- Title: Timeline of first conflict in Russia's Chechnya (1994-1996)
- Date: 8th December 2019
- Summary: CHECHEN FIGHTER LOOKS AT DEAD BODY
- Embargoed: 22nd December 2019 12:19
- Keywords: Chechen war Chechnya Dudayev Grozny Maskhadov Russia Yeltsin separatist timeline
- Location: VARIOUS LOCATIONS
- City: VARIOUS LOCATIONS
- Country: Russia
- Topics: Conflicts/War/Peace
- Reuters ID: LVA00CB953UX3
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: WARNING: THIS EDIT CONTAINS GRAPHIC MATERIAL
This is a timeline of the military conflict known as the first Chechen war (1994-1996), a military conflict in which a southern region of Chechnya attempted to break away from the Russian Federation.
The mountainous region led by president Dzhokhar Dudayev since 1991, enjoyed de-facto independence in the political turmoil after the fall of the Soviet rule.
Russia openly backed the opposition of several armed groups in the hope of winning back control of Chechnya, an oil refining centre where it has a strong commercial interest. But it denies it is giving military support.
The first Russian President Boris Yeltsin said he was taking steps to restore order in Chechnya after several weeks of intermittent fighting. Russian troops entered the rebel region in December 1994, however a large part of the army got stuck in the neighbouring regions, sympathetic with the rebels.
Moscow army entered the regional capital of Grozny in December 1994, but managed to finally take over the city by March 1995.
In the following year government forces established control over the low lands, pushing rebels higher into the mountains. However, several factors including the condition of the Russian army and strong support of separatists by the local population made Russian army's attempts to control the region unsuccessful.
Several ceasefire agreements were brokered in this period and subsequently violated by both sides. Several major hostage situations including Chechen fighters capturing around 2,000 civilians in the town of Buddenovsk, and a return of rebel forces to Grozny prompted Moscow to sign a Khasavyurt accord in the neighbouring Dagestan on August 31 1996. The accord stipulated the pull back of armed forces from both sides and postponed the question on the status of the republic until 2001 after Russian presidential election.
Moscow withdrew its forces after a two-year fight but Vladimir Putin, then prime minister, sent them back in 1999, this time crushing the independence movement and putting in place a hand-picked loyalist leader, whose son Ramzan Kadyrov now runs the region with an iron fist.
According to Russia's official data, 5,732 Moscow-led servicemen and 17,391 separatists were killed in the conflict. However the Committee of Soldiers' Mothers sets the number of casualties on the Moscow site much higher - over 14,000 people. - Copyright Holder: FILE REUTERS (CAN SELL)
- Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2019. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
- Usage Terms/Restrictions: WARNING: Editors please note, this clip contains graphic material