Timeline Chechnya
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Chechnya: Oil-rich region in northern Caucasus
Mountains of southern
Russia, 7,720 square miles, or about size of New Jersey. Moscow
considers area vital to maintaining influence in Caucasus region.
Population mostly Muslim with strong religious beliefs. Clan-type
groups with influential elders.
1722
Russian troops fought against Chechen tribes for
the 1st time.
(SSFC, 11/10/02, p.A11)
1785 Chechen people launched an
armed struggle for freedom and independence under the leadership of
Sheikh Mansur.
(www.chechnyafree.ru)
1791 Sheikh Mansur, Chechen
leader, was captured and died in the Schlusselburg Fortress.
(www.chechnyafree.ru)
1816 General A.P.Yermolov
served as Commander of the Russian army in the Caucasus. Military
pressure intensifies as Russian troops continue to advance deep into
Chechnya. Chechnya responded by stepping up its resistance movement,
which, for more than 30 years, was headed by Beibulat Teimiev.
(www.chechnyafree.ru)
1818 Grozny was established in
the northern Caucasus as a Russian fortress.
(SFEC, 4/30/00, p.C14)
1834-1858 Imam Shamil (1797-1871) ruled over a
self-proclaimed imamat (Chechnya). He united part of the North
Caucasian highlanders in their struggle against tsarist Russia and
set up a theocratic sharia state known as imamat that resisted
Tsarist Russia for 27 years.
(www.chechnyafree.ru)
1852-1853 Leo Tolstoy served as a young artillery
officer in Chechnya. He wrote his short story “The Raid” in 1853
based on his experiences there.
(WSJ, 5/10/00, p.A1)
1859 Imam Shamil (1797-1871),
Caucasian (Chechen) warrior, surrendered and became an honorary
captive of Alexander II.
(SFC, 8/13/99, p.A14)
1859 The Muslim North Caucasus
region of Chechnya was incorporated into the Russian empire after
hundreds of years of fighting. Czarist armies conquered Chechnya
after decades of fighting.
(SFC, 5/13/97, p.A12)(SFC, 10/26/02, p.A10)
1912 The novella “Hadji Murad”
by Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910) was published. Murad (d.1852) was an
important Chechen leader during the resistance of the Caucasian
peoples in 1711-1864 against the Russian Empire's seizure of the
region.
(http://tinyurl.com/js9od)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hadji_Murad)
1915 Ingush and Chechen
regiments led "the Brusilov breakthrough" on the Russian-German
front. Their horse cavalry attacked an enemy force armed with heavy
artillery.
(www.chechnyafree.ru)
1917 May 1, Caucasian unity was
proclaimed at the first Mountain People's Congress in Vladikavkaz.
The idea of a Caucasus Confederation had its origins in the spring
of 1917 and was developed further in 1918. At the Congress the
"Alliance of United Mountain People of the North Caucasus and
Dagestan", headed by T. Chermoev, a Chechen, R. Kaplanov, a Kumyk,
P. Kotsev, a Kabardian, V. Dzhabagiev, an Ingush, and others, was
officially established. The Abkhazian people also became full
members of this alliance. A Mountain Peoples' Government was formed
in November 1917.
(www.ciaonet.org/olj/crs/crs_1998sp/crs98sp_las01.html)
1917 Chechens formed their 1st
independent state, the Confederation of North Caucasian Peoples,
following the Bolshevik Revolution. [see May 1]
(SSFC, 11/10/02, p.A11)
1920 Nov, Chechens joined with
other Caucasian peoples to form the Republic of the Mountain
Peoples. Chechens had rebelled during the civil war that followed
the Russian Revolution of 1917, clashing with local Cossacks and the
anti-Communist White forces as well as with the Communists' Red
Army. With the establishment of Soviet authority in the region.
(www.chechnyawar.com/history)
1921 The Red Army forced
the Chechen government into exile and took nominal control. Armed
resistance continued. The "Mountain Peoples' Government" was forced
to emigrate as Soviet power became established in the Caucasus.
(SSFC, 11/10/02,
p.A11)(www.ciaonet.org/olj/crs/crs_1998sp/crs98sp_las01.html)
1922 The Soviet government
divided the North Caucasus along ethnic lines, separating the
Chechen Autonomous Oblast from the Republic of the Mountain Peoples
and abolishing the republic itself in 1924.
(www.chechnyawar.com/history)(USAT, 9/2/04,
p.13A)
1934 The Chechen-Ingush
Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic was established.
(USAT, 9/2/04, p.13A)
1944 Feb 23, Stalin ordered the
mass deportation of Chechens and Ingushi to Kazakhstan for resisting
Soviet rule and abetting the Germans. "478,479 persons were evicted
and loaded onto special railway cars, including 91,250 Ingush." More
than a third of the population died before the rest were allowed to
go home.
(SFEC, 2/20/00, p.A32)(WSJ, 9/12/02,
p.A8)(WSJ, 2/23/04, p.A16)
1953 After Stalin’s death the
Chechens were allowed to return home.
(SFC, 2/25/97, p.a14)
1957 Khrushchev allowed the
Chechens back to the Caucasus and the Checheno-Ingush republic was
set up.
(SFC, 5/13/97, p.A12)
1991 Sep 6, Dzhokhar Dudayev, a
retired Soviet air force general, led an ouster of Chechnya’s
government. He was then elected president and declared independence.
(SFC, 9/5/96, p.A10)
1991 Oct, Communist ruler Doku
Zavgayev was overthrown and Gen’l. Dudayev won a disputed local
election and declared independence.
(SFC, 5/13/97, p.A12)
1991 Nov 2, Chechnya proclaimed
independence following the collapse of the Soviet Union.
(SSFC, 11/10/02, p.A11)
1992 Mar, Chechnya adopted a
constitution that defined it as a secular state. Pres. Dzhokhar
Dudayev led the independence movement.
(SSFC, 11/10/02, p.A11)
1993 Dec 12, Russia adopted a
new democratic constitution and began the war with Chechnya.
(SFC, 12/27/96, p.B2)
1994 Mar, Sergei Stepashin was
appointed as head of the new KGB. He later played a central role in
sending troops into Chechnya.
(SFC, 5/13/99, p.A16)
1994 Nov 26, A major offensive
by the Russian-backed opposition failed to wrest Grozny, the capital
of Chechnya from its government.
(AP, 11/26/02)
1994 Nov 29, Fighter jets
attacked the capital of Chechnya and its airport hours after Russian
President Boris Yeltsin demanded the breakaway republic end its
civil war.
(AP, 11/29/99)
1994 Nov, Beslan Gantamirov
took part in a failed Kremlin-backed attempt to overthrow Dzhokhar
Dudayev.
(SFC, 11/30/99, p.D1)
1994 Dec 11, Thousands of
Russian troops backed by armored columns and jets rolled into
breakaway republic of Chechnya in a bid to restore Moscow's control
over the region. Russia under Yeltsin sent in troops to put down the
Chechnya rebellion but met strong resistance and suffered heavy
casualties. There was no attempt by Pres. Yeltsin to legitimize the
military action in parliament.
(SFC, 9/5/96, p.A10)(SFC, 12/26/96, p.B1)(SFC,
5/13/97, p.A12)(SFC, 9/9/98, p.A10) (AP, 12/11/99)
1994 Dec 31, Russian ground
forces launched a ferocious assault on the Chechen capital of
Grozny.
(AP, 12/31/99)
1995 Jan 2, Chechen defenders
drove Russian troops out of the capital of Grozny.
(AP, 1/2/00)
1995 Jan 7, Major General
Viktor Vorobyov, a senior commander leading Russian troops in their
advance on the secessionist capital of Chechnya, was killed by a
mortar shell.
(AP, 1/7/00)
1995 Jan 8, Russian forces in
Chechnya pounded the capital of Grozny with rocket and mortar fire
in an attempt to scatter Chechen fighters defending the presidential
palace.
(AP, 1/8/00)
1995 Jan 10, Russia announced a
48-hour truce in breakaway Chechnya, but the cease-fire fell apart
after a few hours.
(AP, 1/10/00)
1995 Jan 14, Russian troops in
the breakaway republic of Chechnya captured the Council of Ministers
building, a key rebel position in the capital Grozny.
(AP, 1/14/00)
1995 Jan 19, Russian troops
regained control of the presidential palace in Grozny, the capital
of the breakaway republic of Chechnya.
(AP, 1/19/00)
1995 Mar 31, Fred Cuny
(b.1944), American disaster relief specialist, disappeared in
Chechnya and was never found. He used his training in engineering to
do humanitarian work and worked in countries such as Biafra,
Guatemala, Ethiopia, Iraq, Somalia, and Bosnia. Cuny (50), an envoy
for George Soros' Open Society Institute, was shot and killed by
Chechen gunmen. In 1999 Scott Anderson published "The Man Who Tried
to Save the World: The Dangerous Life and Mysterious Disappearance
of Fred Cuny."
(http://www.onlineethics.org/cms/14193.aspx)(SFEC, 6/6/99, BR p.1)
1995 Jun 14, Shamil Basayev,
Chechen commander, led a hostage raid on the a Russian hospital in
Budyonnovsk [Budennovsk]. Chechen rebels took some 1,500 people
hostage in a hospital in Russia. After a 4-day standoff Sergei
Stepashin ordered troops to storm the hospital and the rebels
escaped with some 100 hostages. Some 100-150 people were killed in
the fighting.
(SFC, 1/25/97, p.A8)(HN, 6/14/98)(SFC, 5/13/99,
p.A16)(SSFC, 11/10/02, p.A11)
1995 Jun 17, Russian commandos
stormed a hospital where Chechen rebels were holding more than 1,000
hostages, but the Chechens beat the Russians back.
(AP, 6/17/00)
1995 Jun 19, Chechen rebels and
more than 100 human shields rode a convoy of buses back to Chechnya
following the end of a hostage drama at a Russian hospital.
(AP, 6/19/00)
1995 Jul 30, Russia and Chechen
rebels signed an agreement calling for a gradual withdrawal of
Russian troops and the disarmament of rebel fighters.
(AP, 7/30/00)
1995 Nov, The Kremlin appointed
leader of the breakaway region, Doku Zavgayev, and several
bodyguards were wounded by a bomb in the capital city of Grozny.
(WSJ, 11/21/95, p.A-1)
1995 Dec 14, Heavy fighting
erupts in Gudermes, Chechnya, when rebels disrupted Kremlin-imposed
elections. At least 267 Chechen civilians were reported killed in
the following 10 days.
(AP, 12/14/02)
1995 Dec 31, Russian ground
forces launched a ferocious assault on the Chechen capital of
Grozny.
(AP, 12/31/00)
1995 Dec, Another bomb exploded
in Grozny outside the Russian Admin. Bldg. and killed 11 people and
wounded more than 60.
(WSJ, 12/5/95, p.A-1)
1995 Dec, Chechen separatists
seek to block a vote called by the Moscow-installed government and
seize parts of the Gudermes, the second-largest city. As many as 44
rebels are said to have been killed this week.
(WSJ, 12/15/95, p.A-1) (WSJ, 12/19/95, p.A-1)
1995 Dec, Fighting in Chechnya
killed 600, half civilians, during a heavy Russian assault on
Gudermes.
(WSJ, 12/26/95, p. A-1)
1995 Russian troops occupied
Grozny and a puppet government was installed.
(SFC, 11/30/99, p.D1)
1995 Arab guerrilla Khattab
(d.2002) arrived in Chechnya.
(SFC, 4/27/02, p.A10)
1996 Jan 9, Chechen rebels
under Salman Raduyev seized hostages from a hospital in Kizlyar,
Dagestan, a neighboring Russian republic. At least 40 people were
killed.
(WSJ, 1/10/96, p. A-12)(SFC, 7/17/99, p.A14)(WSJ,
3/13/00, p.A1)
1996 Jan 10, Chechen rebels
seized as many as 3,000 hostages in the Russian Republic of
Dagestan.
(WSJ, 1/2/97, p.R2)
1996 Jan 10, Russian troops
allowed a convoy of Chechen rebels and 160 hostages to head for
Chechnya, then surrounded them in the village of Pervomayskaya.
After a five-day standoff, Russian troops launched a massive
military assault that resulted in the deaths of most of the rebels
and some of the hostages.
(AP, 1/10/01)
1996 Jan 12, Chechen fighters
holding more than 100 hostages in the Russian village of
Pervomayskaya freed about a dozen of their captives and pledged to
release the rest if four top Russian officials took their place.
(AP, 1/12/01)
1996 Jan 15, Risking the lives
of more than 100 hostages in an effort to wipe out their Chechen
rebel captors, the Russian military hurled rockets and shells at the
tiny village of Pervomayskaya, at the border of Dagestan and
Chechnya.
