reports/2000/russia_chechnya3/chech-summary.htm |access-date=15 May 2022 |website=Human Rights Watch |archive-date=11 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220611023400/https://www.hrw.org/reports/2000/russia_chechnya3/chech-summary.htm |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="court2">[http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/07/26/news/russia.php European court assails Russia over killings in Chechnya] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070906215807/http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/07/26/news/russia.php |date=6 September 2007 }}, ''[[International Herald Tribune]]'', 26 July 2007</ref> Russian troops had [[Cluster munition|cluster-bombed]] the village a day prior before entering the village, telling local residents to come out from their cellars for inspection the next day.<ref name=":2">{{cite web |title=Russian atrocities in Chechnya detailed |url=http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/AllDocsByUNID/45d2165b40636215c12568f20052f83c |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070404034227/http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/AllDocsByUNID/45d2165b40636215c12568f20052f83c |access-date=12 December 2022 |website=Reliefweb|archive-date=4 April 2007 }}</ref> Upon entering the village, Russian soldiers shot their victims in cold blood, with automatic fire at close range. Victims ranged from a one-year-old baby to an 82-year-old woman. Victims were asked for money or jewelry by Russian soldiers, which served as a pretext for their execution if the amount was insufficient. Federal soldiers removed gold teeth from their victims and looted their corpses. Killings were accompanied by arson in an attempt to destroy evidence of summary executions and other civilian killings. There were several cases of rape. In one incident, Russian soldiers [[gang rape]]d several women before [[strangling]] them to death. Pillage on a massive scale took place in the village, with Russian soldiers stripping the houses of civilians in broad daylight. Any attempt to make the Russian authorities take responsibility for the massacre resulted in indignant denial. HRW described the Russian authorities' response as "typical". A spokesperson from the [[Ministry of Defence (Russia)|Russian Ministry of Defence]] declared that "''these assertions are nothing but a concoction not supported by fact or any proof . . . [and] should be seen as a provocation whose goal is to discredit the federal forces' operation against the terrorists in Chechnya.''"<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":1" /> An eye-witness also said that investigators from the FSB told her the massacre was probably committed by Chechen fighters "disguised as federal troops".<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20121019204517/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-45880914.html Witness to Aldi Massacre Tells Story of Terror], ''[[The Moscow Times]]'', 11 July 2000</ref>{{Campaignbox Second Chechen War civilian attacks}}

Western European rights groups estimate there have been about 5,000 [[forced disappearance|forced disappearances]] in Chechnya since 1999.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/5219254.stm|title=Russia censured over Chechen man|work=BBC News|access-date=20 May 2015|archive-date=10 January 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230110111001/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/5219254.stm|url-status=live}}</ref> Dozens of [[Mass graves in Chechnya|mass graves]] containing hundreds of corpses have been uncovered since the start of the Chechen conflict. As of June 2008, there were 57 registered locations of mass graves in Chechnya.<ref name="afp">[https://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/21/world/europe/21briefs-CHECHENMASSG_BRF.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss Russia: Chechen Mass Grave Found] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151016233611/http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/21/world/europe/21briefs-CHECHENMASSG_BRF.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss|date=16 October 2015}}, [[Agence France-Presse]], 21 June 2008</ref> According to Amnesty International, thousands may be buried in unmarked graves including the 5,000 civilians who disappeared since the beginning of the Second Chechen War in 1999.<ref>[http://www.jamestown.org/chechnya_weekly/article.php?articleid=2373419 Amnesty International Issues Reports on Disappearances] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081010022751/http://www.jamestown.org/chechnya_weekly/article.php?articleid=2373419|date=10 October 2008}}, [[The Jamestown Foundation]], 24 May 2007</ref> In 2008, the largest mass grave found to date was uncovered in Grozny, containing some 800 bodies from the First Chechen War in 1995.<ref name="afp" /> Russia's general policy to the Chechen mass graves is to not [[exhumation|exhume]] them.<ref name="reminder">[http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/04/29/europe/journal.php A vexing reminder of war in Chechnya's booming capital]  {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080618191731/http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/04/29/europe/journal.php|date=18 June 2008}}, ''[[International Herald Tribune]]'', 29 April 2008</ref>

American Secretary of State Albright noted in her 24 March 2000 speech to the [[United Nations Commission on Human Rights]]:<blockquote>
:We cannot ignore the fact that thousands of Chechen civilians have died and more than 200,000 have been driven from their homes. Together with other delegations, we have expressed our alarm at the persistent, credible reports of human rights violations by Russian forces in Chechnya, including [[Extrajudicial punishment|extrajudicial killings]]. There are also reports that Chechen separatists have committed abuses, including the killing of civilians and prisoners.... The war in Chechnya has greatly damaged Russia's international standing and is isolating Russia from the international community. Russia's work to repair that damage, both at home and abroad, or its choice to risk further isolating itself, is the most immediate and momentous challenge that Russia faces.<ref>[http://geneva.usmission.gov/press2000/0427chechnya.html U.S. Response to Human Rights Commission Resolution on Chechnya] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080906094913/http://geneva.usmission.gov/press2000/0427chechnya.html |date=6 September 2008 }}  U.S. Mission Geneva</ref>
</blockquote>
The Russian government failed to pursue any accountability process for [[human rights abuses]] committed during the course of the conflict in Chechnya. Unable to secure justice domestically, hundreds of victims of abuse have filed applications with the [[European Court of Human Rights]] (ECHR). In March 2005, the court issued the first rulings on Chechnya, finding the Russian government guilty of violating the right to life and even the prohibition of torture concerning civilians who had died or been forcibly disappeared at the hands of Russia's federal troops.<ref>[http://iwpr.net/?p=crs&s=f&o=239843&apc_state=henicrs2005 European Court Rules Against Moscow] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160319220430/http://iwpr.net/?p=crs&s=f&o=239843&apc_state=henicrs2005 |date=19 March 2016 }} [[Institute for War and Peace Reporting]], 2 March 2005M</ref> Many similar claims were ruled since against Russia.

===Terrorist attacks===
{{Campaignbox Second Chechen War terrorism}}
[[File:Beslan school no 1 victim photos.jpg|thumb|left|Photos of the victims of the [[Beslan school hostage crisis|2004 Beslan school hostage crisis]]]]
Between May 2002 and September 2004, the Chechen and Chechen-led militants, mostly answering to Shamil Basayev, launched a campaign of terrorism directed against civilian targets in Russia. About 200 people were killed in a series of bombings (most of them suicide attacks), most of them in the [[2003 Stavropol train bombing]] (46), the [[February 2004 Moscow metro bombing|2004 Moscow metro bombing]] (40), and the [[Russian aircraft bombings of August 2004|2004 Russian aircraft bombings]] (89). Two big kidnaps, the 2002 [[Moscow theater hostage crisis]] and the [[Beslan school hostage crisis]] in 2004, resulted in the deaths of many civilians. In the Moscow stand-off, FSB [[Spetsnaz]] forces stormed the building on the third day using an [[Moscow hostage crisis chemical agent|unknown incapacitating chemical agent]] that proved to be lethal without sufficient medical care, resulting in deaths of 133 out of 916 hostages. In Beslan, some 20 hostages had been murdered by their captors before the assault, and the ill-prepared assault (started hastily after explosions in the gym that had been rigged with explosives by the terrorists) resulted in 294 more casualties among the 1,128 hostages, as well as many losses among the special forces.

==Other issues==

===Kodori crisis and Pankisi Gorge crisis===
{{Main|2001 Kodori crisis|Pankisi Gorge crisis}}

On 8 October 2001, a [[United Nations Observer Mission in Georgia|UNOMIG]] helicopter was shot down in Georgia in [[Kodori Valley]] gorge near Abkhazia, amid [[2001 Kodori crisis|fighting between Chechens and Abkhazians]], killing nine, including five UN observers.<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/1586098.stm UN helicopter shot down in Georgia] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100420204439/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/1586098.stm |date=20 April 2010 }} BBC News, 8 October 2001</ref> Georgia denied having troops in the area, and the suspicion fell on the armed group headed by Chechen warlord Gelayev, who was speculated to have been hired by the Georgian government to wage [[proxy war]] against separatist [[Abkhazia]].

