The First Chechen War was a rebellion by the separatist Chechen Republic of Ichkeria against the Russian Federation, fought from December 1994 to August 1996. The Chechen separatists succeeded in fighting off Russian forces through guerrilla warfare, and Chechnya became an independent country.
Background[]
Following the Dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, Russia was the largest of the post-Soviet states, and it consisted of 83 republics, districts, and other regions. Several ethnic-based units of the Soviet Union, including the Chechen-Ingush ASSR, clamored for greater autonomy or independence, following in the footsteps of several Eastern European and Central Asian Soviet republics. On 6 September 1991, the nationalist All-National Congress of the Chechen People - led by Soviet Air Force general and Chechen political figure Dzokhar Dudayev - staged a coup in Grozny and killed local CPSU party leader Vitali Kutsenko. This effectively dissolved the Chechen-Ingush ASSR government, and, in November 1991, the Russian Army failed to restore order to the region after being encircled at the airport, confirming Chechen independence for the time being.
Dudayev's rule was marked by economic mismanagement, political corruption, and a sharp rise in crime, with an illegal gun smuggling bazaar being established in Grozny's main square. In March 1992, the Chechen opposition failed to oust Dudayev from power, and Dudayev crushed opposition to his rule with force. In June 1992, Ingushetia split from Chechnya and joined the Russian Federation. In reponse, Chechnya declared its independence in 1993 as the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria, leading to the formation of an pro-Russia provisional government in December of that year. In August 1994, a coalition of the opposition factions based in northern Chechnya launched a large-scale campaign to remove Dudayev's government, leading to the start of the First Chechen War.
War[]
Russia, which opposed Chechen independence, clandestinely supplied the Chechen opposition forces with financial support, military equipment, and mercenaries, and Russia also suspended all civilian fights to Grozny while aviation and border troops set up a military blockade of the republic and unmarked aircraft began flying missions over Chechnya. Fighting broke out when anti-independence Chechens attempted to capture the capital of Grozny from Dudayev's forces, and Russian and opposition forces launched their first attack on the capital in mid-October 1994. On 29 November 1994, President of Russia Boris Yeltsin warned the Chechen separatists to disarm and surrender, and he ordered the Russian Army to establish constitutional order in Russia and preserve the territorial integrity of the Federation. General Pavel Grachev boasted that he could topple Dudayev with a single airborne regiment, and that the war would be over by 20 December.
Russian invasion[]
A Russian tank in Grozny
Beginning on 1 December, Russian forces openly carried out heavy aerial bombardments of Chechnya (destroying the Chechen Air Force and civilian aircraft fleet in the first few hours of war), and the Russians launched a three-pronged ground attack on Grozny on 11 December. Many Russians opposed the war, including Deputy Minister of Defense and Soviet-Afghan War veteran Boris Gromov, who predicted that Chechnya would become "another Afghanistan" and a bloodbath. In early 1995, the Russians shelled and captured Grozny, but the Chechen rebels took to the mountains and conducted guerrilla warfare. Between January and June 1995, the Russians had lost 2,800 dead, 10,000 wounded, and over 500 missing or captured. As the war continued, the Chechens began to engage in mass hostage-takings, and the maverick rebel commander Shamil Basayev took 1,500 civilians hostage in the Budyonnovsk hostage crisis of June 1995, leading to about 120 civilian deaths.
Holy war[]
Chechnya's Chief Mufti Akhmad Kadyrov declared a jihad against Russia, leading to 5,000 foreign volunteers arriving in Chechnya to assist the separatist rebels in their struggle. On 6 March 1995, 2,000 Chechen fighters overrun much of Grozny, and, on 16 April, a large Russian armored column was destroyed by Ibn al-Khattab's Arab Mujahideen in Chechnya forces at Shatoy. As military defeats and growing casualties made the war more and more unpopular in Russia, and as the 1996 presidential elections neared, Yeltsin sought a way out of the conflict. A guided missile strike killed Dudayev on 21 April 1996, but the separatists persisted, and, on 6 August 1996 (three days before Yeltsin's second inauguration), the Chechens launched another surprise attack on Grozny. The 1,500 Chechen guerrillas (whose numbers soon swelled) faced 12,000 Russian soldiers, and the Russian forces in the city were surrounded. Several attempts by Russian armored units to relieved the besieged Russian forces in the city were repelled with heavy losses, and over 200 Russians were killed and nearly 800 wounded in five days of fighting. On 31 August 1996, Yeltsin's national security advisor Alexander Lebed met with the new Chechen leader, Aslan Maskhadov, and drafted and signed the Khasav-Yurt Accord. Both sides' forces withdrew from Grozny, all federal forces withdrew by 31 December 1996, and Chechnya became a de facto independent republic.