(WSJ, 1/16/96, p. A-1)(AP, 1/15/01)
1996 Jan 16, Chechens hijacked
a ferry with 165 passengers and crew from the Turkish port of
Trabzon bound for the Russian city of Sochi. Gunmen in Trabzon,
Turkey, hijacked a Black Sea ferry with more than 200 people on
board, and demanded that Russian troops stop fighting Chechen rebels
in Pervomayskaya. The hostages were released three days later after
the Russian troops stormed Pervomaiskoye.
(WSJ, 1/17/96, p.A-1)(AP,
1/16/01)
1996 Jan 17, Russian forces
unleashed a scorching barrage of rockets on Chechen rebels in
Pervomayskaya.
(AP, 1/17/01)
1996 Jan 22, The Chechen rebel
leader escaped from Dagestan along with many fighters and hostages.
(WSJ, 1/23/96, p.A-1)
1996 Feb. 23, Chechen rebels
blew up a big gas pipeline in southern Chechnya. Russia was bringing
in troops ahead of today’s anniversary of mass deportations of
Chechens to Central Asia in World War II.
(WSJ, 2/22/96, p.A-1)
1996 Feb, Yeltsin announced
that the war in Chechnya was a mistake and began negotiations with
rebels. Russian forces withdrew and Chechnya descended into
lawlessness.
(SSFC, 11/10/02, p.A11)
1996 Apr 16, Moscow said 70 of
its soldiers were killed in a rebel ambush in Chechnya.
(WSJ, 4/19/96, p.A-1)
1996 Apr 18, Pres. Yeltsin of
Russia denied that there was a war in Chechnya while Russian TV
showed Chechen rebels attacking a Russian military convoy. 26
soldiers were killed and 51 were wounded.
(SFC, 4/18/96, p.a-14)
1996 Apr 25, Top Chechen
officials confirmed that their leader, Dzhokar Dudayev, was killed
in a Russian air strike. He was succeeded Zelimkhan Yandarbiyev.
(WSJ, 4/25/96, p.A-1)(USAT, 9/2/04, p.13A)
1996 May, Chechen rebels shot
down a Russian Su-25 fighter near the village of Mairtup. It was the
5th Russian plane downed since Dec. 1994.
(SFC, 5/6/96, p.A-10)
1996 May 24, Chechen leader
Zelimkhan Yandarbiyev and Russian Pres. Boris Yeltsin have agreed to
hold peace talks.
(SFC, 5/234/96, p.A14)
1996 May 27, Chechen leader
Zelimkhan Yanderbiyev and Russian leader Boris Yeltsin agreed to a
peace accord and prime minister Victor Chernomyrdin signed the
agreement with Yanderbiyev.
(SFC, 5/28/96, p.A1)
1996 May 29, Rebel commander
Aslan Maskhadov sent a radio message to his forces to refrain from
attacks on Russian soldiers. A power sharing plan defines Chechnya
as a sovereign state within the Russian Federation, giving it
control over its finances and resources.
(SFC, 5/30/96, p.A8)
1996 Jun 9, In Russia a rebel
spokesman said that the two sides have agreed on the withdrawal of
Russian troops from Chechnya by the end of August.
(SFC, 6/10/96, C2)
1996 Jun 11, A convoy of
Chechen rebel leaders was blasted by remote control bombs while
returning after negotiations with Russian counterparts.
(SFC, 6/12/96, p.A10)
1996 Jun 12, Chechnya’s
pro-Moscow government refused to postpone elections for the local
parliament as called for in the recent peace talks.
(SFC, 6/13/96, p.C2)
1996 Jun 28, Russian troops
began to pull out from Chechnya.
(SFC, 6/29/96, p.A13)
1996 Jul 9, The pre-election
truce in Chechnya was shattered and the war resumed.
(WSJ, 7/10/96, p.A1)
1996 Aug 5, Chechen rebels
began a new raid and seized much of Grozny by the next day.
(SFC, 8/14/96, p.A10)
1996 Aug 11, Pres. Yeltsin
appointed Alexander Lebed as his pres. envoy to Chechnya.
(WSJ, 8/12/96, p.A9)
1996 Aug 27, Russian and
Chechen military commanders signed the Khasavyurt Accords, an
agreement for military disengagement.
(SFC, 8/28/96, p.A8)(USAT, 9/2/04, p.13A)
1996 Sep 3, In Russia Alexander
Lebed said that about 80,000 people had died in the fighting in
Chechnya during the 21 months of the war.
(SFC, 4/9/96, A10)
1996 Nov 23, In Russia Pres.
Yeltsin ordered all troops withdrawn from Chechnya by Jan 27, when
elections would be held.
(SFEC, 11/24/96, p.A14)
1996 Dec 17, Six Red Cross
workers were slain in their sleep and a 7th was wounded by as many
as 15 attackers in Chechnya. The Red Cross immediately suspended all
operations in Chechnya.
(SFC, 12/18/96, p.A1)(AP, 12/17/97)
1996 Dzhokar Dudayev led
Chechnya.
(WSJ, 4/1/96, p.A-10)
1997 Jan 21, Elections for
president were planned and Aslan Maskhadov and Shamil Basayev led
the 16 candidates. Ichkeria was name given to free Chechnya by the
Muslim separatists.
(SFC, 1/22/96, p.A9)
1997 Jan 28, Aslan Maskhadov
claim victory in the Chechen elections.
(SFC, 1/29/97, p.A6)
1997 Apr 28, A bomb in southern
Russia killed one person and injured 17 at a train station in
Pyatigorsk. It was the 2nd bombing in a week and Chechen rebels were
blamed.
(WSJ, 4/29/97, p.A1)
1997 May 12, Russia and
Chechnya signed a peace treaty. The treaty refers to Chechnya as the
“Chechen Republic of Ichkeria,” and says that it is subject to
international law.
(SFC, 5/13/97, p.A12)
1997 Jun 9, Chechen Pres. Aslan
Maskhadov dissolved secular courts and left only Islamic tribunals
in charge of the legal system. Islamic banks were scheduled as well
as a conversion from a Latin to Arabic letters.
(SFC, 6/10/97, p.A16)
1997 Jul, Camilla Carr and Jon
James, British charity workers for a Quaker relief organization,
were taken hostage in Chechnya. The were released Sep 20, 1998.
(SFC, 9/21/98, p.A13)
1997 Oct 22, Relief workers
Istvan Olah and Gabor Dunajsky of Hungary were captured and held as
hostages in Chechnya. They were released in July, 1998.
(SFC, 7/27/98, p.A10)
1997 Lyoma Usmanov came to the
US and stayed on as the Chechen representative. He later authored
"Unbroken Chechnya."
(SFC, 11/26/99, p.A22)
1998 Jan 1, The Chechen
president asked Shamil Basayev to form a government.
(WSJ, 1/2/98, p.A1)
1998 Jan 15, A cabinet
reshuffle left Shamil Basayev in charge of the government. Russia
still held him subject to arrest. He served 6 months as prime
minister and failed to crack down on lawlessness, kidnapping and
violence.
(WSJ, 1/16/98, p.A1)(SFC, 8/13/99, p.A14)
1998 Feb 21, Guerrilla leader
Salman Raduyev was warmly greeted at the congress of veterans by
some 10,000 veterans of the 1994-1996 war in Grozny.
(SFC, 2/23/98, p.A12)
1998 Feb 22, Guerrilla leader
Salman Raduyev announced a reconciliation with the Chechen
leadership.
(SFC, 2/23/98, p.A12)
1998 Apr 16, A Russian army
convoy was ambushed near the Chechnya border. A general, 2 colonels
and 3 soldiers were killed and Chechen militants were blamed.
(WSJ, 4/17/98, p.A1)
1998 May, Valentin Vlasov, a
personal envoy of Boris Yeltsin, was kidnapped. He was released Nov.
13.
(SFC, 12/10/98, p.C8)
1998 Jun 21, The Chechen
security chief, Lecha Khulygov, and a guerrilla commander, Vakha
Dzhafarov, fatally shot each other in an argument over a
demonstration by rebel supporters.
(SFC, 6/22/98, p.A10)
1998 Jul 16, In Gudermes,
Chechnya, fighting broke out and over 50 people were reported killed
in a battle between Chechen security forces and Muslim Wahabist
paramilitary, a conservative arm of Sunni Islam.
(SFC, 7/17/98, p.A16)
1998 Jul 23, In Chechnya Pres.
Aslan Maskhadov received minor injuries from an assassination
attempt in Grozny that killed 2 bodyguards. He had been cracking
down on organized crime and Muslim militants.
(SFC, 7/24/98, p.D2)(WSJ, 7/24/98, p.A1)
1998 Jul 27, It was reported
that 2 Hungarian relief workers held as hostages in Chechnya since
Oct 22 were released the previous week.
(SFC, 7/27/98, p.A10)
1998 Sep 29, Akmal Saidov, a
Russian government representative, was kidnapped in Chechnya. His
body was found Oct 3.
(SFC, 12/10/98, p.C8)
1998 Oct 3, In Chechnya 4 men
working to install a cellular phone system were kidnapped by 20 men.
The severed heads Darren Hickey, Rudolf Petschi, Stanley Shaw
and Peter Kennedy were found Dec 8. Their bodies were found Dec 26
in Chernorechiye.
(SFC, 10/5/98, p.A9)(SFC, 12/9/98, p.A9)(SFC,
12/28/98, p.B1)
1998 Oct 25, In Chechnya Shadid
Bargishev (27), the top anti-kidnapping official, was killed in a
remote-controlled car bombing. He was about as to begin a major
offensive on hostage takers.
(SFC, 10/26/98, p.A7)
1998 Dec 7, In Chechnya a
rescue attempt was made to free the 4 men kidnapped Oct 3. The
action led to the murder of the 4 men whose severed heads were found
the next day.
(SFC, 12/9/98, p.A9)
1998 Dec 8, The severed heads
Darren Hickey, Rudolf Petschi, Stanley Shaw and Peter Kennedy
were found lines up along a highway outside of Grozny.
(SFC, 12/10/98, p.C8)
1998 Dec 10, Mansur Tagirov,
Chechnya’s top prosecutor, disappeared while returning to Grozny.
(SFC, 12/12/98, p.B1)
1998 Carlotta Gall and Thomas
de Waal wrote “Chechnya: Calamity in the Caucasus,” and Anatol
Lieven wrote “Chechnya: Tombstone of Russian Power.”
(WSJ, 6/9/98, p.A16)
1999 Jan 1-1999 Jun 30, At
least 1,094 people were abducted in and around Chechnya during this
period. Kidnapped Chechens and civilians from Dagestan were not
recorded.
(SFC, 8/3/99, p.A9)
1999 Jan 10, In Chechnya Pres.
Aslan Maskhadov planned to adopt a constitution based on the Koran
and phase in sharia law over 3 years.
(SFC, 1/11/99, p.A10)(USAT, 9/2/04, p.13A)
1999 Mar 21, In Chechnya one
person was killed as a bomb exploded in the motorcade of Pres.
Maskhadov.
(SFC, 3/22/99, p.A10)
1999 Mar, Maj. Gen. Gennadi
Shpigun, Russian envoy, was kidnapped in Grozny. His remains were
found a year later in the village of Itum-Kale.
(SFC, 6/15/00, p.A15)
1999 Apr 7, Chechen gunmen
killed 4 Russian policemen patrolling the border near Stavropol.
(WSJ, 4/8/99, p.A1)
1999 Jun 18, In Chechnya the
worst fighting in months broke out as Chechen fighters attacked
Russian border posts in Dagestan. 7 men were killed and 15 wounded
in separate confrontations.
(SFC, 6/19/99, p.A10)
1999 Jun 29, In Chechnya
Russian security forces freed Herbert Gregg (51), an American
missionary kidnapped over 7 months ago. Part of his index finger had
been cut off in an attempt to extort ransom.
(SFC, 6/30/99, p.A8)
1999 Jul 5, Russian troops
attacked some 150 militants in Chechnya about this time and a number
of people were killed.
(WSJ, 7/6/99, p.A1)
1999 Aug 7, Islamic fighters
based in Chechnya seized at least 2 village in Dagestan. Warlords
Shamil Basayev and Wahabi commander Amir Khattab (Hattab) were
reported to be involved. This triggered the second Chechen war. The
Wahabis are a puritan branch of Sunni Islam founded in the 18th
century in Saudi Arabia.
(SFEC, 8/8/99, p.A20)(Econ, 4/9/11, p.28)
1999 Sep 6, In Dagestan Russian
forces used artillery and air power against rebel guerrillas and 2
dozen people were killed on the Chechen side of the border. Fighting
in NoIvolakskoye left 14 soldiers dead.
(SFC, 9/7/99, p.A12)
1999 Sep 18, Russian forces
attacked rebel targets in Chechnya to prevent guerrilla raids in
Dagestan.
(SFEC, 9/19/99, p.A1)
1999 Sep 22, A bombing attempt
was made in Ryazan, western Russia. The people arrested were not
Chechens and later pronounced to be Russian secret service on a
training exercise.