Russian officials accused neighbouring Georgia of allowing Chechen separatists to operate on Georgian territory and permitting the flow of militants and [[materiel]] across the border. In February 2002, the United States began offering assistance to Georgia to combat "criminal elements" and [[jihadist]] activity in the [[Pankisi Gorge]] as [[War on Terrorism: Pankisi Gorge|part of the War on Terrorism]]. 

In August 2002, Georgia accused Russia of a series of secret [[air strike|air strikes]] on purported separatist havens in the Pankisi Gorge in which a Georgian civilian was reported killed.

In late August 2002, Georgia deployed more than 1,000 troops to the gorge. The troops detained an Arab man and six criminals, and on 2 September, President Shevardnadze declared the region under control.<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/2231955.stm Georgia says gorge 'under control'] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160319153941/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/2231955.stm |date=19 March 2016 }} BBC News, 2 September 2002</ref>

On 2 March 2004, following a number of cross-border raids from Georgia into Chechnya, Ingushetia, and Dagestan, Gelayev was killed in a clash with Russian border guards while trying to get back from Dagestan into Georgia.{{citation needed|date=April 2025}}

===Unilateral ceasefire of 2005===
On 2 February 2005, Chechen separatist president Maskhadov issued a call for a [[ceasefire]] lasting until at least 22 February (the day preceding the anniversary of Stalin's deportation of the Chechen population). The call was issued through a separatist website and addressed to President Putin, described as a gesture of [[Social capital|goodwill]]. On 8 March 2005, Maskhadov was killed in an operation by Russian security forces in the Chechen community of [[Tolstoy-Yurt]], northeast of Grozny.

Shortly following Maskhadov's death, the Chechen separatist council announced that [[Abdul-Khalim Sadulayev]] had assumed the leadership, a move that was quickly endorsed by Shamil Basayev (Basayev himself died in July 2006). On 2 February 2006, Sadulayev made large-scale changes in his government, ordering all its members to move into Chechen territory. Among other things, he removed First Vice-Premier [[Akhmed Zakayev]] from his post (although later Zakayev was appointed a Foreign Minister<ref>[http://chechenpress.net/events/2006/05/27/06.shtml Указы Президента ЧРИ А-Х. Садулаева], Chechenpress, 27.05.06 {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080804182707/http://chechenpress.net/events/2006/05/27/06.shtml |date=4 August 2008 }}</ref>). Sadulayev was killed in June 2006, after which he was succeeded as the separatist leader by the veteran terrorist commander Doku Umarov.

===Amnesties===
As of November 2007, there were at least seven amnesties for separatist militants, as well as federal servicemen who committed crimes, declared in Chechnya by Moscow since the start of the second war. The first one was announced in 1999 when about 400 Chechens switched sides. (However, according to Putin's advisor and aide [[Aslambek Aslakhanov]] most of them were since killed, both by their former comrades and by the Russians, who by then perceived them as a potential "[[fifth column]]".<ref>[https://archive.today/20120529015418/http://www.kommersant.ru/k-vlast/get_page.asp?DocID=695544 "Убивал – не убивал, попал – не попал"], Kommersant, 7 August 2006</ref>) Some of the other amnesties included one during September 2003 in connection with the adoption of the republic's new constitution, and then another between mid-2006 and January 2007.{{citation needed|date=February 2023}} In 2007, the [[International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights]] published a report entitled [https://web.archive.org/web/20070927172147/http://www.ihf-hr.org/documents/doc_summary.php?sec_id=&d_id=4402 Amnestied People as Targets for Persecution in Chechnya], which documents the fate of several persons who have been amnestied and subsequently abducted, tortured and killed.

===Government censorship of the media coverage===
{{Main|Russian government censorship of Chechnya coverage}}

The first war, with its extensive and largely unrestricted coverage (despite deaths of many journalists), convinced the Kremlin more than any other event that it needed to control national television channels, which most Russians rely on for news, to undertake any major national policy. By the time the second war began, federal authorities had designed and introduced a comprehensive system to limit the access of journalists to Chechnya and shape their coverage.<ref>[http://www.worldpress.org/Europe/2048.cfm Smokescreen Around Chechnya] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161108082552/http://www.worldpress.org/Europe/2048.cfm |date=8 November 2016 }} The Moscow Times, 18 March 2005</ref>

The Russian government's control of all Russian television stations and its use of repressive rules, harassment, censorship, intimidation and attacks on journalists almost completely deprived the Russian public of independent information on the conflict. Practically all the local Chechen media are under the control of the pro-Moscow government, Russian journalists in Chechnya face intense harassment and obstruction, leading to widespread [[self-censorship]], while foreign journalists and media outlets too are pressured into censoring their reports on the conflict.<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/monitoring/media_reports/615937.stm Russian TV accuses military of censorship] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151016233612/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/monitoring/media_reports/615937.stm |date=16 October 2015 }}, BBC News, 23 January 2000</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ifex.org/en/content/view/full/68793/ |title=Kremlin Stifles Critical Coverage of Chechnya |publisher=Ifex.org |access-date=17 October 2011 |archive-date=8 March 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070308072630/http://www.ifex.org/en/content/view/full/68793/ |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>[http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2005/01/27/005.html Silencing Chechnya] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050207132645/http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2005/01/27/005.html |date=7 February 2005 }}  Moscow Times, 27 January 2005</ref> In some cases Russian journalists reporting on Chechnya were jailed ([[Boris Stomakhin]]) or kidnapped ([[Andrei Babitsky]]), and foreign media outlets ([[American Broadcasting Company]]) banned from Russia. Russia's step came in retaliation for ABC's broadcast of an interview with Shamil Basayev, the Chechen rebel leader who ordered and/or carried out some of the worst terrorist acts in the country's history, including the school siege in Beslan that left 330 people dead.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20090417172714/http://www.nytimes.com/glogin?URI=http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/02/international/europe/02cnd-russia.html&OQ=_rQ3D1Q26pagewantedQ3Dall&OP=7868567fQ2FQ24rQ7EQ27Q24Q2F_nPe__MLQ24LRRCQ24RQ3EQ24RLQ24bQ5BMQ7EeQ5B-Mb_Q5B-Q3DQ24Q7EQ20e_kQ7EQ24RLnQ5BQ2FzeQ20PPb-Q22Q5CMdQ3D Russia Bars ABC News for Interview With Separatist], ''The New York Times'', 2 August 2005</ref> The [[Russian-Chechen Friendship Society]] was shut down on "extremism and national hatred" charges. According to a 2007 poll, only 11 percent of Russians said they were happy with media coverage of Chechnya.<ref name="poll"/>

==Effects==

===Civilian losses===
{{Main|Casualties of the Second Chechen War}}
[[File:Fosse commune de Saadi-Kotar.jpg|thumb|A Russian soldier stands on a mass grave of Chechen civilians in Komsomolskoye, 2000]]
In the Second Chechen War, over 60,000 combatants and non-combatants were killed.{{Sfn|Coene|2009|p=145}} Civilian casualty estimates vary widely. According to the pro-Moscow Chechnyan government, 160,000 combatants and non-combatants died or have gone missing in the two wars, including 30,000–40,000 Chechens and about 100,000 Russians,<ref>[http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/08/15/news/chech.php Chechen official puts death toll for 2 wars at up to 160,000]  {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090301034653/http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/08/15/news/chech.php |date=1 March 2009 }}  International Herald Tribune, 16 August 2005</ref><ref>[http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticle/2005/08/b23f8d99-f15d-4b40-882c-975598c29ae3.html Russia: Chechen Official Puts War Death Toll At 160,000] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080613004501/http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticle/2005/08/b23f8d99-f15d-4b40-882c-975598c29ae3.html |date=13 June 2008 }} RFE/RL, 16 August 2005</ref> while separatist leader Aslan Maskhadov (deceased) repeatedly claimed about 200,000 ethnic Chechens died as a consequence of the two conflicts.<ref>[http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2005/08/16/011.html Death Toll Put at 160,000 in Chechnya] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080829231310/http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2005/08/16/011.html |date=29 August 2008 }}  [[The Moscow Times]], 16 August 2005</ref> A 2005 report by Al Jazeera estimated the total death toll from the two wars, including civilians and combatants, to be around 300,000.<ref>{{cite news |title=Official: Chechen wars killed 300,000 |url=https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2005/6/26/official-chechen-wars-killed-300000 |access-date=30 December 2024 |publisher=Al Jazeera |date=26 June 2005}}</ref> As in the case of military losses, these claims can not be independently verified. According to a count by the Russian human rights group [[Memorial (society)|Memorial]] in 2007, up to 25,000 civilians have died or disappeared since 1999.<ref name="alert">[http://www.alertnet.org/db/crisisprofiles/RU_WAR.htm?v=in_detail Chechnya war] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100620001101/http://www.alertnet.org/db/crisisprofiles/RU_WAR.htm?v=in_detail |date=20 June 2010 }}, Reuters AlertNet, 11 April 2007</ref> According to Amnesty International in 2007, the second war killed up to 25,000 civilians since 1999, with up to another 5,000 people missing.<ref name="jamestown.org"/> However, the Russian-Chechen Friendship Society set their estimate of the total death toll in two wars at about 150,000 to 200,000 civilians.<ref name="casualties"/>

