The following is a Guest Post and may not be in line with the philosophy of Our Alter Ego. I just wanted to give people the opportunity I always thirsted for but never got, which is a platform for expression. I hope you appreciate the endeavours.
Be Light,
Much Love,
Iam Aehr.
. . .
The war between Russia and Chechnya started long ago in the 18th century in the Northern Caucasus. The small Muslim state was invaded by the Russian imperialists and the Chechen people was forced to vow allegiance to the Russian Empire. Moreover, the Caucasian population was once again oppressed by the Soviet communist regime of Vladimir Lenin and Joseph Stalin. However, their confrontation became more prominent in the 20th century. When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, fifteen Soviet Republics gained their independence and Chechnya also wanted its autonomy. Unfortunately, gas pipeline from the Caspian Sea passed through Dagestan, Chechnya and then to Russia. The Russian Federation was afraid of losing the vital natural resources and more territories. So, the Kremlin refused to consider an independent Chechnya and this gave rise to violence in the state. Consequently, the President Boris Yeltsin ordered his troops to invade Chechnya in December 1994.
This invasion was promptly done to support the Chechen leader Dzokhar Dudayev from criminals and Islamic rebels. Unfortunately, Dudayev was killed under mysterious circumstances. The Kremlin stated that he was murdered by the rebels but some rumors said that the Russian secret services, the FSB, was behind his assassination. Following Dudayev’ s death, Chechen separatists Aslan Maskhadov and Shamil Basayev started a guerilla war to gain control of Chechnya and to remove the Russian troops from their territory. The Battle of Grozny started in 1995 with the Russian troops invading the capital. More than 180,000 persons were killed and the infrastructure was completely demolished. The rebels took advantage of the situation to surround and trap the soldiers. The poorly armed rebels managed to destroy the Russian tankers and consequently killed 900 soldiers.
Chechnya is a mountainous and hilly territory so the rebels had a thorough knowledge of its strategic bases. The young Russian soldiers and the sophisticated military arms and machines were inefficient to kill the SPIB (Special Purpose Islamic Brigade). The Chechen war became popular throughout the world and especially in the Middle East. Al-Qaeda funded the Chechen rebels with money, fighters, bombs and AK-47 machine guns. The arrival of Ibn-Khattab in Chechnya strengthened Maskhadov’s militia against the Russian. The Russian army suffered a humiliating loss at the hands of the Chechen. So, in 1996 Boris Yeltsin decided to remove his troops in Chechnya and put an end to the war.
In 1996, a group of separatists including Zelimkhan Yandarbiyev and Akmad Zakayev met Boris Yeltsin at the Kremlin so as to establish a cease fire and a peace treaty. The Chechen prospects for independence was no longer a dream and this allowed them to create a de facto government.
In 1997, Chechnya was renamed as the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria and democratic elections were organised. Aslan Maskhadov was elected as the new President and he wanted to strengthen the diplomatic relations with Russia. Unfortunately, Maskhadov was not able to maintain order in the state. His friendship with Basayev started to deteriorate as the latter wanted to establish the sharia law in Chechnya. A conflict started between the separatists and the fundamentalists where criminal gangs were created to destabilise Maskhadov and his government.
Meanwhile in Russia a new President was elected. Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, a former Colonel in the KGB and a former FSB director, became the 2nd President of the Russian Federation. Putin and other Russian officers could not accept the humiliating defeat during the Chechen war. He took advantage of maskhadov’s inability to maintain order to promote the fact that Chechnya was better under the control of Russia. Several terrorist attacks occurred in Russia in 1998 killing more than 300 civilians. Putin blamed the Chechen for these attacks and this gave the Kremlin more plausible reasons to start a second Chechen war. Once again rumors stated that FSB was behind these attacks as the government wanted revenge and control of Chechnya.
In 1999, the Kremlin ordered a full-scale invasion of Chechnya. The Chechen rebels joined forces but this time the Russians had changed strategy. The military force took one year to study the graphic details of Chechnya before sending the troops. The Russians blocked inside and outside access thus foreign fighters could not join the war. The soldiers committed a lot of war crimes in Chechnya.
In 1999, the Kremlin ordered a full-scale invasion of Chechnya. The Chechen rebels joined forces but this time the Russians had changed strategy. The military force took one year to study the graphic details of Chechnya before sending the troops. The Russians blocked inside and outside access thus foreign fighters could not join the war. The soldiers committed a lot of war crimes in Chechnya.
In 2000, they seized Grozny forcing the rebels to hide in the forests. After this small victory Putin immediately outlawed Maskhadov as a terrorist thus the Chechen leader lost his status of President of the Republic.
The Chechen could not understand this devastating blow. With time they became aware of a conspiracy between a former rebel Akhmad Kadyrov and the Russians. Unlike Yeltsin, Putin’s invasion was a success and more than 70000 soldiers controlled Chechnya. Kadyrov was now a major figure in the Russian federation but the war was not over as the Chechen did not stop their quest for independence.
In October 2002, a group of Chechen terrorists stormed a theatre show in Moscow and took more than 800 persons as hostages. This group consisted of experienced fighters, bomb manufacturers and suicide bombers. The siege was led by a notorious terrorist, Movsar Barayev. He asked the Russians to stop the war in Chechnya, to remove his troops and to give them independence. The Kremlin fooled him as they promised to negotiate with him. Therefore, he lowered his guard allowing the Russians to put an anesthetic gas in the ventilation system of the theatre. On the third day of the siege FSB spetsnaz launched a deadly assault on the terrorists. Barayev and his men were killed but unfortunately the powerful gas killed 170 people. President Putin blamed Maskhadov for this incident and his tough stand against terrorism boosted his popularity. He said that he would never negociate with these terrorists.
In 2003, Akhmad Kadyrov was elected President of Chechnya and his son Ramzan took control of the security services. The election of Kadyrov was considered as a sketch by the United States and the by the western countries. In 2004, the Chechen celebrated the Victory Day at the Dynamo stadium in Grozny. A bomb exploded during the ceremony causing the death of the President Kadyrov and 30 persons. Shamil Basayev claimed the attack and Putin immediately chose Ramzan as the new President. He was elected due to his military experience and tough leadership. Nevertheless, Basayev managed to storm a school in Beslan where he took more than 900 children as hostages. The raid done by the FSB spetsnaz was not successful at all as 15 soldiers and 130 children were killed during the rescue operation.
Following the Beslan siege, Kadyrov strengthened his army and started a huge campaign to eradicate terrorism in Chechnya. By the end of 2004, his militia killed almost 150 terrorists and in 2005 he and the Russian soldiers were able to kill Maskhadov during a bloody gunfight. Kadyrov and his soldiers received prestigious awards from the Kremlin. The death of Maskhadov meant that independence was no longer an option. Basayev continued his fights but his military force was too weak against the FSB. The spetsnaz killed him in Dagestan in 2006. The Russian- Chechen conflict caused more than 300,000 deaths. Terrorism ended gradually in Russia and Kadyrov received orders to maintain order in Chechnya and make it a prosperous state. The west sanctioned Russia for several war crimes but nothing could stop the new Tsar of Russia.
-Anonymous