(SFC, 11/26/99, p.A22)
1999 Sep 23, In Chechnya
Russian fighter jets bombed targets in and around Grozny. The
Chechen government said that it does not support Islamic militants
and that it would retaliate against Russian attacks on its
territory.
(SFC, 9/24/99, p.A16)
1999 Sep 24, In Chechnya tens
of thousands of civilians fled Grozny as Russian planes continued to
bomb the capital to wipe out Islamic militants accused of
terrorizing Russia.
(SFC, 9/25/99, p.A13)
1999 Sep 25, In Chechnya
Russian warplanes knocked out local TV and mobile phones and forced
thousands of civilians to flee Grozny. 7 people were reported killed
and 24 wounded. An estimated 100,000 crowded the border crossing to
Ingushetia.
(SFEC, 9/26/99, p.A23)
1999 Sep 27, In Chechnya
Russian jets dropped bombs for a 5th day and thousands of civilians
fled to towns and villages in the region. Some 300 people were
reported killed in the air strikes around Grozny.
(SFC, 9/28/99, p.A1)
1999 Sep 28, In Chechnya 8
people were killed when a schoolhouse was bombed on the 6th day of
Russian air attacks. Some 60,000 people had reportedly fled to the
neighboring regions of Ingushetia, Dagestan, North Ossetia and
Stavropol.
(SFC, 9/29/99, p.A12)
1999 Sep 29, Russia demanded
that Chechnya condemn terrorism and extradite the criminals
responsible for the bombings in Russia.
(SFC, 9/30/99, p.A14)
1999 Sep 30, Russian troops
began a ground offensive into Chechnya aimed at creating a buffer
zone to block the infiltration of Chechen guerrillas.
(SFC, 10/1/99, p.D5)
1999 Sep, Tamerlan Khasaev and
fellow Chechens under orders killed 6 Russian conscripts who had
surrendered. The killings were videotaped.
(WSJ, 7/23/02, p.A12)
1999 Oct 1, In Russia Prime
Minister Putin cut ties with the elected government of Chechnya.
(SFC, 10/2/99, p.A12)
1999 Oct 2, Russian troops
engaged Chechen guerrilla defenders as armored columns rolled into
the villages of Alpatova and Chernokosova.
(SFEC, 10/3/99, p.A22)
1999 Oct 4, In Russia Prime
Minister Putin planned to resettle thousands of Chechens in areas
under Russian control, an indication that Moscow planned to split
Chechnya in two. Chechen fighters shot down a Russian Sukhoi-24
warplane that was searching for another downed plane.
(SFC, 10/5/99, p.A10)(SFC, 10/6/99, p.A10)
1999 Oct 5, In Chechnya Russian
troops seized the northern third of the country. A suspected Russian
artillery shell hit a busload of people and killed 40 people, mostly
women and children.
(SFC, 10/6/99, p.A10)(SFC, 10/8/99, p.A12)
1999 Oct 6, The Chechen
president called for a holy war against Russia.
(WSJ, 10/7/99, p.A1)
1999 Oct 7, In Chechnya Russian
planes bombed the village of Elistanzhi and 32 people were reported
killed with 60 injured and 200 houses destroyed.
(SFC, 10/9/99, p.A10)
1999 Oct 11, In Chechnya more
people fled Russian attacks and Moscow rebuffed a peace overture and
demanded that Islamic militants be handed over before any peace
settlement.
(WSJ, 10/12/99, p.A1)
1999 Oct 14, In Chechnya the
Russians pressed an offensive below the Terek River as the Chechens
rallied in Grozny.
(WSJ, 10/15/99, p.A1)
1999 Oct 15, The Russians
bombarded Goragorsky, Chechnya.
(SFC, 10/20/99, p.B4)
1999 Oct 21, In Chechnya
Russian rockets hit and market and 2 other sites in Grozny and as
many as 140 people were killed.
(SFC, 10/22/99, p.A1)(SFC, 10/23/99, p.A10)
1999 Oct 24, In Chechnya
Russian artillery and jet bombers killed at least 27 people during a
dawn attack at Serzhen-Yurt. Over the weekend the Chechen-Ingush
border was sealed.
(SFC, 10/25/99, p.A12)(SFC, 10/29/99, p.D4)
1999 Oct 27, In Chechnya
Russian warplanes and artillery closed in on Grozny and 100 people
were killed and some 200 wounded.
(SFC, 10/28/99, p.A12)
1999 Oct 28, Russian soldiers
battled Chechen fighters for control of Yastrebinaya Hill, which
overlooked Grozny. Chechen Pres. Makhashev said that 223 civilians
had been killed in the last 2 days.
(SFC, 10/29/99, p.D4)
1999 Oct 29, In Chechnya
Russian warplanes and artillery launched fierce strikes and 25
refugees were killed while trying to flee the assaults.
(SFC, 10/30/99, p.A12)(SFEC, 10/31/99, p.A26)
1999 Nov 4, Russia allowed
thousands of refugees to flee Chechnya and the crossing at the
Sleptsovskaya border reached 500 people per hour.
(SFC, 11/5/99, p.D3)
1999 Nov 7, In Chechnya Russian
soldiers dislodged rebels in Bamut. 38 civilians were reported
killed along with 28 Chechen fighters.
(SFC, 11/8/99, p.C14)
1999 Nov 12, In Chechnya
Russian forces took control of Gudermes and proposed to move the
capital there from Grozny.
(SFC, 11/13/99, p.A10)
1999 Nov 18, The UN high
commissioner for refugees, Sadako Ogata, visited Chechen refugee
camps in Ingushetia. Some 215,000 refugees had fled Russian attacks.
(SFC, 11/19/99, p.A18)
1999 Nov 18, Pres. Clinton at a
conference in Turkey of the Organization for Security and
Cooperation in Europe urged Pres. Yeltsin to stop the bombing and
rocket attacks in Chechnya.
(SFC, 11/19/99, p.A1)
1999 Nov 21, In Chechnya some
5,000 rebels barricaded themselves in Grozny in preparation for a
Russian offensive.
(SFC, 11/22/99, p.A12)
1999 Nov 25, In Chechnya
Russian forces fired hundreds of rockets into Grozny in its fiercest
assault in the 3-month offensive.
(SFC, 11/26/99, p.A20)
1999 Nov 26, Russian commanders
announced that they would begin pursuing Chechen guerrilla forces
into their mountain hideouts.
(SFC, 11/27/99, p.A1)
1999 Nov 27, In Chechnya
residents reported 260 civilian deaths in Grozny since the beginning
of Russian assaults 2 days earlier.
(SFEC, 11/28/99, p.A19)
1999 Nov, The Kremlin appointed
Beslan Gantamirov (36) as head of the pro-Moscow Chechen State
Council. Gantamirov was just pardoned by Pres. Yeltsin and released
from a 6-year sentence for embezzling federal funds to rebuild
Chechnya in 1995-96.
(SFC, 11/30/99, p.D1)
1999 Dec 3, In Chechnya some
250 Russian soldiers were reported killed by rebels south of Grozny.
Separately as many as 40 Chechen civilians were killed when Russian
troops fired on a refugee convoy.
(SFC, 12/4/99, p.A12)
1999 Dec 4, Russian troops
pillaged the Alkhan-Yurt village 10 miles southwest of Grozny and
killed 17 civilians.
(SFC, 12/23/99, p.A14)
1999 Dec 6, In Chechnya Russian
planes dropped leaflets warning civilians in Grozny to leave or face
heavy air and artillery strikes on Dec 11.
(SFC, 12/7/99, p.A1)
1999 Dec 8, In Chechnya Russian
forces ousted rebels from Urus-Martan.
(SFC, 12/9/99, p.A16)
1999 Dec 11, In Chechnya
Russian forces halted attacks on Grozny to give an estimated
10-40,000 civilians a chance to leave. An estimated 4,000 rebel
fighters were holed up there.
(SFEC, 12/12/99, p.A26)
1999 Dec 15, In Chechnya at
least 115 Russian soldiers were killed by rocket propelled grenades
fired by Chechen guerrillas in Grozny.
(SFC, 12/16/99, p.A1)(SFC, 12/17/99, p.A12)
1999 Dec 17, Russian soldiers
in Ingushetia attempted to tow 100 rail cars of Chechen refugees
back to Chechnya. Refugees blocked the tracks and after a standoff
36 cars were towed back with some 100 willing Chechens.
(SFC, 12/22/99, p.C4)
1999 Dec 25, Russian forces
launched an attack on Grozny led by 700 pro-Moscow Chechen
volunteers.
(SFEC, 12/26/99, p.A1)
1999 Dec 31, Russia’s Pres.
Yeltsin (68) announced his resignation and handed power over to PM
Putin. Yeltsin approved a law just before resigning that required
presidential candidates to collect 1 million registered signatures
to win a place on the next ballet. Putin flew to Chechnya and vowed
to pursue terrorists everywhere.
(SFC, 1/1/00, p.A1)(SFC, 1/3/00, p.A9)(Econ,
3/1/08, p.54)
1999-2005 It was estimated that 3,000 to 5,000
people disappeared in Chechnya over this period. A third due to
masked Russian forces and the rest from Chechen “security.”
(Econ, 3/26/05, p.53)
2000 Jan 7, Russia announced a
suspension of aerial bombardment in Grozny to allow civilians to
escape. A military shakeup was also announced.
(SFC, 1/800, p.A1)
2000 Jan 9, In Chechnya rebels
attacked Russian positions in Argun, Shali and Gudermes as Russia
continued a bombing halt for the Orthodox Christmas.
(SFC, 1/10/00, p.A10)
2000 Jan 16, In Chechnya
Russian warplanes bombarded the area around Grozny and federal
forces reported 120 rebels killed. Islamic militants reported at
least 18 civilians killed.
(SFC, 1/17/00, p.A10)
2000 Jan 17, Russian aircraft
and artillery bombed Grozny with a record number of attacks.
(SFC, 1/18/00, p.A8)
2000 Jan 18, In Chechnya
Russian troops began moving through the streets of Grozny in the
most intense ground attack in 4 months.
(SFC, 1/19/00, p.A1)
2000 Jan 18, In Chechnya
Russian Gen. Mikhail Malofeyev went missing in Grozny following an
ambush and rebel commanders later reported that they had him
captured.
(SFC, 1/21/00, p.A12)
2000 Jan 22, In Chechnya
Russian forces claimed control over a third of Grozny. Russian
commander Viktor Kazantsev said Pres. Aslan Maskhadov was wounded in
fighting in the Argun Gorge.
(SFEC, 1/23/00, p.A27)
2000 Jan 23, In Chechnya rebels
ambushed Russian troops in Staraya Sunzha village and 8 soldiers
were killed. The body of Gen. Mikhail Malofeyev was found in Grozny.
A Chechen commander denied reports that Pres. Maskhadov was wounded.
(SFC, 1/24/00, p.A7)
2000 Jan 25, The Russian
government announced that 1,055 servicemen had been killed and 3,206
wounded in Chechnya since Oct 1.
(SFC, 1/27/00, p.A13)
2000 Feb 1, In Chechnya rebel
fighters suffered heavy losses to Russian troops and some 2000 broke
out of Grozny to rejoin fellow rebels in the south. Some 600 rebels
were killed or wounded when they crossed a Russian mine field
following a $100,000 proposed bribe. Commanders Shamil Basayev,
Aslanbek Ismailov and Khunkar-Pasha Israpilov were among the dead.
(SFC, 2/2/00, p.A14)(SFC, 2/5/00, p.A10)
2000 Feb 4, Russians forces
began bombing Katyr Yurt after Chechen rebels arrived from Grozny.
The bombing lasted for 2 days, well after the rebels fled, and at
least 170 civilians were killed. Later reports said 343 refugees
were killed.
(SFC, 2/15/00, p.A13)(WSJ, 3/6/00, p.A1)
2000 Feb 5, In Chechnya the
Human Rights Watch group said it had documented 22 cases in which
Grozny residents were killed by Russian soldiers. Another 14 cases
were under investigation. Later reports indicated 82 civilians were
killed by Russian mercenaries (kontraktniki).
(SFEC, 2/6/00, p.A25)(SFC, 2/22/00, p.A9)
2000 Feb 6, In Russia acting
Pres. Putin announced that federal forces had scored a major victory
in Chechnya.
(SFC, 2/7/00, p.A1)
2000 Feb 7, In Chechnya Russian
forces reported that hundreds of rebels had been killed over the
last 2 days near the villages of Katyr-Yurt and Shaami-Yurt.
(SFC, 2/8/00, p.A14)
2000 Feb 8, In Chechnya rebels
attacked 2 Russian military trains and set off a large battle.
(WSJ, 2/11/00, p.A1)
2000 Feb 14, In Chechnya
Russian commanders ordered Grozny sealed and its population
evacuated in order to clear bombs and booby-traps. Oleg Blotsky, a
Russian journalist, made a video tape of dead Chechens at Roshni-Chu
and Urus-Martan. The video was given to N24, a German TV station,
and broadcast on Feb 25.