===Material and environmental damage===
Environmental agencies warn that the Russian republic of Chechnya, devastated by war, faces ecological disaster. A former aide to Yeltsin said Russian bombing has rendered Chechnya an "environmental wasteland."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.american.edu/TED/ice/chechnya.htm |title=Chechnya Conflict and Environmental Implications |publisher=American.edu |access-date=17 October 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111125034703/http://www1.american.edu/ted/ice/chechnya.htm |archive-date=25 November 2011 }}</ref> Several [[oil spill]]s and pollution from [[sanitary sewer|sewers]] were caused by war (the water is polluted to a depth of 250&nbsp;m<ref>[http://www.kommersant.com/p-92/r_436/Chechen_Republic/ Chechen Republic // GENERAL INFORMATION] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160514163311/http://www.kommersant.com/p-92/r_436/Chechen_Republic/ |date=14 May 2016 }}, Kommersant, 10 March 2004</ref>), and chemical and [[radioactive pollution]], as a result of the bombardment of chemical facilities and storages during the conflict.<ref name="ravaged"/> Chechnya's wildlife also sustained heavy damage during the hostilities, as animals that had once populated the Chechen forests have moved off to seek safer ground.<ref>[http://www.watchdog.cz/index.php?show=000000-000002-000001-000110-000048&lang=1 Military operations greatly alter Chechen mountain life] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304193914/http://www.watchdog.cz/index.php?show=000000-000002-000001-000110-000048&lang=1 |date=4 March 2016 }}, Prague Watchdog, 4 May 2003</ref> In 2004, Russian government has designated one-third of Chechnya a "zone of ecological disaster" and another 40% "a zone of extreme environmental distress".<ref>[http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2004/723/sc211.htm 'In the Caucasus, you can buy anything'] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071016111527/http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2004/723/sc211.htm |date=16 October 2007 }}, ''Al-Ahram Weekly'', 2004</ref>

Approximately 60,000 housing units were damaged or destroyed, while {{convert|30000|ha|km2}} of [[agricultural land]] were contamined by explosives.{{sfn|Sakwa|2005|p=40}}

===Land mines===
{{Main|Land mines in Chechnya}}
In 2004, Chechnya became the most [[land mine]]-affected region worldwide.<ref>[http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticle/2004/10/8f24150a-e534-42a8-80d9-198ae5453f89.html Chechnya: Land Mines Seen As Continuing Scourge] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080613131843/http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticle/2004/10/8f24150a-e534-42a8-80d9-198ae5453f89.html |date=13 June 2008 }} RFE/RL, 19 October 2004</ref> Since 1994 there have been widespread use of mines by both sides (Russia is a party to the 1980 [[Convention on Conventional Weapons]] but not the 1996 protocol on land mines and other devices). The most heavily mined areas of Chechnya are those in which separatists continued to put up resistance, namely the southern regions, as well as the borders of the republic.<ref>[http://www.icbl.org/lm/2004/chechnya Chechnya] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090218181656/http://www.icbl.org/lm/2004/chechnya |date=18 February 2009 }}, LM Report 2004, 8 February 2005</ref> No humanitarian mine clearance has taken place since the [[HALO Trust]] was evicted by Russia in December 1999. In June 2002, [[Olara Otunnu]], the UN official, estimated that there were 500,000 land mines placed in the region. [[UNICEF]] has recorded 2,340 civilian land mine and [[unexploded ordnance]] casualties occurring in Chechnya between 1999 and the end of 2003.

===Military losses===
{{Main|Casualties of the Second Chechen War}}

Military casualty figures from both sides are impossible to verify and are generally believed to be higher. In September 2000, the [[Kavkaz Center]] compiled a list of casualties officially announced in the conflict, which, although incomplete and with little factual value, provides some minimal insight into the casualties.<ref>[http://www.watchdog.cz/index.php?show=000000-000005-000003-000001&lang=1 Casualties officially announced since the beginning of the conflict] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930155502/http://www.watchdog.cz/index.php?show=000000-000005-000003-000001&lang=1 |date=30 September 2007 }}, Prague Watchdog, 13 September 2000</ref> According to the figures released by the [[Russian Ministry of Defence]] in August 2005, at least 1,250 [[Russian Armed Forces]] soldiers were [[killed in action]] in 1999–2005. This death toll did not include losses of [[Internal Troops]], the FSB, police and local paramilitaries, of whom all at least 1,720 were killed by October 2003.<ref name="casualties">[https://archive.today/20070821154629/http://www.hrvc.net/htmls/references.htm Civil and military casualties of the wars in Chechnya], [[Russian-Chechen Friendship Society]]</ref> Independent Russian and Western estimates are much higher; the [[Union of the Committees of Soldiers' Mothers of Russia]], for instance, estimated about 2,000 Russian Army servicemen have been killed between 1999 and 2003.<ref name="alert"/>

===Political radicalization of the separatist movement===
The Chechens had become increasingly radicalized. Former [[Soviet Armed Forces]] officers Dzhokhar Dudayev and Aslan Maskhadov were succeeded by people who rely more on [[Islamism|Islamist]] doctrine, rather than the secular [[nationalism|nationalistic]] feelings of the population. While Dudayev and Maskhadov were seeking from Moscow recognition of the independence of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria, other leaders spoke out more about the need to expel Russia from the territory of the whole North Caucasus, an impoverished mountain region inhabited mostly by Muslim, non-Russian ethnic groups.{{Citation needed|date=April 2008}}

In April 2006, asked whether negotiations with Russians are possible, the top separatist commander [[Doku Umarov]] answered: "We offered them many times. But it turned out that we constantly press for negotiations and it's as if we are always standing with an extended hand and this is taken as a sign of our weakness. Therefore we don't plan to do this any more." In the same month, the new separatist spokesman [[Movladi Udugov]] said that attacks should be expected anywhere in Russia: "Today, we have a different task on our hands – [[total war]], war everywhere our enemy can be reached. (...) And this means mounting attacks at any place, not just in the Caucasus but in all Russia." Reflecting growing radicalization of the Chechen-led militants, Udugov said their goal was no longer Western-style democracy and independence, but the [[Islamist]] "North Caucasian [[Emirate]]".{{Citation needed|date=April 2008}}

[[File:Flag of Caucasian Emirate.jpg|thumb|Flag of the [[Caucasian Emirate]]]]

This trend ultimately resulted in the October 2007 declaration of the [[Caucasus Emirate]] by Doku Umarov where he also urged for a global Jihad, and the political schism between the moderates and the radical Islamists fighting in Chechnya and the neighbouring regions with ties in the Middle East.<ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/chechnya/Story/0,,2214769,00.html The battle for the soul of Chechnya]  {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080125232721/http://www.guardian.co.uk/chechnya/Story/0%2C%2C2214769%2C00.html |date=25 January 2008 }}, ''The Guardian'', 22 November 2007</ref> Some commanders, still fighting along with Doku Umarov, like [[Anzor Astemirov]], publicly denounced the idea of a global Jihad, but keep fighting for the independence of Caucasus states.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.jamestown.org/chechnya_weekly/article.php?articleid=2373840 |title=Chechnya Weekly from the Jamestown Foundation |access-date=16 January 2008 |url-status=bot: unknown |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080213022450/http://www.jamestown.org/chechnya_weekly/article.php?articleid=2373840 |archive-date=13 February 2008 }}</ref>

The struggle garnered support from Muslim sympathizers around the world nonetheless, and some of them were willing to take up arms. Many commentators thought it was likely that Chechen fighters had links with international Islamist separatist groups. The [[BBC]] said in an online Q&A on the conflict: "It has been known for years that Muslim volunteers have traveled to Chechnya to join the fight, reportedly after attending training camps in [[Afghan training camp|Afghanistan]] or [[Pakistan]]."<ref name="alert"/>

Islamic radicalisation also affected the Chechen separatist movement's support abroad. In 2013, the [[Tsarnaev brothers]] launched [[Boston Marathon bombing|a suicide attack]] in [[Boston]] with a claim of jihad, accusing the United States of killing Muslims of [[Iraq]], [[Afghanistan]] and [[Palestine (region)|Palestine]], weakening sympathy for the Chechen resistance globally and increasing xenophobia against Chechens and Muslims in the United States.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/details-emerge-on-suspected-boston-bombers/2013/04/19/ef2c2566-a8e4-11e2-a8e2-5b98cb59187f_story.html|title=Details emerge on brothers suspected in bombing at Boston Marathon|first1=Peter|last1=Finn|first2=Carol D.|last2=Leonnig|first3=Will|last3=Englund|date=19 April 2013|newspaper=The Washington Post|access-date=1 January 2020|archive-date=18 December 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191218150404/https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/details-emerge-on-suspected-boston-bombers/2013/04/19/ef2c2566-a8e4-11e2-a8e2-5b98cb59187f_story.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Rampant [[Islamic terrorism in Europe]] and the exclusive role of the Chechens on the [[Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant]], most notably [[Abu Omar al-Shishani]], also put the Chechen separatist movement in jeopardy due to increasing anti-Islamic sentiment on the rise in Europe, even in some of the countries in Europe like [[Poland]], who supported Chechens during and after conflicts with Russia.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-28217590|title=Georgian roots of Isis commander|first=Nina|last=Akhmeteli|work=BBC News|date=9 July 2014|access-date=8 January 2020|archive-date=4 February 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200204163436/https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-28217590|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.connections.clio-online.net/article/id/artikel-4692|title=A Different Dynamic? Explaining Prejudice Against Muslims in the Russian Federation: Islamophobia or Internalised Racial Hierarchy?|first=David|last=Herbert|date=7 July 2020|website=www.connections.clio-online.net|access-date=6 July 2020|archive-date=1 January 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200101065314/https://www.connections.clio-online.net/article/id/artikel-4692|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | last1=Dudzińska | first1=Agnieszka | author-link1=Agnieszka Dudzińska | last2=Kotnarowski | first2=Michał | title=Imaginary Muslims: How the Polish right frames Islam | website=Brookings | date=24 July 2019 | url=https://www.brookings.edu/research/imaginary-muslims-how-polands-populists-frame-islam/ | access-date=6 July 2020 | archive-date=13 May 2020 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200513194958/https://www.brookings.edu/research/imaginary-muslims-how-polands-populists-frame-islam/ | url-status=live }}</ref>

===Impact on the Chechen population===
According to a 2006 report by [[Médecins Sans Frontières]], "the majority of Chechens still struggle through lives burdened by fear, uncertainty and poverty." A survey conducted by MSF in September 2005 showed that 77% of the respondents were suffering from "discernible symptoms of psychological distress".<ref>[MSF Activity Reports on The Russian Federation: 2006 {{cite web|url=http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org |title=MSF USA &#124; Medical aid where it is needed most. Independent. Neutral. Impartial. |access-date=18 March 2008 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161108092649/http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/ |archive-date=8 November 2016}}], Doctors Without Borders</ref>

As of 2008, the [[infant mortality]] rate stood at 17 per 1,000, the highest in Russia;<ref>[http://www.gks.ru/wps/PA_1_0_S5/Documents/jsp/Detail_default.jsp?category=1112178611292&elementId=1140096846203 Russian demographic statistics 2008] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101215012413/http://www.gks.ru/wps/PA_1_0_S5/Documents/jsp/Detail_default.jsp?category=1112178611292&elementId=1140096846203 |date=15 December 2010 }}  [[Rosstat]] Retrieved on Oct-05-2009</ref> There are reports of a growing number of [[genetic disorder]]s in babies and unexplained illnesses among school children.<ref name="ravaged">[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/5108416.stm Chechnya habitat 'ravaged by war'] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160306024043/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/5108416.stm |date=6 March 2016 }}, BBC News, 22 June 2006</ref> One child in ten is born with some kind of [[birth defect|anomaly]] that requires treatment. Some children whose parents can afford it are sent to the neighbouring republic of Dagestan, where treatment is better; Chechnya lacks sufficient medical equipment in most of its medical facilities.<ref>[https://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2007/11/14/a_determined_spirit_guides_grozny/?page=2 A determined spirit guides Grozny] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305002616/http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2007/11/14/a_determined_spirit_guides_grozny/?page=2 |date=5 March 2016 }}, ''The Boston Globe'', 14 November 2007</ref> According to the [[United Nations Children's Fund]] (UNICEF), since 1994 to 2008 about 25,000 children in Chechnya have lost one or both parents.<ref>[https://www.smh.com.au/news/world/groznys-lost-boys/2008/03/21/1205602658064.html Grozny's lost boys] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160430101252/http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/groznys-lost-boys/2008/03/21/1205602658064.html |date=30 April 2016 }}, ''Sydney Morning Herald'', 22 March 2008</ref> A whole generation of Chechen children is showing symptoms of [[psychological trauma]]. In 2006, Chechnya's pro-Moscow deputy health minister, said the Chechen children had become "living specimens" of what it means to grow up with the constant threat of violence and chronic poverty.<ref>[http://www.genocidewatch.org/Chechnyarussiaamysterymaladyinchechnyamar06.htm A Mystery Malady in Chechnya], ''Los Angeles Times'', 10 March 2006 {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081202070245/http://www.genocidewatch.org/Chechnyarussiaamysterymaladyinchechnyamar06.htm |date=2 December 2008 }}</ref> In 2007, the Chechen interior ministry has identified 1,000 [[street children]] involved in [[Vagrancy (people)|vagrancy]]; the number was increasing.<ref>[http://www.watchdog.cz/?show=000000-000002-000001-000186&lang=1 Large numbers of street children discovered in Chechnya] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303203243/http://www.watchdog.cz/?show=000000-000002-000001-000186&lang=1 |date=3 March 2016 }}, Prague Watchdog, 23 March 2007</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.macaudailytimesnews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=7314&Itemid=33 |title=Chechnya, land of Putin's 99 percent support |access-date=17 April 2008 |url-status=bot: unknown |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080521000712/http://www.macaudailytimesnews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=7314&Itemid=33 |archive-date=21 May 2008 }}</ref>

According to official statistics, Chechnya's [[unemployment rate]] in August 2009 was 32.9%. By 2017, this figure had decreased to 13.9%.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.gks.ru/free_doc/doc_2017/social/osn-11-2017.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=13 July 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180713231231/http://www.gks.ru/free_doc/doc_2017/social/osn-11-2017.pdf |archive-date=13 July 2018 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>[http://www.rosbaltsouth.ru/2007/12/05/437738.html Чечня – лидер по уровню безработицы среди регионов России] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090105202934/http://www.rosbaltsouth.ru/2007/12/05/437738.html |date=5 January 2009 }}, 5 December 2007</ref> Many people remain [[Homelessness|homeless]] because so much of Chechnya's housing was destroyed by the Russian federal forces and many people have not yet been given [[Damages|compensation]].<ref>[http://www.smu.edu/humanrights/aiurgent.html Amnesty International Urgent Action] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130526015820/http://www.smu.edu/humanrights/aiurgent.html |date=26 May 2013 }}, Amnesty International, 25 January 2008</ref> Not only the social (such as housing and hospitals) and economic infrastructure but also the foundations of culture and education, including most of educational and cultural institutions, were destroyed over the course of the two wars in Chechnya.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.idee.org/lreport2.html|title=The Consequences of War for Education and Culture in Chechnya|publisher=Idee.org|date=29 September 2000|access-date=17 October 2011|archive-date=27 September 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110927152158/http://www.idee.org/lreport2.html|url-status=live}}</ref> However, ongoing reconstruction efforts have been rebuilding the region at a quick pace over the past few years, including new housing, facilities, paved roads and traffic lights, a new mosque, and restoration of electricity to much of the region.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/05/03/news/chech.php |title=Spring rebuilding in Chechnya |work=International Herald Tribune |date=29 March 2009 |access-date=17 October 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080521015028/http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/05/03/news/chech.php |archive-date=21 May 2008 }}</ref> Governmental, social and commercial life remain hobbled by bribery, kidnapping, extortion and other criminal activity; reports by the Russian government estimate that the organized crime sector is twice the Russian average and the government is widely perceived to be corrupt and unresponsive.<ref>[http://www.theirc.org/news/the_crisis_in_chechnya_and_the_northern_caucasus_at_a_glance.html The Crisis in Chechnya and the Northern Caucasus at a Glance]  {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081225093734/http://www.theirc.org/news/the_crisis_in_chechnya_and_the_northern_caucasus_at_a_glance.html |date=25 December 2008 }}, IRC, 31 January 2006</ref>