(SF, 2/15/00, p.A12)(SFC, 2/26/00, p.A10)
2000 Feb 17, In Russian
Vladimir Putin named Vladimir Kalamanov, the head of the migration
service, to look into allegations of torture, rape and executions by
Russian soldiers against Chechen civilians.
(SFC, 2/19/00, p.A10)
2000 Feb 18, In Chechnya rebels
shot down a Russian helicopter and 15 men were killed.
(SFEC, 2/20/00, p.A32)
2000 Feb 29, In Chechnya 84
Russian paratroopers were killed after rebels attacked a guard post
near Ulus Kert. Most of the soldiers were from Pskov. Many were
suspected to have died from Russian artillery called in after the
position was overrun.
(SFC, 3/11/00, p.A12)
2000 Mar 2, In Chechnya rebels
ambushed Russian troops outside Grozny and killed at least 20 police
commandos.
(SFC, 3/4/00, p.A1)
2000 Mar 6, In Chechnya some 30
rebels held positions at Komsomolskoye's mosque under Russian
shelling. 50 Russian troops were reported killed in the last 2 days.
(SFC, 3/7/00, p.A14)
2000 Mar 12, In Russia agents
captured Salman Raduyev, a Chechen warlord.
(SFC, 3/14/00, p.A8)
2000 Mar 20, Natalya Estemirova
(1959-2009), Chechen rights activist, went to the village of Aldi
and counted 47 victims.
(Econ, 7/18/09, p.24)
2000 Mar 26, Russian Col. Yuri
Budanov and 3 soldiers seized Elza (Heda) Kungayeva (18) and
strangled her to death following a pummeling and sexual assault. She
was believed to be a Chechen rebel sniper. In 2001 Budanov faced a
trial and in 2002 he was ruled temporarily insane.
(SSFC, 3/18/01, p.D5)(SFC, 1/1/03, p.A9)
2000 Mar 29, In Chechnya rebels
ambushed Russian troops and left 4 dead and 18 wounded. 27 men were
missing.
(WSJ, 3/31/00, p.A1)
2000 Apr 1, In Chechnya Russian
soldiers found 33 of their missing comrades. 32 were dead and
booby-trapped from the Mar 30 rebel attack.
(SFEC, 4/2/00, p.A20)
2000 Apr 20, In Chechnya Pres.
Maskhadov told a Russian news agency that he had declared a
unilateral cease-fire. Maskhadov later said his remarks meant that
fighting would stop only if both sides agreed to stop fighting and
negotiate a settlement.
(WSJ, 4/21/00, p.A1)(SFC, 4/25/00, p.A10)
2000 Apr 22, In Chechnya
guerrillas attacked a Russian convoy and killed 15 soldiers near
Serzhen-Yurt.
(SFC, 4/25/00, p.A10)
2000 Apr 26, In Chechnya
Russian troops were ambushed near Serzhen-Yurt. 17 rebels and 10
Russians were reported killed.
(SFC, 4/28/00, p.D3)
2000 Apr 29, In Chechnya Alman
Mesiyev, the mayor of Khattuni, was shot at close range by rebels
for cooperating with Russian troops.
(SFC, 5/4/00, p.A16)
2000 May 3, Russian troops
ambushed a Chechen rebel band and killed at least 18 men.
(WSJ, 5/5/00, p.A1)
2000 May 10, Chechnya rebels
claimed to have trapped a Russian unit and killed 34 soldiers with 4
rebels dead. Russian officials denied the claim.
(SFC, 5/11/00, p.A24)
2000 May 11, Chechen rebels
ambushed a Russian troop convoy west of Chechnya and killed 18
soldiers.
(SFC, 5/12/00, p.D3)
2000 May 12, In Chechnya
Russian forces staged two ambush attacks on rebels and claimed 41
killed.
(SFC, 5/13/00, p.A9)
2000 May 31, Sergei Zveryev,
Russia’s 2nd highest official in the area, was killed by a remote
controlled bomb in Grozny. Grozny’s Mayor Supyan Makhchayev was
injured and his assistant was also killed.
(SFC, 6/1/00, p.A16)
2000 May, Pres. Putin declared
direct rule over Chechnya from Moscow. Former Chechen cleric Akhmad
Kadyrov was appointed as administrative head.
(USAT, 9/2/04, p.13A)
2000 May, Russian security
arrested Ruslan Alikhadzhiyev, a Chechen parliamentary speaker in
Shali. In Sept. it was reported that Alikhadzhiyev was missing and
had reportedly been killed following torture.
(SFC, 9/6/00, p.A10)
2000 Jun 7, In Chechnya a
suicide attack killed 2 Russian policemen and wounded 5 in
Alkhan-Yurt.
(WSJ, 6/8/00, p.A1)
2000 Jun 8, In Russia Pres.
Putin took personal control over Chechnya. A provisional government
was planned headed by a Kremlin-appointed official.
(SFC, 6/9/00, p.A14)
2000 Jun 12, Akhmad Kadyrov, a
Muslim cleric, was appointed by Pres. Putin to head the
administration in Chechnya.
(SFC, 6/13/00, p.A10)
2000 Jun 16, In Chechnya Umar
Idrisov, a Muslim leader, was shot and killed by attackers following
a sermon for peace. 2 Chechen police officers working for Russian
authorities were found beheaded.
(SFC, 6/17/00, p.A10)
2000 Jun 21, In Chechnya 2
Russian soldiers were killed and 2 wounded in a rebel ambush near
Mesker-Yurt.
(SFC, 6/23/00, p.A20)
2000 Jun 25, In Russia the
military declared that air and artillery attacks in Chechnya had
been suspended.
(SFC, 6/26/00, p.A10)
2000 Jun 27, In Chechnya 2 days
of fighting left 12 Russians dead and up to 60 rebels killed
according to Russian officials.
(SFC, 6/29/00, p.C6)
2000 Jun 30, In Chechnya
Russian Gen. Gennady Troshev said that a 5-day firefight at
Serzhen-Yurt was over and that over 100 rebels were killed.
(SFC, 7/1/00, p.A13)
2000 Jul 2, Chechen rebels
staged 5 suicide attacks against Russian forces. One bomb killed 31
elite OMON police troops as they slept in their barracks at Argun.
(SFC, 7/4/00, p.A8)
2000 Jul 19, In Chechnya 7
Russian servicemen were killed in 4 Russian-controlled areas.
(SFC, 7/21/00, p.B10)
2000 Jul 21, Four Russian
soldiers were killed when a land mine blew up their truck in the
Shali region of Chechnya.
(SFC, 7/22/00, p.C1)
2000 Jul 27, In Chechnya 74
bodies, mostly men, were removed from a mass grave near Tangi-Chu.
As many as 80 more remained.
(SFC, 7/28/00, p.A12)
2000 Aug 4, It was reported
that the war in Chechnya had killed 2,508 Russian soldiers since
8/2/99. A mother’s group put the figure up to 6,000.
(WSJ, 8/4/00, p.A1)
2000 Aug 4, Russia reported
that Chechen rebels had decapitated 2 Russian colonels, who had been
seized earlier in the Vedeno region.
(SFC, 8/5/00, p.C1)
2000 Aug 6, Russian officials
reported that scores of rebels were killed in weekend artillery
attacks outside Grozny, Chechnya, following warnings of a possible
rebel offensive. As many as 160 insurgents were reported killed.
(SFC, 8/7/00, p.A12)(SFC, 8/8/00, p.A12)
2000 Aug 7, Chechen rebels
claimed 11 Russian soldiers in a military convoy were killed by a
remote controlled mine.
(SFC, 8/8/00, p.A12)
2000 Aug 16, In Chechnya 2
civilians were killed when rebels blew up a police car in Grozny.
(SFC, 8/18/00, p.D6)
2000 Aug 18, Chechen rebels
killed 8 Russian soldiers in several attacks on checkpoints and
roadblocks.
(SFC, 8/19/00, p.A10)
2000 Sep 7, Four Russian
soldiers were killed in a rebel ambush in Grozny.
(SFC, 9/9/00, p.A12)
2000 Sep 12, A truck bomb
killed a woman and her daughter in the Oktyabrsky market in Grozny.
(SFC, 9/14/00, p.C7)
2000 Sep 17, Chechen attackers
gunned down Col. Shamil Azayev, deputy chief of police in Vedeno.
(SFC, 9/18/00, p.A9)
2000 Sep 28, Russian troops
reportedly killed Isa Munayev, a Chechen rebel military commander.
(SFC, 10/4/00, p.A12)
2000 Oct 8, Chechen rebels
crossed into Ingushetia and attacked a police patrol. 2 officers
were killed and 3 wounded.
(SFC, 10/9/00, p.A11)
2000 Oct 9, Three Russian
soldiers were shot to death in Urus-Martan, Chechnya.
(SFC, 10/10/00, p.A13)
2000 Oct 12, A car bomb
exploded outside a Grozny police stations and at least 10 people
were killed.
(SFC, 10/13/00, p.D3)
2000 Oct 17, It was reported
that mines planted by Chechen rebels killed 4 Russian soldiers.
(SFC, 10/18/00, p.A26)
2000 Oct 24, In Chechnya 13
Russian soldiers died from rebel mines and attacks and 24 were
wounded.
(SFC, 10/25/00, p.A16)
2000 Nov 1, Chechen rebels
killed 14 Russian soldiers in a series of raids.
(WSJ, 11/2/00, p.A1)
2000 Nov 19, 7 Russian soldiers
were killed and 10 wounded in some 2 dozen attacks by Chechen
rebels.
(SFC, 11/20/00, p.A10)
2000 Nov 23, 4 Russian soldiers
were killed and 18 wounded in a series of Chechen rebel attacks.
(SFC, 11/24/00, p.D8)
2000 Nov 28, A 55-nation
European security meeting failed to make a tough declaration on
Chechnya amid Russian objections.
(WSJ, 11/29/00, p.A1)
2000 Dec 3, In Chechnya rebels
struck numerous check points and at least 13 Russian soldiers
were killed.
(SFC, 12/5/00, p.A16)
2000 Dec 9, Two Chechen rebel
car bombs killed at least 19 people in Alkhan-Yurt.
(SSFC, 12/10/00, p.C5)
2000 Dec 16, A series of
Chechen rebel attacks killed 16 Russian soldiers. A Chechen family
of 4 was shot to death in Alkhan-Kala by unidentified assailants.
(SSFC, 12/17/00, p.D11)(SFC, 12/19/00, p.B4)
2000 Dec 17, In Chechnya a
rebel attack killed 3 Russian soldiers. A shootout with rebels in
Grozny left 2 police officers and 2 rebels dead.
(SFC, 12/19/00, p.B4)(SFC, 12/18/00, p.E6)
2000 Dec 20, In Chechnya 6
students and an instructor from the university in Grozny were killed
by mortar fire from Russian soldiers. One soldier was killed and 4
injured.
(SFC, 12/21/00, p.C6)(SFC, 12/26/00, p.C4)
2000 Dec 29, In Chechnya 14
Russian soldiers were killed. Russian troops averaged a loss of 200
men per month in Chechnya.
(SFC, 1/1/01, p.A10)
2001 Jan 9, Kenny Gluck, a US
aid worker, was kidnapped in Chechnya and a 2nd was wounded.
(WSJ, 1/11/01, p.A1)
2001 Jan 21, Chechen rebels
fought street battles in Gudermes following weekend raids that left
6 Russian soldiers dead.
(WSJ, 1/22/01, p.A1)
2001 Jan 22, In Russia Pres.
Putin put his domestic security agency in charge of the war effort
in Chechnya.
(SFC, 1/23/01, p.C3)
2001 Jan 24, In Chechnya 14
Russian soldiers were killed.
(WSJ, 1/25/01, p.A1)
2001 Feb 14, In Chechnya rebels
opened fire on Russian positions and 12 Russian soldiers were
killed.
(SFC, 2/15/01, p.A16)
2001 Feb 18, Chechen rebels
blew a Russian troop train of its tracks and 3 people were killed.
(WSJ, 2/21/01, p.A1)
2001 Feb 21, Some 50 bodies
began to be uncovered across from a Russian military base at
Zdorovye, Chechnya.
(SFC, 4/14/01, p.A8)
2001 Feb 25, Russian military
officials promised to investigate a recently discovered grave in
Chechnya that contained 11 to several score Chechens with many of
the bodies mined. 48 bodies of men, women and children were found
with gun shot wounds. They had been dumped over the course of a
year.
(SFC, 2/26/01, p.A10)(SFC, 3/3/01, p.A12)
2001 Mar 15, Chechen rebels
hijacked a Russian plane with 174 people after it left Turkey. They
forced a landing in Medina.
(SFC, 3/16/01, p.A14)
2001 Mar 16, In Saudi Arabia
Saudi commandos freed over 100 hijacked hostages held by Chechen
rebels in a Russian plane. 3 people were killed including a
hijacker, a flight attendant and a passenger.
(SFC, 3/17/01, p.A10)
2001 Mar 18, Chechen rebels
killed at least 21 Russian troops.
(WSJ, 3/19/01, p.A1)
2001 Mar 24, In southern Russia
near Chechnya car bombs killed 21 people and wounded over 140.
Chechen separatists were blamed.
(SSFC, 3/25/01, p.C1)
2001 Apr 17, A Chechen
herdsman, Khozh-Akmed Alsultanov (44) was killed with his 3 children
in Nazran, an area surrounded by Russian forces.
(SFC, 4/25/01, p.A8)
2001 Apr 22, In Turkey
pro-Chechen gunmen seized at least 30 hostages at a luxury hotel in
Istanbul.
(SFC, 4/23/01, p.A8)
2001 Apr 26, Chechen rebel
fighting killed at least 17 Russian soldiers and wounded 28.
(SFC, 4/27/01, p.D4)
2001 May 7, In Chechnya a 2-day
fight around Argun left at least 15 Russian soldiers dead.
(SFC, 5/9/01, p.C5)
2001 Jun 18, Russian
authorities reported that 19 servicemen were detained on suspicion
of killing civilians in Chechnya. 7-8 civilians were recently killed
near Pobedenskoye.
(SFC, 6/19/01, p.A9)
2001 Jun 25, Russia claimed to
have killed Arbi Barayev, a top Chechen rebel commander, in a
week-long offensive near Grozny. At least 17 rebels were killed.
Movladi Udagov, a Chechen leader, said 150 federal soldiers were
killed along with 60 civilians from a massive Russian bombardment.
(WSJ, 6/25/01, p.A1)(SFC, 6/26/01, p.A9)
2001 Jun 26, In Chechnya
Russian troops claimed to have killed at least 30 rebels near the
Georgian border.
(WSJ, 6/27/01, p.A1)
2001 Jul 3-4, A Russian roundup
operation sent an estimated 26,000 Chechen refugees fleeing to
Ingushetia. Lt. Gen. Vladimir Moltenskoi, acting commander of
Russian forces, later acknowledged that his troops committed
widespread crimes during the operation.
(SFC, 7/10/01, p.A8)(SFC, 7/12/01, p.A12)
2001 Jul 31, Russian commandos
freed 25 [41] hostages held by 2 hijackers in Mineralniye Vody,
Chechnya.
(SFC, 8/1/01, p.A8)(WSJ, 8/1/01, p.A1)
2001 Aug 1, In Chechnya 86
refugees attempted a 1000-mile march to Moscow to protest atrocities
but were immediately stopped by force and 12 were arrested.
(SFC, 8/3/01, p.A12)
2001 Aug 13, In southeast
Chechnya rebels seized the village of Benoi-Yurt. Pro-Moscow
administrators were reported killed.
(SFC, 8/14/01, p.A7)
2001 Aug 22, In Chechnya
Russian troops claimed to have wounded rebel commander Shamil
Basayev and killed 35 of his fighters.
(WSJ, 8/23/01, p.A1)
2001 Sep 3, In Chechnya an
explosion tore through the headquarters of the Russian-backed
government during a Cabinet meeting. One woman was killed.
(SFC, 9/4/01, p.B1)
2001 Sep 17, In Chechnya rebels
shot down a Russian Mi-8 helicopter. 2 generals and 8 colonels were
killed. An attack at Gudermes left 10 Russian soldiers dead. 15
rebels were reported killed.
(SFC, 9/18/01, p.B10)
2001 Sep 25, In Russia Pres.
Putin issued a 72-hour ultimatum to Chechen rebels to show up for
peace talks.
(WSJ, 9/27/01, p.A1)
2001 Sep 30, Chechen militants
staged raids on army, police and administrative buildings over the
weekend. In Kurchaloi 2 policemen were killed and 14 wounded.
(WSJ, 10/1/01, p.A21)
2001 Oct 1, Russia claimed to
have killed Abu Yakub, a top aide to an Arab commander allied with
rebels in Chechnya.
(WSJ, 10/2/01, p.A1)
2001 Oct 3, Chechen rebels
killed 9 federal troops in a number of clashes that included 4 dead
from land mines. 4 militants were also killed.
(SFC, 10/4/01, p.C8)
2001 Oct 15, Russian troops
claimed to have killed 20 Chechen rebels with a loss of 5 of their
own men.
(WSJ, 10/16/01, p.A1)
2001 Oct 24, Chechen leader
Akhmed Zakayev called Putin envoy Viktor Kazantsev to meet in Moscow
for talks.
(SFC, 10/25/01, p.C2)
2001 Nov 18, Russia dropped all
conditions and opened talks with Chechnya.
(SFC, 11/19/01, p.A15)
2001 Dec 25, Salman Raduyev, a
Chechen warlord, was sentenced by a Russian court to life in prison
for terrorism and murder.
(SFC, 12/26/01, p.A4)
2001 Dec 30, Russian troops
mounted an offensive south of Grozny after 6 Russian soldiers were
killed by rebels. The offensive left 73 rebels dead. Civilians were
later reported to have been counted as rebels.
(WSJ, 12/31/01, p.A1)(WSJ, 1/2/02, p.A1)(SFC,
1/7/02, p.A5)
2001 Anna Politkovskaya
authored “A Dirty War: A Russian Reporter in Chechnya.”
(SSFC, 1/6/02, p.M6)
2002 Jan 3, Russian forces
fought Chechen rebels for a 6th day in a conflict that left 40 dead.
In other action 5 Russian soldiers were killed in attacks across
Chechnya. Fighting continued in Tsotsin-Yurt. Moscow claimed 100
rebels killed, but rebels disputed that and said 40 Russians were
killed. Civilians were later reported to have been counted as
rebels.
(SFC, 1/4/02, p.A17)(WSJ, 1/4/02, p.A1)(SFC,
1/7/02, p.A5)
2002 Jan 10, In Chechnya
Russian troops lifted a weeklong blockade of Argun.
(WSJ, 1/11/02, p.A1)
2002 Apr 3, The US-financed
Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty began broadcasting in the North
Caucasus region that included Chechnya. The Kremlin viewed the
broadcasts as interference with internal affairs.
(SFC, 4/3/02, p.A6)
2002 Apr 5, The Kremlin
reported about this time that 3,220 Russian soldiers had been killed
in Chechnya since 1999 and nearly 9,000 injured.
(SFC, 4/10/02, p.A11)
2002 Apr 18, In Chechnya rebel
explosives killed 21 police officers in Grozny.
(SFC, 4/19/02, p.A19)
2002 Apr 25, Russia reported
that Khattab, an Arab guerrilla, had been killed in Chechnya on Mar
19-20.
(SFC, 4/26/02, p.A14)(SFC, 4/27/02, p.A10)
2002 Apr 28, A bomb killed 7
people in a Russian provincial town near Chechnya.
(WSJ, 4/29/02, p.A1)
2002 Apr 30, Russia’s military
command said the Chechen commander Shamil Basayev had been killed.
(SFC, 5/1/02, p.A13)
2002 Jun 3, It was reported
that Chechen rebel leaders had appealed to the US to get Russia to
end a military operation in Mesker-Yurt where 21 have been killed
and others taken away.
(WSJ, 6/3/02, p.A1)
2002 Jun, Pres. Putin said
Chechens must take over control of their homeland from the 80,000
federal troops. The local police force numbered about 8,500.
(SFC, 7/4/02, p.A1)
2002 Jul 5, In Chechnya rebel
ambushes killed 11 Russian soldiers and police officers.
(SFC, 7/6/02, p.A7)
2002 Jul 16, In Chechnya
separatist fighters attacked Russian army convoys and checkpoints
and 6 people were killed.
(WSJ, 7/17/02, p.A1)
2002 Jul 29, The United Nations
indefinitely suspended aid operations in Chechnya after the
kidnapping last week of a Russian aid worker in the breakaway
republic.
(AP, 7/29/02)
2002 Aug 13, In Chechnya
explosions rocked a bus in Grozny and Shali , killing at least five
people and wounding several others.
(AP, 8/13/02)
2002 Aug 17, Russia troops
battled with Chechen rebels who attacked a number of villages in
southern Chechnya in fighting that has left nine soldiers and five
civilians dead.
(AP, 8/17/02)
2002 Aug 18, Turpal-Ali
Atgeriyev (b.1969), a former Chechen rebel commander and top
official in the region's rebel government, died of complications
from leukemia while serving a 15-year prison term for terrorism in
Yekaterinburg.
(AP, 8/22/02)
2002 Aug 19, A Russian Mi-26
military helicopter loaded with troops crashed in Chechnya. 127 were
killed and 32 injured when the troop transport fell into a minefield
in what Russian media called the nation's biggest military
helicopter crash and the biggest single-day casualty count in the
Chechen war. Chechen rebels claimed to have shot the helicopter
down.
(AP, 8/20/02)(WSJ, 8/23/02, p.A1)(AP,
8/21/03)(AP, 8/19/07)
2002 Aug 23, Russian troops
battled rebels for the fourth straight day outside a Chechen
village, while eight soldiers were killed in the last 24 hours.
(AP, 8/23/02)
2002 Aug 31, A Russian
helicopter was downed by a missile in Chechnya, killing two.
(AP, 8/31/02)
2002 Sep 8, A Russian
prosecutor said that the bodies of seven Chechen residents who
disappeared several months ago were found in a common grave near
Goragorsk.
(AP, 9/8/02)
2002 Sep 16, In Chechnya a land
mine planted at a busy intersection in the capital Grozny exploded
as a passenger bus drove by, and 19 people were killed and 20 others
wounded. 3 suspects in the blast were detained.
(AP, 9/16/02)(AP, 9/17/02)
2002 Oct 23, In Moscow 40-50
Chechen separatist guerrillas seized a theater and threatened to
shoot or blow up 700 hostages unless Russia pulled its troops out of
their homeland. The next day they killed one woman.
(AP, 10/24/02)(SFC, 10/24/02, p.A1)
2002 Oct 25, Russia pledged not
to kill Chechen guerrillas holding some 600 hostages in a Moscow
theater if they freed all their captives. Chechens released eight
children and then set a dawn Saturday deadline to begin killing the
rest of their captives if Russia does not agree to pull its army out
of Chechnya.
(AP, 10/25/02)
2002 Oct 26, Russian special
forces, using gas to knock out Chechen guerrillas, stormed a Moscow
theater in a dawn raid that left dozens of hostages dead along with
most of their rebel captors. Russian special forces killed 41
rebels, including leader Movsar Barayev, and freed more about 600
captives in the third day of a hostage drama. 129 captives were
killed. All the dead hostages except for 1 were killed by the gas
later suspected to be the anesthetic carfentanyl possibly mixed with
halothane.
(SFC, 10/26/02, p.A1)(SFC, 10/28/02, p.A1)(WSJ,
10/31/02, p.A1)(SFC, 11/9/02, p.A7)(AP, 10/26/03)
2002 Oct 27, The Russian Health
Ministry said 118 captives died in the Moscow theater hostage
crisis, as doctors released some of the 750 who were rescued.
(AP, 10/27/02)
2002 Oct 28, Chechen President
Aslan Maskhadov was prepared to hold unconditional talks with the
Russian leadership to find a political solution to the bloody
conflict in Chechnya, his envoy said.
(Reuters, 10/28/02)
2002 Oct 29, A Russian
helicopter was shot down in Chechnya by a missile, killing all three
crew and one passenger aboard.
(AP, 10/29/02)
2002 Oct 31, Chechen rebels
killed six Russian servicemen, a Chechen policeman and a local
administrator, as Russian forces intensified searches for rebels in
the wake of the Moscow theater siege.
(AP, 11/1/02)
2002 Oct 30, Danish police
arrested Akhmed Zakayev (43), a top aide to Aslan Maskhadov, former
Chechen president.
(SFC, 10/31/02, p.A31)
2002 Nov 3, Chechen rebels shot
down a Russian military helicopter, killing nine servicemen, after
Moscow said its forces had launched new military action to crush
attempts by the guerrillas to stage "new acts of terror."
(Reuters, 11/3/02)
2002 Nov 11, Russian troops
ambushed Chechen rebels near Grozhny and 6 guerrillas were reported
killed. [see Apr 29, 2004]
(WSJ, 11/12/02, p.A1)
2002 Nov 16, A high-ranking
Russian officer was killed and a top Chechen official abducted at
gunpoint in new fighting in the southern Russian republic.
(AP, 11/16/02)
2002 Nov 27, Russian officials
renewed their drive to close sprawling tent camps in the republic of
Ingushetia that are home to tens of thousands of Chechen refugees.
(AP, 11/27/02)
2002 Nov 29, Five Russian
servicemen and a paramilitary policeman serving in Chechnya were
killed in clashes with rebels and from mine explosions.
(AP, 11/30/02)
2002 Dec 14, Salman Raduyev
(b.1967), the Chechen warlord who led a bloody 1996 raid on a
Russian hospital that killed 78 people, died in a Russian hard labor
camp while serving a life sentence.