Hundreds of thousands of Chechens [[Chechen refugees|were displaced by the conflict]], including 300,000 at the height of the conflict in 2000.<ref name="alert"/> Most of them were displaced internally in Chechnya and in neighbouring republic of Ingushetia, but thousands of refugees also went into exile, with, as of 2008, most of them residing in the [[European Union]] countries.

===Impact on the Russian population===
{{See also|Human rights in Russia|Racism in Russia}}
The start of the war bolstered the domestic popularity of Vladimir Putin as the campaign was started one month after he had become [[Prime Minister of Russia|Russian prime minister]].<ref name="poll">[http://www.jamestown.org/publications_details.php?volume_id=421&issue_id=4037&article_id=2372009 POLL FINDS A PLURALITY OF RUSSIANS DISTRUST RAMZAN] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080520043841/http://www.jamestown.org/publications_details.php?volume_id=421&issue_id=4037&article_id=2372009 |date=20 May 2008 }} [[The Jamestown Foundation]], 27 March 2007</ref> The conflict greatly contributed to the deep changes in the Russian politics and society.<ref name="warlord">[http://economist.com/world/displaystory.cfm?story_id=9254176 The warlord and the spook] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090126132118/http://economist.com/world/displaystory.cfm?story_id=9254176 |date=26 January 2009 }} [[The Economist]], 31 March 2007</ref>

Since the Chechen conflict began in 1994, cases of young veterans returning embittered and traumatized to their home towns were reported all across Russia. Psychiatrists, law-enforcement officials, and journalists started calling the condition of psychologically scarred soldiers "Chechen syndrome" (CS), drawing a parallel with the [[post-traumatic stress disorder]]s suffered by Soviet soldiers who fought in Afghanistan. According to Yuri Alexandrovsky, deputy director of the [[Moscow Serbsky Institute]] in 2003, at least 70% of the estimated 1.5&nbsp;million Chechnya veterans suffered CS.<ref>[http://205.188.238.181/time/printout/0,8816,901031006-490663,00.html Chechnya's Walking Wounded]  {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928082235/http://205.188.238.181/time/printout/0%2C8816%2C901031006-490663%2C00.html |date=28 September 2007 }} [[Time (magazine)]]/CNN, 28 September 2003</ref> Many of the veterans came back alcoholic, unemployable and [[Antisocial personality disorder|antisocial]].<ref name="warlord"/> Thousands were also physically [[disability|disabled]] for life and left with very limited help from the government.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20151016233612/http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4176/is_20030430/ai_n14548271 Island lessons for Russian war vet], Oakland Tribune, 30 April 2003</ref>

According to the 2007 study by Memorial and [[Demos (human rights center)|Demos]] human rights organisations, Russian policemen lost their qualifications and professional skills during their [[tour of duty|duty tours]] in Chechnya.<ref name="omon">[http://jamestown.org/chechnya_weekly/article.php?articleid=2374082 The Geography of OMON Deployments in the North Caucasus] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080612041833/http://jamestown.org/chechnya_weekly/article.php?articleid=2374082 |date=12 June 2008 }}, [[The Jamestown Foundation]], 3 April 2008</ref> The conflict was linked to the rising brutality and general criminalisation of the Russian police forces. According to human rights activists and journalists, tens of thousands of police and security forces that went to Chechnya learned patterns of brutality and impunity and brought them to their home regions, often returning with disciplinary and psychological problems. Reliable numbers on [[police brutality]] are hard to come by, but in a statement released in 2006, the internal affairs department of Russia's Interior Ministry said that the number of recorded crimes committed by police officers rose 46.8% in 2005. In one nationwide poll in 2005, 71% of respondents said they didn't trust their police at all; in another, 41% Russians said they lived in fear of police violence.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20050528002945/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A4009-2005Mar26.html For Russians, Police Rampage Fuels Fear] ''[[Washington Post]]'', 27 March 2005</ref><ref>[http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticle/2005/06/da84eb4b-5f23-4876-8d61-bc4d6f4f6260.html Russia: Police Brutality Shows Traces Of Chechnya] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080616101236/http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticle/2005/06/da84eb4b-5f23-4876-8d61-bc4d6f4f6260.html |date=16 June 2008 }} RFE/RL, 20 June 2005</ref> According to Amnesty International, torture of detainees in Russia had become [[Endemic (epidemiology)|endemic]].<ref name="warlord"/> Since 2007, police officers from outside the Caucasus were not only being sent to Chechnya, but to all the region's republics.<ref name="omon"/>

The wars in Chechnya and associated Caucasian terrorism in Russia were major factors in the growth of intolerance, [[xenophobia]], and [[racism|racist]] violence in Russia, directed in a great part against the people from the Caucasus.<ref name="warlord"/> The Russian authorities were unlikely to label random attacks on people of non-Russian ethnicity as racist, preferring to call it "[[hooliganism]]".{{Citation needed|date=July 2009}} The number of murders officially classified as racist more than doubled in Russia between 2003 and 2004. The violence included acts of terrorism such as the [[2006 Moscow market bombing]] which killed 13 people.<ref>[http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/11/02/news/briefs.php Political turmoil erupts again in deadly protests]  {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080521014958/http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/11/02/news/briefs.php |date=21 May 2008 }}  IHT, 2 November 2005</ref><ref>[http://english.people.com.cn/200609/14/eng20060914_302534.html Migrants flee town after racial violence] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130522142249/http://english.people.com.cn/200609/14/eng20060914_302534.html |date=22 May 2013 }} [[People's Daily]], 14 September 2006</ref> In 2007, 18-year-old [[Artur Ryno]] claimed responsibility for 37 racially motivated murders in the course of one year, saying that "since school [he] hated people from the Caucasus."<ref>[http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2007/05/29/011.html Teenager Admits to Over 30 Murders] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081122123042/http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2007/05/29/011.html |date=22 November 2008 }} [[The Moscow Times]], 29 May 2007</ref> On 5 June 2007, an anti-Chechen riot involving hundreds of people took place in the town of Stavropol in southern Russia. Rioters demanded the eviction of ethnic Chechens following the murder of two young Russians who locals believed were killed by Chechens. The event revived memories of a recent clash between Chechens and local Russians in [[Kondopoga]], when two Russians were killed over an unpaid bill.<ref>[https://www.reuters.com/article/homepageCrisis/idUSL05224442._CH_.2400 Nationalists rally in Russian town near Chechnya] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090103155648/https://www.reuters.com/article/homepageCrisis/idUSL05224442._CH_.2400 |date=3 January 2009 }} [[Reuters]], 5 June 2007</ref> The Caucasians also face ethnic-related violence in the ranks of Russian Army.<ref>[http://iwpr.net/?p=crs&s=f&o=159879&apc_state=henicrs2000 Racist Violence Plagues Russian Army] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305130815/http://iwpr.net/?p=crs&s=f&o=159879&apc_state=henicrs2000 |date=5 March 2016 }} IWPR, 15-Sep-00</ref>

==Status==
In 2005, there were about 60,000 Federal troops in Chechnya, but that number has since decreased significantly. Tony Wood, a journalist and author who has written extensively about Chechnya, estimated there were about 8,000 local security forces remaining in the region {{As of|2007|lc=on}}. Independent analysts say there are no more than 2,000 armed terrorists combatants still fighting, while Russia says only a few hundred remain. There is still some sporadic fighting in the mountains and south of the republic, but Russia has scaled down its presence significantly leaving the local government to stabilize things further.<ref name= "alert" />  In February 2008 the President of the separatist [[Chechen Republic of Ichkeria]], [[Dokka Umarov]], spoke of "thousands of fighters" when he addressed a speech to all his fighters in the mountains.<ref>{{cite web | work = Blip TV |url= http://blip.tv/file/get/Kavkazcenter-873.wmv |title=Dokka Umarov speech |access-date=1 June 2016}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}{{Dead link|date=June 2015}}</ref>

[[File:Vladimir Putin 18 January 2001-3.jpg|thumb|[[Akhmad Kadyrov]], formerly a leading separatist [[mufti]], had switched sides in 2000]]
Most of the more prominent past Chechen separatist leaders have died or have been killed, including former president Maskhadov and leading warlord and terrorist attack mastermind [Basayev. Meanwhile, the fortunes of the Chechen independence movement sagged, plagued by the internal disunity between Chechen moderates and Islamist radicals and the changing global political climate after 11 September 2001, as well as the general [[war-weariness]] of the Chechen population. Large-scale fighting has been replaced by [[guerrilla warfare]] and bombings targeting federal troops and forces of the regional government, with the violence often spilling over into adjacent regions. Since 2005, the insurgency has largely shifted out of Chechnya proper and into the nearby Russian territories, such as Ingushetia and Dagestan; the Russian government, for its part, has focused on the stabilization of the North Caucasus.

Throughout the years Russian officials have often announced that the war is over. In April 2002, Putin declared that the war in Chechnya was over.<ref name="David">{{Cite news|first=David |last=Johnson |title=separatists kill 18 pro-Russians in Chechnya, Putin says war is over |url=http://www.cdi.org/Russia/202-3.cfm |work=Russia Weekly |publisher=Center for Defense Information |location=Washington, D.C. |date=19 April 2002 |access-date=19 December 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071213204907/http://www.cdi.org/russia/202-3.cfm |archive-date=13 December 2007 }}</ref>
The Russian government maintains the conflict officially ended in April 2002,<ref name="David"/><ref>{{Cite news|title=Chechen peace amid gunfire|url=http://edition.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/europe/12/21/chechnya.life.otsc/index.html|publisher=CNN|date=21 December 2002|access-date=19 December 2007|archive-date=21 May 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080521073655/http://edition.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/europe/12/21/chechnya.life.otsc/index.html|url-status=live}}</ref> and since then has continued largely as a peacekeeping operation.

In a 10 July 2006, interview with the BBC, [[Sergei Ivanov]], Russia's then–prime minister and former [[Defence Ministry of the Russian Federation|minister of defense]], said that "the war is over," and that "the military campaign lasted only 2 years."<ref>{{Cite news|first=Stephen |last=Sakker |title=Sergey Ivanov: "The war in Chechnya is over" |url=http://www.inosmi.ru/translation/228674.html |location=London |publisher=British Broadcasting Corp. |date=10 July 2006 |access-date=19 December 2007 |language=ru |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080101141228/http://www.inosmi.ru/translation/228674.html |archive-date=1 January 2008 }}</ref>

[[File:Matovnikov in Chechnya (2018-07-12) 3.jpg|thumb|Chechen leader [[Ramzan Kadyrov]]]]
Ramzan Kadyrov, the current [[President of the Chechen Republic|president of the Chechnya]], has also stated the war is over.<ref>{{Cite news|first=Tim|last=Borisov|title=Ramzan Kadyrov: Since the war ended forever|url=http://www.rg.ru/2007/07/10/reg-kavkaz/kadirov.html|location=Moscow|publisher=Rossiiskaya Gazeta|language=ru|date=10 July 2007|access-date=19 December 2007|archive-date=23 December 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071223075419/http://www.rg.ru/2007/07/10/reg-kavkaz/kadirov.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Others believe the war ended in 2003 with the passage of a Moscow-backed constitutional referendum and the election of pro-Moscow president Akhmad Kadyrov, while some consider the conflict on-going.<ref>{{Cite news|title=The Situation in Chechnya|url=http://www.soma.on.ca/XXXV/Background%20Guides/Security%20Council%20--%20Topic%202%20--%20Situation%20in%20Chechnya.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080216043846/http://www.soma.on.ca/XXXV/Background%20Guides/Security%20Council%20--%20Topic%202%20--%20Situation%20in%20Chechnya.pdf|url-status=dead|archive-date=16 February 2008|publisher=Southern Ontario Model United Nations Assembly|location=Ontario|page=5|year=2007|access-date=19 December 2007}}</ref> Some independent observers, including [[Álvaro Gil-Robles]], the human rights envoy for the [[Council of Europe]], and [[Louise Arbour]], the [[UN High Commissioner for Human Rights]], have said that the war has largely concluded as of 2006.<ref>{{Cite news|first=Adrian|last=Blomfield|title=Chechnya's new leader: a boxer with his own army|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/03/06/wchech06.xml|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071223042352/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=%2Fnews%2F2006%2F03%2F06%2Fwchech06.xml|url-status=dead|archive-date=23 December 2007|work=The Daily Telegraph|location=London|date=6 July 2006|access-date=19 December 2007}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|first=Pyotr |last=Romanov |title=Outside View: End of Caucasian war |url=http://wpherald.com/articles/243/1/Outside-View-End-of-Causasian-war/Demise-of-Shamil-Basayev.html |work=World Peace Herald |publisher=News World Communications |location=Washington, D.C. |date=11 July 2006 |access-date=19 December 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080107033631/http://wpherald.com/articles/243/1/Outside-View-End-of-Causasian-war/Demise-of-Shamil-Basayev.html |archive-date=7 January 2008 }}</ref>

The separatists denied that the war was over, and guerrilla warfare continued throughout the North Caucasus. Colonel Yamadayev, Chechnya's second most powerful loyalist warlord after Kadyrov, also denied that the war is over. In March 2007, Yamadayev claimed there were well over 1,000 separatists and foreign Islamic militants entrenched in the mountains of Chechnya alone: "The war is not over, the war is far from being over. What we are facing now is basically a classic [[Partisan (military)|partisan]] war and my prognosis is that it will last two, three, maybe even five more years."<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/03/27/wchech27.xml|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070411142306/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=%2Fnews%2F2007%2F03%2F27%2Fwchech27.xml|url-status=dead|archive-date=11 April 2007|work=The Daily Telegraph|location=London|title=In the front line of Putin's secret war|first=Adrian|last=Blomfield|date=27 March 2007|access-date=23 May 2010}}</ref> According to the [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] factbook, Russia has severely disabled the Chechen separatist movement, although sporadic violence still occurs throughout the North Caucasus.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/russia/|title=The World Factbook|work=[[Central Intelligence Agency]]|access-date=20 May 2015|archive-date=9 January 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210109173026/https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/russia/|url-status=live}}</ref> The overall security situation in Chechnya remains exceedingly difficult to accurately report due to the near monopoly the Russian government has on media covering the issue.{{citation needed|date=February 2023}} In May 2007, Amnesty International refuted claims by the government that the conflict has ended, stating "while large-scale military operations have been reduced, the conflict continues."<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/eur46/015/2007/en/ |title=Russian Federation What justice for Chechnya's disappeared? |date=23 May 2007 |access-date=26 February 2008 |archive-date=23 February 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150223192312/https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/EUR46/015/2007/en/ |url-status=live }}</ref> The strength of the separatists has for many years been unknown. Although Russia has killed a lot of separatists throughout the war, many young fighters have joined the separatists.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.jamestown.org/chechnya_weekly/article.php?articleid%3D2374081 |title=The Alkhazurovo Operation: Are Chechnya's separatists on the Rebound? |work=jamestown.org |access-date=8 April 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080408112441/http://www.jamestown.org/chechnya_weekly/article.php?articleid=2374081 |archive-date=8 April 2008}}</ref>