(AP, 12/15/02)
2002 Dec 17, The Interfax news
agency reported that Russia has lost 4,705 soldiers, officers and
policemen in Chechnya since 1999.
(AP, 12/18/02)
2002 Dec 25, In Chechnya 28
guerrillas laid down their weapons in Grozny. A pro-Russian party
leader and at least 4 Russians were killed in the last 24 hrs.
(SFC, 12/25/02, p.A17)
2002 Dec 27, Chechen rebel
suicide bombers rammed vehicles packed with a ton of explosives into
the local government headquarters in Grozny, gutting the building
and killing at least 83 people.
(Reuters, 12/27/02)(AP, 12/28/02)(SFC, 12/31/02,
p.A7)
2002 Dec 30, In Chechnya rebels
staged attacks on pro-Moscow forces and killed 4 people in Grozny.
(SFC, 12/31/02, p.A7)
2003 Jan 9, Six Russian
soldiers and police officers were killed in Chechnya in the last 24
hours. Another 9 Russian soldiers died when their convoy came under
rebel fire in Grozny. Two rebels were killed in the fighting.
(AP, 1/10/03)(AP, 1/11/03)
2003 Jan 11, In Chechnya 4
Russian servicemen were killed in clashes, while 4 soldiers died
when their vehicles struck land mines.
(AP, 1/12/03)
2003 Jan, In Chechnya 3
construction workers were killed at a checkpoint. In Dec 2007 two
Russian officers were convicted by a military court of killing the 3
workers.
(AP, 12/28/07)
2003 Feb 2, Chechen rebel
attacks and mines killed 5 Russian servicemen and wounded 8.
(AP, 2/3/03)
2003 Feb 7, Chechen rebel
attacks and land mines killed 10 soldiers and police over the last
24 hours.
(AP, 2/8/03)
2003 Feb 10, Moscow appointed a
new prime minister of Chechnya. Anatoly Popov replaced Mikhail
Babich, who resigned under pressure 2 days earlier after a dispute
with his superior, the chief of the Moscow-backed administration,
Akhmad Kadyrov.
(AP, 2/10/03)
2003 Mar 1, The US
designated 3 rebel groups in Chechnya as terrorist organizations
linked to al-Qaeda and imposed a freeze on their US assets.
(SSFC, 3/2/03, A21)
2003 Mar 1, Rebels
attacked the motorcade of Chechnya’s pro-Moscow leader, Akhmad
Kadyrov, killing four bodyguards and three policemen.
(AP, 3/3/03)
2003 Mar 9, In Chechnya
2 Russian armored personnel carriers opened fire in Staraya Sunzha,
killing 2 policemen.
(AP, 3/12/03)
2003 Mar 15, In Chechnya 6
Russian soldiers were killed by rebel fire and mines. Attackers
destroyed 2 polling stations ahead of the Mar 23 constitutional
referendum.
(SFC, 3/17/03, p.A4)
2003 Mar 22, Dozens of Chechen
rebels surrendered their weapons in a ceremony apparently designed
to promote harmony on the eve of a constitutional referendum.
(AP, 3/22/03)
2003 Mar 23, A Chechen
referendum strongly approved a new constitution that confirmed
Chechnya as part of Russia and endorsed rules for electing a Chechen
president and parliament.
(AP, 3/23/03)(AP, 3/24/03)(SFC, 3/24/03, p.A11)
2003 Mar 24, Russian officials
declared that the approval of a new constitution by Chechnya's
voters completely discredited the separatist cause, further dimming
hopes that the Kremlin would negotiate an end to the 3 1/2-year war.
(AP, 3/24/03)
2003 Mar 28, Chechen rebels
killed six Russian soldiers and two riot police.
(AP, 3/29/03)
2003 Apr 3, In Chechnya a bus
was blown apart by a remote-controlled mine, killing at least six
people.
(AP, 4/3/03)
2003 Apr 6, Police in Chechnya
said they had discovered four graves filled with disfigured bodies,
many of them with their heads and arms cut off. Pro-Moscow Chechen
policeman Ruslan Visarigov was killed by a mine near his home in the
Shelkovskaya district. Rebels killed 4 servicemen and wounded 10
others in attacks over the past 24 hours.
(AP, 4/6/03)(AP, 4/7/03)
2003 Apr 8, In Chechnya a
Russian armored personnel carrier hit a land mine in Grozny and
exploded, killing two soldiers and injuring several others.
(AP, 4/8/03)
2003 Apr 15, In Chechnya 16
people, mostly female construction workers, were killed last week in
a bus explosion. The incident was not reported until Apr 21.
(AP, 4/21/03)
2003 Apr 20, Chechen rebels
opened fire on Russian troops, killing 7 soldiers and wounding 7
others.
(AP, 4/20/03)
2003 May 12, In northern
Chechnya a truck bomb ripped through a government compound, killing
60 people and wounding some 300 others.
(AP, 5/13/03)(WSJ, 5/19/03, p.A1)
2003 May 14, In Chechnya a
female suicide attacker killed at least 10 people at a funeral
service.
(AP, 5/14/03)
2003 May 30, A rebel ambush and
other attacks killed five Russian soldiers and wounded 11 others in
and around the breakaway republic of Chechnya.
(AP, 5/31/03)
2003 Jun 5, A bomber attacked a
bus near a Russian military air base near Chechnya on Thursday,
killing herself and at least 16 others.
(AP, 6/5/03)
2003 Jun 6, Russia's parliament
approved an amnesty for Chechen rebels who agree to disarm. Pres.
Vladimir Putin presented the move as a major step toward peace.
(AP, 6/6/03)
2003 Jun 7, In Chechnya a
fierce battle between rebels and Russian troops raged into its
second day, leaving six servicemen dead.
(AP, 6/7/03)
2003 Jun 8, In Chechnya the
deputy director of the region's natural gas network was shot and
killed in his home.
(AP, 6/9/03)
2003 Jun 30, In Chechnya armed
thieves opened fire on a crowd of Chechen villagers as they were
collecting unemployment benefits, killing four and wounding at least
eight.
(AP, 6/30/03)
2003 Jul 12, In southern
Chechnya rebels ambushed a Russian military vehicle and staged
hit-and-run attacks against federal positions, killing 16 soldiers
and wounding 13.
(AP, 7/13/03)
2003 Jul 29, A land mine
explosion shattered a military convoy near the border with rebel
Chechnya, killing five Russian soldiers.
(AP, 7/30/03)
2003 Aug 1, A suicide
bomber rammed a truck packed with explosives through the gates of a
Russian military hospital near Chechnya, destroying the building and
killing at least 50 people.
(AP, 8/3/03)
2003 Aug 7, Chechen rebels
using a shoulder-fired missile shot down a Russian military
helicopter in the mountains, killing three of the crew.
(AP, 8/7/03)
2003 Aug 7, Gunmen ambushed a
Russian military convoy near the border with Chechnya, killing six
soldiers and wounding seven.
(AP, 8/8/03)
2003 Aug 10, Eight Russian
soldiers and police died in rebel attacks in a day of violence
throughout Chechnya.
(AP, 8/11/03)
2003 Aug 15, A remote mine,
allegedly triggered by Chechen rebels, killed five Russian soldiers
while troops were conducting a search operation in the breakaway
republic. Chechen rebels also fired automatic weapons and lobbed
grenades at a military commander's office, killing two soldiers and
wounding 10.
(AP, 8/15/03)(AP, 8/16/03)
2003 Aug 19, Fighting persisted
in Chechnya, with six Russian servicemen killed and 11 others
wounded.
(AP, 8/20/03)
2003 Aug 20, In Chechnya
fighting left 8 Russian soldiers and 12 rebels dead.
(SFC, 8/22/03, p.A9)
2003 Aug 28, Akhmad Kadyrov,
the Kremlin-appointed head of Chechnya, said death squads associated
with security forces were seeking to prolong the conflict through
abductions and terror.
(SFC, 8/29/03, p.A8)
2003 Oct 1, In southern
Chechnya gunmen opened fire on a car carrying the mayor of a town,
killing the local leader and his son, who was a police officer.
(AP, 10/2/03)
2003 Oct 5, Elections organized
by Moscow were scheduled in Chechnya. Some 200,000 dead Chechens
remained on the electoral lists. Akhmad Kadyrov, chief of the
pro-Russian administration enjoyed a 13% popularity.
(WSJ, 10/2/03, p.A16)
2003 Oct 6, In Chechnya Akhmad
Kadyrov was declared the winner in the region's presidential vote.
Human rights advocates questioned the fairness of a vote held during
a war and said the election was heavily tilted in favor of Kadyrov,
whose personal security service is widely feared and accused of
kidnappings and killings.
(AP, 10/6/03)
2003 Oct 19, In Chechnya Akhmad
Kadyrov was inaugurated as president.
(AP, 10/19/03)
2003 Oct 28, Chechen rebels
killed 8 Russian soldiers in a series of attacks.
(WSJ, 10/29/03, p.A1)
2003 Nov 23, Russian special
forces killed 17 militants near the Chechen village of Serzhen-Yurt.
The Kremlin later displayed passports belonging to an Algerian, 3
Turks and Thomas Fischer (25), a German, who were among the dead.
(SFC, 12/25/03, p.A11)(WSJ, 10/14/04, p.A14)
2003 Nov 29, A Chechen leader
wanted in Russia on charges of terrorism and murder has been granted
refugee status in Britain. A British judge had rejected a Russian
government request to extradite Akhmed Zakayev earlier this month.
(AP, 11/29/03)
2003 Dec 5, A shrapnel-filled
bomb believed strapped to a suicide attacker ripped apart a commuter
train near Chechnya, killing 44 people and wounding nearly 200.
Pres. Putin called it an attempt to disrupt weekend parliamentary
elections.
(AP, 12/5/04)
2003 Dec 15, At least 25 gunmen
crossed from Chechnya into the Russian region of Dagestan, killing
at least 3 border guards and seizing hostages in a remote mountain
village.
(AP, 12/15/03)
2003 Dec 16, Chechen rebels,
who fought their way into the neighboring Dagestan region and
occupied a village, released all their hostages and fled, avoiding
capture.
(AP, 12/16/03)
2003 Dec 20, In Chechnya 10
Russian servicemen were killed in rebel attacks over 24 hours.
(AP, 12/21/03)
2003 Khassan Baiev with Ruth
and Nicholas Daniloff authored "The Oath: A Surgeon Under Fire," a
primer on Russian-Chechen history and his own experiences in the
civil war.
(SSFC, 10/19/03, p.M6)
2003 Anna Politkovskaya
authored “A Small Corner of Hell: Dispatches from Chechnya.”
(Econ, 10/4/03, p.80)
2004 Jan 27, In Chechnya at
least 8 Russian servicemen were killed and 16 others wounded in the
latest rebel raids and land mine explosions.
(AP, 1/28/04)
2004 Feb 5, Seven Russian
servicemen were killed and at least 11 wounded over the last 24
hours in the latest rebel attacks in the breakaway region of
Chechnya.
(AP, 2/5/04)
2004 Feb 6, A bomb ripped
through a Moscow subway car during rush hour morning, killing 39
people and wounding 134. Chechen rebels were blamed.
(AP, 2/6/04)(SFC, 2/7/04, p.A1)
2004 Feb 9, Rebel attacks and
land mines in Chechnya killed at least 9 Russian servicemen and
local pro-Moscow police over the last 24 hours.
(SFC, 2/10/04, p.A6)
2004 Feb 13, In Qatar Zelimkhan
Yandarbiyev (51), Chechnya's exiled former president, was
assassinated when a bomb blew apart his car as he left a mosque with
his teenage son (13). He was wanted by Russia for terrorism and ties
to al-Qaida.
(AP, 2/13/04)
2004 Feb 25, A US State Dept.
report criticized Russia's human rights record in Chechnya citing
reports of government involvement in "politically motivated
disappearances."
(SSFC, 2/29/04, p.A3)
2004 Feb 26, Russian Foreign
Minister Igor Ivanov said that three Russian intelligence agents had
been arrested in Qatar on suspicion of involvement in the killing of
former Chechen President Zelimkhan Yandarbiyev. Ivanov said they
were innocent and demanded their release. On June 30 Qatar sentenced
2 of the Russian agents to 25 years in jail.
(AP, 2/26/04)(WSJ, 7/1/04, p.A1)
2004 Mar 2, Russian authorities
said they have confirmed that a man killed in the Dagestan region a
few days earlier was Ruslan Gelayev, one of the Chechnya's most
powerful rebel warlords.
(AP, 3/2/04)
2004 Mar 2, In Chechnya rebel
attacks and land mines killed five Russian soldiers.
(AP, 3/3/04)
2004 Mar 25, A military truck
drove out of a Russian military base in Chechnya after curfew and
hit a mine planted outside to deter a rebel attack, killing 10
soldiers.