An estimation, based on the war reports, shows that in the past three years Federal casualties are higher than the number of coalition casualties of the [[War in Afghanistan (2001–2021)]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.icasualties.org/oef/|title=Operation Enduring Freedom|publisher=iCasualties|access-date=17 October 2011|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100406083558/http://icasualties.org/oef/|archive-date=6 April 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://kavkaz-uzel.ru/newstext/chronics/id/1196026.html |title=Ингушетия: хроника терактов, обстрелов, похищений |access-date=16 April 2008 |url-status=bot: unknown |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071012112601/http://kavkaz-uzel.ru/newstext/chronics/id/1196026.html |archive-date=12 October 2007 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://kavkaz-uzel.ru/newstext/chronics/id/790621.html |title=Дагестан: хроника террора (1996–2007 гг.) |access-date=16 April 2008 |url-status=bot: unknown |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060213192443/http://kavkaz-uzel.ru/newstext/chronics/id/790621.html |archive-date=13 February 2006 }}</ref>
With the abolition of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria and the proclamation of the Caucasus Emirate by Umarov, the conflict in Chechnya and the rest of the North Caucasus is often referred to as the "War in the North Caucasus". The Russian government has given no new name to the conflict while most international observers still refer to it as a continuation of the Second Chechen War.<ref>[http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2007/04/containing_russia.html Articles – Containing Russia] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121011145441/http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2007/04/containing_russia.html |date=11 October 2012 }}. RealClearPolitics (30 April 2007). Retrieved on 25 November 2010.</ref>
[[File:Dmitry Medvedev 27 March 2009-2.jpg|thumb|[[Dmitry Medvedev]] meets with [[Alexander Bortnikov]] on 27 March 2009 to discuss the ending of [[counter-terrorism]] operations in Chechnya.]]
In late April 2008, the [[Commissioner for Human Rights|Human Rights Commissioner]] for the Council of Europe, [[Thomas Hammarberg]], visited Russia's Caucasian republics. After wrapping up the week-long visit, he said he observed a number of positive developments in Chechnya, and that there was "obvious progress". He also noted that the [[judicial system]] in Chechnya was functioning properly. According to Hammarberg, missing people and the identification of missing bodies were still the two biggest human rights issues in the region, and he expressed his wish that further efforts be done to clarify the issue. President Putin responded to his comments, saying that the visit was of "great significance", and that Russia will take into account what the council had to say.<ref>[http://www.coe.int/t/commissioner/Activities/news2008/080425Putin_en.asp Commissioner Hammarberg meets Putin and Medvedev]  {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080502040115/http://www.coe.int/t/commissioner/Activities/news2008/080425Putin_en.asp |date=2 May 2008 }}  Retrieved: 8-26-08</ref>

Counter-insurgency operations have been conducted by Russian army in Chechnya since 1999. [[President of Chechnya]], and former separatist Kadyrov declared this phase to end in March 2009.<ref>[http://www.grani.ru/Politics/Russia/m.149075.html Грани.Ру // Политика / Россия / Десять лет без права] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160405150354/http://www.grani.ru/Politics/Russia/m.149075.html |date=5 April 2016 }}. Grani.ru (26 March 2009). Retrieved on 25 November 2010.</ref> On 27 March 2009, President of Russia [[Dmitry Medvedev]] met with Bortnikov, the Director of the FSB to discuss the official ending of [[counter-terrorism]] operations in Chechnya. Medvedev directed the [[National Anti-Terrorism Committee]], which Bortnikov also heads, to report to the Russian government on this issue, which will then be decided by the [[Russian parliament]].<ref name="reuters">{{cite news|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSLR961502|title=Russia mulls lifting tight Chechnya security regime|last=Shchedrov|first=Oleg|author2=Buribayev, Aydar|author3=Pearce, Tim|date=27 March 2009|location=Moscow|work=Reuters|access-date=28 March 2009|archive-date=31 January 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210131223045/https://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSLR961502|url-status=live}}</ref> However Medvedev said that situation in Chechnya must remain under direct control of the FSB.

On 16 April 2009, the counter-terrorism operation in Chechnya was officially ended.<ref name="bbc-endwar"/> As of 2009, close to 480 active insurgents were fighting in the mountains under the leadership of Umarov according to official data.<ref>[http://www.grani.ru/War/Chechnya/m.149153.html Война / Медведев: ФСБ должна сохранить контроль над Чечней] {{webarchive |url= https://web.archive.org/web/20090501210752/http://www.grani.ru/War/Chechnya/m.149153.html |date=1 May 2009 }}. Grani.ru (27 March 2009). Retrieved on 25 November 2010.</ref> Umarov was killed by poisoning in 2013.<ref name="Fuller">{{cite news |last1=Fuller |first1=Liz |title=Insurgency Commanders Divulge Details Of Umarov's Death |url=https://www.rferl.org/a/insurgency-commanders-divulge-of-umarovs-death/25467747.html |access-date=4 April 2022 |work=RFE-RL |date=23 July 2014 |archive-date=4 April 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220404181657/https://www.rferl.org/a/insurgency-commanders-divulge-of-umarovs-death/25467747.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Umarov's successor [[Aliaskhab Kebekov]] was reported killed in 2015. The "Caucasus Emirate" grouping founded by Umarov in 2007 was by 2015 largely absorbed into the ISIS-affiliated [[Vilayat Kavkaz]] led by [[Rustam Asilderov]]. Asilderov was reported killed in 2016.<ref name="Sturdee & Vatchagaev">{{cite journal |last1=Sturdee |first1=Nick |last2=Vatchagaev |first2=Mairbek |title=ISIS in the North Caucasus |journal=New Lines Institute |date=26 October 2020 |url=https://newlinesinstitute.org/isis/isis-in-the-north-caucasus/ |access-date=5 April 2022 |archive-date=22 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220522115724/https://newlinesinstitute.org/isis/isis-in-the-north-caucasus/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

On 18 October 2022, [[Verkhovna Rada|Ukraine's parliament]] condemned the "genocide of the Chechen people" during the First and Second Chechen Wars.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://novayagazeta.eu/articles/2022/10/18/ukraines-parliament-declares-the-chechen-republic-of-ichkeria-temporarily-occupied-by-russia-and-condemns-genocide-of-chechens-en-news|date=18 October 2022|work=[[Novaya Gazeta]]|title=Ukraine's parliament declares the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria 'temporarily occupied by Russia' and condemns 'genocide of Chechens'|access-date=19 October 2022|archive-date=18 October 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221018140238/https://novayagazeta.eu/articles/2022/10/18/ukraines-parliament-declares-the-chechen-republic-of-ichkeria-temporarily-occupied-by-russia-and-condemns-genocide-of-chechens-en-news|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://meduza.io/en/news/2022/10/18/ukraine-s-parliament-declares-chechen-republic-of-ichkeria-russian-occupied-territory|date=18 October 2022|work=[[Meduza]]|title=Ukraine's parliament declares 'Chechen Republic of Ichkeria' Russian-occupied territory|access-date=19 October 2022|archive-date=18 October 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221018151027/https://meduza.io/en/news/2022/10/18/ukraine-s-parliament-declares-chechen-republic-of-ichkeria-russian-occupied-territory|url-status=live}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Guerrilla phase of the Second Chechen War]]
* [[International response to the Second Chechen War]]
* [[Insurgency in Kabardino-Balkaria and Karachay-Cherkessia]]
* [[Insurgency in Ingushetia]]
* [[Insurgency in the North Caucasus]]

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

==References==
{{notelist}}

{{Reflist}}

===Publications===
* {{cite book|last=Coene| first= Frederik |title=The Caucasus – An Introduction|publisher=Routledge |year= 2009|isbn= 978-1-135-20302-3| url= https://books.google.com/books?id=7XuMAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA145}}

[[Category:Battles involving Ingushetia]]


[[Category:Wars involving Ingushetia]]