(AP, 3/26/04)
2004 Apr 5, Rebel attacks
across Chechnya killed six Russian soldiers.
(AP, 4/6/04)
2004 Apr 8, A Moscow court
handed down a 20-year prison sentence to a Chechen woman who was
earlier convicted of carrying a bomb that killed an explosives
expert.
(AP, 4/8/04)
2004 Apr 12, Chechnya rebels
killed 10 Russian soldiers, including five whose convoy was shelled
while driving through an insurgent stronghold.
(AP, 4/12/04)
2004 Apr 16, Abu Walid,
Saudi-born rebel commander also known as Abdul Aziz al-Ghamdi, was
killed by Russian government forces in Chechnya.
(AP, 4/19/04)
2004 Apr 29, A Russian court
acquitted 4 commando officers in the shooting deaths of 6 Chechen
civilians, after the officers admitted in court that they mistakenly
opened fire on their vehicle and set the car on fire to conceal the
incident based on orders from superiors.
(SFC, 4/30/04, p.A3)
2004 May 9, Akhmad Kadyrov
(52), the Kremlin-backed president of Russia's warring Chechnya
region, was killed along with 23 others when an explosion tore
through a stadium in Grozny, during Victory Day observances marking
the defeat of the Nazis in World War II. Russian Sergei Abramov was
named acting president.
(SFC, 5/10/04, p.A1)(SFC, 5/11/04, p.A7)(AP,
5/9/05)
2004 May 10, Ramzan Kadyrov
(27), the son of Akhmad Kadyrov, was named the top Chechen official
in the regional government.
(SFC, 5/11/04, p.A1)
2004 May 18, Chechen rebels
ambushed 2 military vehicles killing 8 Russian soldiers and
4-pro-Mosciw police officers.
(WSJ, 5/19/04, p.A1)
2004 Jun 19, In Chechnya rebel
attacks killed seven Russian soldiers and police officers over the
last 24 hours.
(AP, 6/19/04)
2004 Jun 22, Thousands of
Russian troops poured into Nazran, Ingushetia, chasing Chechen
rebels who set fire to police and government buildings and killed at
least 48 people in brazen overnight attacks.
(AP, 6/22/04)
2004 Jul 13, Chechnya's acting
president escaped injury in the Chechen capital when an explosion
hit his motorcade, but one person was killed and three were wounded.
A separate clash left 18 soldiers dead.
(AP, 7/13/04)(WSJ, 7/14/04, p.A1)
2004 Jul 18, In Chechnya Tamara
Khadzhiyeva of United Russia, a local leader of Russia's main
pro-presidential party, was fatally shot in Shali. The region's
prosecutor said it was a contract killing linked to next month's
presidential election.
(AP, 7/18/04)
2004 Aug 21, In Chechnya gunmen
attacked a police station and polling sites in Grozny, killing
several people 8 days before a special election to replace the
region's assassinated president.
(AP, 8/21/04)
2004 Aug 22, Pres. Putin flew
to Chechnya in advance of elections. Overnight attacks killed at
least 30 people.
(SFC, 8/23/04, p.A3)
2004 Aug 27, Officials said one
of two Russian airliners that crashed nearly simultaneously was
brought down by a terrorist act, after finding traces of explosives
in the plane's wreckage. An Islamic militant group claimed
responsibility for the attack in a Web statement. Chechen women
Amanta Nagayeva (30) and S. Dzhebirkhanova (27) had purchased their
tickets at the last minute.
(AP, 8/27/04)(SFC, 8/31/04, p.A8)
2004 Aug 28, Officials said
they had found traces of the explosive hexogen on the wreckage of
the second of two Russian airliners that crashed just minutes apart
earlier this week. Attention focused on the roles of two dead female
passengers believed to be of Chechen origin.
(AP, 8/28/04)(SFC, 8/31/04, p.A8)
2004 Aug 29, Chechens voted for
a replacement for their assassinated president. One man was killed
when he attempted to blow up a polling station. Alu Alkhanov, the
Russian government's candidate in Chechnya, received nearly 74
percent of the vote.
(AP, 8/29/04)(AP, 8/30/04)
2004 Sep 3, Commandos stormed a
school in southern Russia and battled Chechen separatist rebels
holding hundreds of hostages, as crying children, some naked and
covered in blood, fled through explosions and gunfire. Over 330
people, including 155 children, were killed in the violence that
ended a hostage standoff with militants in Beslan, Russia. 31 of 32
hostage takers were killed. 6 Chechens and 4 Ingush were identified
among the hostage takers. In 2006 a woman died from her injuries in
Beslan bringing the total deaths to 334.
(SFC, 9/4/04, p.A1)(SFC, 9/7/04, p.A3)(WSJ,
9/10/04, p.A1)(AP, 12/9/07)
2004 Sep 17, The main Chechen
rebel Web site, Kavkaz-Center, posted what it said was an e-mail
from Basayev, claiming his "Riyadus Salikhin Martyrs' Brigade" was
responsible for the bombings of two passenger jets last month, a
suicide bombing outside a Moscow subway station and the school siege
in the southern city of Beslan.
(AP, 9/17/04)
2004 Oct 5, In Chechnya Maj.
Gen. Alu Alkhanov was sworn in as president.
(AP, 10/5/04)
2004 Oct 31, In Chechnya a car
bomb exploded outside Grozny’s main hospital, injuring 17 people.
(AP, 10/31/04)
2004 Dec 29, Ramzan Kadyrov, a
pro-Moscow Chechen leader accused by rights groups of kidnapping and
murder, earned Russia's highest award for "valor and heroism."
(AP, 12/29/04)
2005 Jan 8, Russian troops
killed four rebels hiding in a house in the Russian city of Nazran,
20 miles from the border with Chechnya, in a firefight.
(AP, 1/8/05)
2005 Feb 3, Chechnya's
Russian-backed government dismissed a rebel February cease-fire
declaration, saying it was a publicity stunt that could not be
trusted.
(AP, 2/3/05)(WSJ, 2/3/05, p.A1)
2005 Feb 4, Russia lashed out
at Britain after an independent TV channel there aired an interview
with Chechen rebel warlord Shamil Basayev, saying the broadcast
amounted to terrorist propaganda and calling for an investigation.
(AP, 2/4/05)
2005 Mar 8, A spokesman for
Russian forces said Chechen rebel leader Aslan Maskhadov has been
killed. Russia had offered a $10 million reward.
(AP, 3/8/05)(WSJ, 3/16/05, p.A1)(Econ, 3/12/05,
p.84)
2005 Mar 10, At least 15
Russian servicemen were killed and 12 others were injured when a
federal helicopter crashed in Chechnya.
(AP, 3/11/05)
2005 May 5, Russia's Federal
Security service said it foiled planned terror attacks ahead of
Victory in Europe celebrations, discovering a truck near Grozny
packed with more than a ton of explosives and a cache of poisons
allegedly intended for chemical attacks.
(AP, 5/5/05)
2005 May 14, Russian security
forces and police killed six suspected militants, including two
female suicide bombers, who had holed up in an apartment in
Cherkessk. Russian forces in Chechnya killed 4 rebels including
former separatist vice president Vakha Arsanov.
(AP, 5/15/05)
2005 May 17, Russian security
services killed Alash Daudov, a prominent Chechen rebel wanted for a
series of planned chemical attacks.
(AP, 5/17/05)
2005 May 27, Chechen warlord
Shamil Basayev claimed responsibility for a power outage that caused
chaos in Moscow.
(AP, 5/27/05)
2005 Jun 4, Masked Chechen
soldiers apparently avenging the killing of a woodcutter raided a
tiny village, beat and killed residents and set homes afire. The
raid in Borozdinovskaya pitted ethnic Chechens against ethnic Avars,
marking the first serious conflict between the two groups.
Villagers, failing to attract local authorities' attention to the
abuses, abandoned their houses June 16 and fled to nearby Kizlyar in
Dagestan,
(AP, 6/26/05)
2005 Jun 6, Chechnya’s
Moscow-backed Pres. Alu Alkhanov said Russian military forces carry
out up to 10 percent of the kidnappings that occur in turbulent
Chechnya.
(AP, 6/6/05)
2005 Jul 16, A Russian air
force helicopter carrying border guards crashed in mountainous
southern Chechnya, killing eight people.
(AP, 7/17/05)
2005 Jul 19, Insurgents set off
a bomb near a police minibus in breakaway Chechnya after luring the
security forces into a trap, killing 14 people, including two
children, and wounding more than 20 others.
(AP, 7/20/05)
2005 Jul 28, Chechnya’s Shamil
Basayev, linked to a dozen deadly attacks on civilians, admitted he
was a terrorist in an interview being broadcast on ABC News'
"Nightline." The Kremlin denounced the network's decision to run the
interview, which was conducted by well-known Russian journalist
Andrei Babitsky.
(AP, 7/29/05)
2005 Aug 9, In Chechnya gunmen
sprayed bullets at a car in Grozny, killing one person, wounding a
child in the head, and setting the vehicle ablaze.
(AP, 8/9/05)
2005 Aug 10, Russia’s Defense
Ministry said more than 3,450 Russian troops have been killed in
Chechnya since federal forces re-entered the southern Russian region
six years ago.
(AP, 8/10/05)
2005 Aug 14, A land mine
exploded in Chechnya when Russia troops came to the aid of a local
official whose home was under attack by rebels, killing a senior
Russian military officer and four other soldiers.
(AP, 8/14/05)
2005 Aug 15, A powerful car
bomb exploded outside a restaurant in Chechnya's capital, killing
two people, including a child, and wounding at least 11 others.
(AP, 8/16/05)
2005 Sep 20, In Chechnya gunmen
launched two separate attacks, killing one police officer and
wounding four others.
(AP, 9/21/05)
2005 Sep 21, The Kremlin issued
a letter from President Vladimir Putin to Jordanian King Abdullah
II, delivered personally by Moscow-backed Chechen President Alu
Alkhanov during his Middle Eastern tour. Putin said in the letter
that the situation in Chechnya was "steadily normalizing." Jordan
has a large Chechen Diaspora.
(AP, 9/21/05)
2005 Oct 13, Scores of Islamic
militants launched simultaneous attacks on police and government
buildings in Nalchik capital of the republic of Kabardino-Balkariya,
sparking battles that killed 12 police, 12 civilians and more than
50 guerrillas. Chechen rebels claimed responsibility for the
attacks. President Putin ordered a total blockade of Nalchik, a city
of 235,000, to prevent militants from slipping out, and he said
armed resisters would be shot.
(AP, 10/13/05)(SFC, 10/14/05, p.A11)
2005 Oct 14, In Nalchik Russian
security forces in an armored personnel carrier smashed through the
wall of a store to rescue two hostages held by suspected Islamic
militants as authorities tried to clear out the last pockets of
rebel resistance after more than a day of fighting that killed 139
people including 94 militants.
(AP, 10/14/05)(WSJ, 10/17/05, p.A1)
2005 Nov 16, In Chechnya a
group of Russian soldiers, alleged to be drunk, began flagging down
cars and demanding money in the Grozny suburb of Staraya Sunzha. 3
civilians were killed and 3 servicemen were detained.
(SSFC, 11/20/05, p.A22)
2005 Nov 17, Sergei Abramov,
the prime minister of Chechnya was in a serious condition after a
car crash on the way to a Moscow airport. His aide said it was too
early to rule out an assassination attempt.
(AP, 11/18/05)
2005 Nov 27, Residents of
Chechnya began voting in the latest in a series of elections that
are part of efforts to bring stability and peace.
(AP, 11/27/05)
2005 Nov 28, A top pro-Kremlin
party led in early returns from Chechnya's first parliamentary
election since federal troops reinvaded more than six years ago, and
President Vladimir Putin hailed the vote as a key to restoring law
and order.
(AP, 11/28/05)
2005 Dec 3, Chechnya’s top
election official said a Kremlin-backed political party has won the
largest number of seats in the new parliament.
(AP, 12/03/05)
2005 Dec 16, Chechnya's top
prosecutor said a state-owned chemical company on the outskirts of
the Chechen capital had "catastrophic" radiation levels tens of
thousands of times greater than normal.
(AP, 12/16/05)
2005 Dec, Chechen members of
the pro-Kremlin United Russia party that dominates the region's
recently elected parliament voted to make Ramzan Kadyrov (29) its
regional head despite observers questioning his democratic
credentials.
(Reuters, 12/21/05)
2006 Feb 7, An apparent gas
explosion destroyed a two-story military barracks in Chechnya,
killing at least two people and injuring 32.
(AP, 2/7/06)
2006 Feb 7, An aid group that
provides food to tens of thousands of people in war-ravaged Chechnya
suspended its operations after Chechen officials banned all Danish
organizations because of the publication of Prophet Muhammad
cartoons.
(AP, 2/7/06)
2006 Feb 28, Sergei Abramov,
the Kremlin-backed PM of war-battered Chechnya, said he was stepping
down to give way to Ramzan Kadyrov (29), the widely feared head of a
shadowy security service.