==Bibliography==
* "Three Worlds Gone Mad" Author: [[Robert Young Pelton]]
* [{{Google books |plainurl=yes |id=8T31JQAACAAJ }} ''A Dirty War: A Russian Reporter in Chechnya''] Author: [[Anna Politkovskaya]]
* [{{Google books |plainurl=yes |id=DbR62llvLh0C }} ''A Military History of Russia: From Ivan the Terrible to the War in Chechnya''] Author: [[David R. Stone]] (preview available)
* [{{Google books |plainurl=yes |id=M0NgDHDnpqgC }} ''A Small Corner of Hell: Dispatches from Chechnya''] Author: [[Anna Politkovskaya]] (preview available)
* [{{Google books |plainurl=yes |id=NPkH-7BCB6AC }} ''Allah's Mountains: The Battle for Chechnya''] Author: Sebastian Smith (preview available)
* [{{Google books |plainurl=yes |id=VhtNIDj6evUC }} ''Chechnya: From Nationalism to Jihad''] Author: [[James Hughes (political scientist)|James Hughes]] (preview available)
* {{cite book| last=Sakwa| first=Richard| authorlink=Richard Sakwa |title=Chechnya: From Past To Future| year=2005| publisher=Anthem Press| isbn=9781843311645| location=London| oclc=967386221}} 
* [{{Google books |plainurl=yes |id=BbYP8pOVv-AC }} ''Chechnya: Life in a War-Torn Society''] Author: [[Valery Tishkov]] (preview available)
* [{{Google books |plainurl=yes |id=5z4hAAAACAAJ }}''Chechnya: The Case for Independence''] Author: [[Tony Wood (writer)|Tony Wood]]
* [{{Google books |plainurl=yes |id=MvQyHQAACAAJ }} ''Chechnya: To the Heart of a Conflict''] Author: Andrew Meier
* [{{Google books |plainurl=yes |id=90Q2GdifewwC }} ''Chienne de Guerre: A Woman Reporter Behind the Lines of the War in Chechnya''] Author: [[Anne Nivat]]
* [{{Google books |plainurl=yes |id=FDb-GwAACAAJ }} ''Crying Wolf: The Return of War to Chechnya''] Author: Vanora Bennett
* [{{Google books |plainurl=yes |id=NukGAAAACAAJ }} ''My Jihad''] Author: [[Aukai Collins]]
* [{{Google books |plainurl=yes |id=QDvJGAAACAAJ }} ''One Soldier's War''] Author: [[Arkady Babchenko]].
* [{{Google books |plainurl=yes |id=taoIAAAACAAJ }} ''Open Wound: Chechnya 1994–2003''] Author: Stanley Greene
* [{{Google books |plainurl=yes |id=gQMOAAAACAAJ }} ''Putin's Russia''] Author: [[Anna Politkovskaya]]
* [{{Google books |plainurl=yes |id=coTg0jV7rLIC }} ''Russia's Chechen Wars 1994–2000: Lessons from Urban Combat''] Author: Olga Oliker (preview available)
* [{{Google books |plainurl=yes |id=cSGFhTEP49IC }} ''Russia's Islamic Threat''] Author: Gordon M. Hahn
* [{{Google books |plainurl=yes |id=Tcab0VXTqnQC }} ''Russia's Restless Frontier: The Chechnya Factor in Post-Soviet Russia''] Author: Dmitri Trenin, [[Anatol Lieven]] (preview available)
* [{{Google books |plainurl=yes |id=zPgeAQAACAAJ }} ''Russia's Wars with Chechnya 1994–2003''] Author: Michael Orr
* [{{Google books |plainurl=yes |id=7JLYiPmzD5oC |page=160 }} ''Russian Military Reform, 1992–2002''] Author: Anne Aldis, Roger N. McDermott
* [{{Google books |plainurl=yes |id=qSZa6_wnSiIC }} ''Russo-Chechen Conflict, 1800–2000: A Deadly Embrace''] Author: Robert Seely (preview available)
* [{{Google books |plainurl=yes |id=iljEKQAACAAJ }} ''The Angel of Grozny: Orphans of a Forgotten War''] Author: [[Asne Seierstad]]
* [{{Google books |plainurl=yes |id=inc4KfEHymYC }} ''The Chechen Wars: Will Russia Go the Way of the Soviet Union?''] Author: Matthew Evangelista (preview available)
* [{{Google books |plainurl=yes |id=OuzqrrzVspEC }} ''The Lone Wolf and the Bear: Three Centuries of Chechen Defiance of Russian Rule''] Author: Moshe Gammer (preview available)
* [{{Google books |plainurl=yes |id=vcMMAAAACAAJ }} ''The Oath: A Surgeon Under Fire''] Author: [[Khassan Baiev]]
* [{{Google books |plainurl=yes |id=_LXfR7wNWTUC }} ''The Wolves of Islam: Russia and the Faces of Chechen Terror''] Author: Paul J. Murphy (preview available)
* [{{Google books |plainurl=yes |id=uNHy6VQXGhYC }} ''"Welcome to Hell": Arbitrary Detention, Torture, and Extortion in Chechnya''] Author: [[Human Rights Watch]] (preview available)

==Further reading==
* {{Cite book|url=https://ia903402.us.archive.org/17/items/essential-histories-078-russias-wars-in-chechnya-1./essential-histories-078-russias-wars-in-chechnya-1..pdf|last=Galeotti|first=Mark|title=Russia's Wars in Chechnya 1994–2009|publisher=[[Osprey Publishing]]|year=2014|isbn=978-1-78200-277-2|series=Essential Histories|location=[[Oxford]]|issue=78}}

==External links==
{{commons category|Second Chechen War}}
;Timelines and chronologies
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/country_profiles/2357267.stm BBC Timeline: Chechnya]

;Summaries
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20150904122352/http://www.da.mod.uk/colleges/csrc/document-listings/caucasus/P29 Chechnya: Two Federal Interventions] [[Conflict Studies Research Centre]]

;Human rights issues
* [[Council of Europe]] resolutions on 'The human rights situation in the Chechen Republic':
** [http://archive.wikiwix.com/cache/20050319090027/http://assembly.coe.int/Mainf.asp?link=http%3A%2F%2Fassembly.coe.int%2FDocuments%2FAdoptedText%2FTA03%2FERES1323.htm Resolution 1323 (2003)]
** [http://archive.wikiwix.com/cache/20050319173514/http://assembly.coe.int/Mainf.asp?link=http%3A%2F%2Fassembly.coe.int%2FDocuments%2FAdoptedText%2Fta04%2FERES1403.htm Resolution 1403 (2004)]
* [https://archive.today/20031002111024/http://www.hrvc.net/main.htm Human Rights Violations in Chechnya] Society for the Russian–Chechen Friendship
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20040916225739/http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/publications/reports/2004/chechnya_report_9-9-04.pdf The Trauma of ongoing War in Chechnya] [[Doctors Without Borders]]

;Articles
* [http://www.isn.ethz.ch/pubs/ph/details.cfm?lng=en&id=31618 "The North Caucasus," Russian Analytical Digest No. 22 (5 June 2007)]
* [http://www.ifex.org/en/content/view/full/68793/ Critical media coverage of Chechnya stifled] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070308072630/http://www.ifex.org/en/content/view/full/68793/ |date=8 March 2007 }}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20060515231330/http://www.jamestown.org/publications_details.php?volume_id=416&issue_id=3697&article_id=2371008 Shifting Battlefields of the Chechen War (April 2006)]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070930182848/http://www.jamestown.org/publications_details.php?volume_id=421&issue_id=3971&article_id=2371800 The Chechen resistance movement: 2006 in review] [[Jamestown Foundation]]
* [http://www.isn.ch/pubs/ph/details.cfm?id=22365 ISN Case Study: The North Caucasus on the Brink (August 2006)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210417112912/http://www.isn.ch/pubs/ph/details.cfm?id=22365 |date=17 April 2021 }}

{{Chechen wars}}
{{Russian Conflicts}}
{{Boris Yeltsin}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Second Chechen War| ]]
[[Category:Civil wars in Russia]]
[[Category:Conflicts in 1999]]
[[Category:Conflicts in 2000]]
[[Category:Dirty wars]]
[[Category:Conflicts in territory of the former Soviet Union]]
[[Category:Chechen–Russian conflict|*2]]
[[Category:Guerrilla wars]]
[[Category:Rebellions in Russia]]
[[Category:Separatist rebellion-based civil wars]]
[[Category:Wars involving Chechnya]]
[[Category:1999 in Russia]]
[[Category:2000 in Russia]]
[[Category:Wars involving Russia]]
[[Category:Wars involving the Circassians]]
[[Category:Wars involving the Karachay-Balkars]]
[[Category:Wars of independence]]