(AP, 3/1/06)
2006 Mar 1, Pakistani security
forces backed by helicopter gunships struck a militant hide-out in a
tribal region near the Afghan border, killing 45 fighters, including
a Chechen commander linked to al-Qaida.
(AP, 3/1/06)
2006 Mar 4, Chechnya's
Parliament unanimously approved Ramzan Kadyrov (29), the head of a
security force widely accused of human rights abuses, as PM of the
war-battered republic.
(AP, 3/4/06)
2006 Apr 15, In southern
Chechnya rebels killed two Russian soldiers and wounded five others
in an ambush.
(AP, 4/16/06)
2006 Apr 21, A bomb exploded on
a roadside in Chechnya where schoolchildren were cleaning up trash,
killing a boy and wounding five other children.
(AP, 4/22/06)
2006 Jun 17, In Chechnya
Russian police killed rebel leader Abdul-Khalim Sadulayev in a
special police operation in his hometown of Argun. An intelligence
agent and a police officer were killed in the operation. One rebel
also was killed and two rebels escaped.
(AP, 6/17/06)
2006 Jun 27, Chechnya's new
separatist leader named warlord Shamil Basayev, wanted by Russia for
a string of shocking terrorist attacks, as his vice president in a
move that could signal a radicalization of the Chechen rebel
movement.
(AP, 6/29/06)
2006 Jul 4, Gunmen attacked a
Russian military convoy in the Chechnya region, killing at least
five troops and wounding as many as 25 others, officials said.
Pro-rebel Web sites claimed more than 20 Russian soldiers were
killed.
(AP, 7/4/06)
2006 Jul 10, Chechen warlord
Shamil Basayev (41) was killed in Ingushetia. He had claimed
responsibility for modern Russia's worst terrorist attacks including
Beslan in 2004. He was killed along with 4 other militant while
accompanying a truck filled with 220 pounds of dynamite that blew up
in the Ingush village of Ekazhevo. Shortly before his death he was
appointed vice-president of Ichkeria, the rebel’s name for their
non-existent state.
(AP, 7/10/06)(Econ, 7/15/06, p.84)
2006 Jul 19, Doku Umarov, the
leader of the Chechen rebels, dismissed a Russian amnesty offer,
saying attacks outside his home region would be his rebels' answer
to Moscow.
(AP, 7/19/06)
2006 Jul 27, The European Court
of Human Rights found Russia guilty of violating the "right to life"
of a young Chechen who disappeared after a Russian general ordered
him shot. Khadzimurat Yandiyev (25) was last seen in the hands of
Russian troops in February 2000.
(AP, 7/27/06)
2006 Aug 24, An explosion in
Chechnya's capital Grozny killed four people.
(AP, 8/24/06)
2006 Aug 29, About 50 former
militants surrendered and handed over their weapons in a ceremony
led by Chechnya's powerful prime minister, who said rebel numbers
are dwindling in the war-ravaged region.
(AP, 8/29/06)
2006 Oct 7, Anna Politkovskaya,
a Russian journalist, was shot to death, her body discovered in an
elevator in her apartment building in Moscow. She was known for her
critical coverage of the war in Chechnya. Politkovskaya, shot to
death in an apparent contract killing, was about to publish a story
about torture and abductions in Chechnya. In 2007 Random House
published her diaries under the title: “A Russian Diary.” In 2008
Russian investigators named Rustam Makhmudov (34 of Chechnya as the
executor of the murder. Makhmudov was still at large. In 2008
Prosecutors charged Sergei Khadzhikurbanov, a former police officer,
and 2 brothers from Chechnya, Dzhabrail and Ibragim Makhmudov, with
involvement in the murder.
(AP, 10/8/06)(Econ, 10/14/06, p.91)(Econ, 4/7/07,
p.82)(WSJ, 5/13/08, p.A8)(SFC, 6/19/08, p.A9)
2006 Nov 7, Rebels ambushed a
police convoy in Chechnya, killing 7 police officers. Lt. Col.
Nikolai Varavin, a spokesman for Russian forces in Chechnya, said
that up to 700 militants continue operating in the province's
mountains.
(AP, 11/9/06)
2006 Nov 24, A UN anti-torture
panel said it had credible reports of unofficial detention centers,
abuse and disappearances in Russia's restive southern province of
Chechnya.
(AP, 11/24/06)
2006 Nov 26, Abu Khavs, a
Jordanian who commanded foreign mercenaries in Chechnya and was
reportedly al-Qaida's top emissary in the troubled North Caucasus,
died along with 4 other militants in a shootout with police in
Dagestan.
(AP, 11/26/06)
2007 Jan 15, More than 500
armed militants in Chechnya and other parts of Russia's troubled
North Caucasus surrendered to authorities as part of an amnesty that
expired at day’s end.
(AP, 1/15/07)
2007 Jan, Russia's Supreme
Court upheld a lower court's ruling that the Russian-Chechen
Friendship Society must close its doors. Rights advocates denounced
the ruling, charging it was a Kremlin attempt to silence criticism
of its conduct in the violence-wracked Chechnya region. The group
has campaigned against the Russian government's war on separatists
in Chechnya, and published reports alleging torture, abductions and
killings of civilians by Russian forces and their pro-Moscow Chechen
allies.
(AP, 9/14/07)
2007 Feb 15, Russia’s President
Vladimir Putin dismissed Alu Alkhanov, the president of the republic
of Chechnya, and named its widely feared PM Ramzan Kadyrov as acting
president.
(AP, 2/16/07)(Econ, 2/24/07, p.62)
2007 Mar 1, President Vladimir
Putin nominated Ramzan Kadyrov, a widely feared security chief, as
the new president of Chechnya. Europe's human rights chief denounced
torture and other rampant abuses in the war-battered region.
Kadyrov, who previously had served as Chechnya's prime minister, has
run a security force that is accused of abducting and abusing
suspected rebels and civilians believed to be connected to them.
(AP, 3/1/07)
2007 Mar 2, Chechnya's
parliament approved Ramzan Kadyrov, a widely feared former security
chief as president of the war-battered Russian republic in a nearly
unanimous vote.
(AP, 3/2/07)
2007 Mar 8, The first regularly
scheduled civilian passenger flight in six years arrived at
Chechnya's main airport, in what officials say is yet another sign
that normalcy has returned to the war-wracked Russian region.
(AP, 3/8/07)
2007 Apr 5, Ramzan Kadyrov was
inaugurated as the new president of Chechnya on a blessing from the
Kremlin, which has relied on him to stabilize the region after more
than a decade of separatist fighting.
(AP, 4/5/07)
2007 Apr 27, A Russian military
helicopter crashed in Chechnya, killing all 18 people aboard,
emergency officials said. There were conflicting reports about
whether the craft was shot down.
(AP, 4/27/07)
2007 Jun 14, Four soldiers were
convicted of killing a truck driver and five passengers in Chechnya,
but three of the defendants have been missing since disappearing
while on trial.
(AP, 6/15/07)
2007 Jun 20, In Chechnya a
gunbattle broke out between traffic police and a Defense Ministry
unit in Grozny, leaving at least five people dead and six wounded.
(AP, 6/20/07)
2007 Jun 21, The European Court
of Human Rights found the Russian authorities responsible for the
killings of four members of a Chechen family in 2003 and ordered
Moscow to pay a relative $114,000.
(AP, 6/21/07)
2007 Jul 26, The European Court
of Human Rights ordered the Russian government to pay damages of
$196,000 to the family members of 11 Chechen civilians killed by
Russian soldiers in 2000, when security forces rampaged through
Novye Aldi, setting fire to houses and killing at least 50
civilians.
(AP, 7/27/07)
2007 Aug 23, A shootout in
Chechnya's capital left two policemen and a rebel dead. A group of
about 30 camouflage-clad gunmen set on fire the houses of two police
officers and the local administration building in the Chechen
village of Yandi.
(AP, 8/24/07)
2007 Aug 27, Russia announced
the arrest of 10 people in the killing of journalist and Kremlin
critic Anna Politkovskaya. Russia's top prosecutor said a Chechen
crime boss, Russian police and security officers were involved in
the death of the journalist Anna Politkovskaya. But he suggested
that someone outside Russia masterminded the killing of the frequent
Kremlin critic.
(AP, 8/27/07)(AP, 8/27/08)
2007 Dec 16, In Grozny,
Chechnya, a police officer and 4 militants were killed in a
gunbattle.
(AP, 12/18/07)
2007 Dec 17, In Grozny,
Chechnya, a roadside bomb killed a prison guard and wounded four
other people as they drove in a van transporting suspected
criminals.
(AP, 12/18/07)
2007 Dec 27, In Chechnya
unidentified gunmen shot and killed a police officer in Grozny.
(AP, 12/28/07)
2007 Arkady Babchenko, Russian
soldier, authored “A Soldier’s War in Chechnya,” an account of his
service in Chechnya. In 2008 it was translated to English by Nick
Allen and published as “One Soldier’s War.”
(Econ, 11/17/07, p.100)(WSJ, 1/22/08, p.D8)
2007 Tony Wood authored
“Chechnya: The Case for Independence.”
(Econ, 3/24/07, p.95)
2008 Mar 19, In the Russian
region of Chechnya 9 people were been killed in an hour-long clash
between police and unidentified gunmen.
(AP, 3/20/08)
2008 May 2, In Chechnya
suspected Islamic militants clashed with police, killing two law
enforcement officers. The rebel-linked Web site Kavkaz Center
claimed that at least nine law enforcement officers were killed in a
gunfight that lasted for four hours.
(AP, 5/3/08)
2008 May 4, In Chechnya a
remote-controlled bomb exploded on a roadside in Grozny, leaving
five police officers dead, while another officer was fatally shot
near the city.
(AP, 5/5/08)
2008 Jun 12, In Chechnya at
least 25 armed rebels raided the village of Benoi-Vedeno, killing
three locals and setting several houses on fire. An internet site
with ties to the separatist movement, www.kavkazcenter.com, said the
rebels had killed 11 armed men linked to Ramzan Kadyrov, Chechnya's
pro-Moscow president.
(Reuters, 6/13/08)
2008 Jun 16, A group of
militants opened fire on a convoy of security officers in Chechnya,
killing three and injuring five.
(AP, 6/16/08)
2008 Jun 27, In Chechnya a
clash left two militants and four police dead, and four more police
wounded.
(AP, 6/29/08)
2008 Jun 28, In Chechnya 2
police officers and 2 civilians were killed in the southern Shatoi
district during an operation to persuade militants to surrender.
(SFC, 6/30/08, p.A3)
2008 Jul 21, In Chechnya the
bullet-riddled bodies of three officers, who had been guarding an
Interior Ministry trailer, were found on a collective farm. The
assailants made off with the officers' guns.
(AP, 7/21/08)
2008 Oct 11, A strong
earthquake hit Chechnya and other parts of Russia's North Caucasus,
killing at least 13 people and damaging scores of hospitals, schools
and other buildings.
(AP, 10/11/08)(SFC, 10/18/08, p.B6)
2008 Oct 17, Chechen leader
Ramzan Kadyrov opened one of Europe's biggest mosques in the rebuilt
capital of the southern Russian region, saying it was proof Russian
rule and Islam can go together. The mosque, named "The Heart of
Chechnya" and constructed by Turkish builders, can host up to 10,000
worshippers.
(AP, 10/17/08)
2008 Oct 23, Rebel attacks
using land mines in Chechnya killed one Russian soldier and wounded
10 other servicemen and police.
(AP, 10/24/08)
2009 Jan 13, In Austria Umar
Israilov (27), a Chechen refugee, was shot dead on a Vienna street.
Officials said they had no proof the killing was political, but
human rights activists said his death was linked to his opposition
to Chechnya's pro-Moscow president. On Jan 28 Austrian authorities
arrested seven suspects, all Chechens, in the killing. On February
19 Polish police arrested Turpal Ali J. (31), a man suspected of
killing Israilov. In 2010 Austrian investigators concluded that
Chechnya Pres. Ramzan Kadyrov ordered the kidnapping of one of his
critics and former bodyguards and that Israilov was shot to death
when the abduction went awry. In 2011 an Austrian prosecutor
sought life sentences for three Russian men on charges they carried
out the murder of the Israilov.
(AP, 1/28/09)(AP, 2/22/09)(AP, 4/27/10)(AP,
6/1/11)
2009 Jan 20, In Chechnya
Hundreds of people rallied in Grozny to protest the slaying of
Stanislav Markelov (34), a lawyer who opposed the early release of a
Russian army officer convicted of strangling an 18-year-old Chechen
woman.
(AP, 1/20/09)
2009 Mar 28, In Dubai Sulim
Yamadayev, a former Chechen rebel, was shot in a brazen attack and
died on March 30. He had switched sides to the government during
Chechnya's long-running conflict with Moscow. On April 5 Dubai
authorities said they had arrested two suspects in the slaying. They
said Adam Delimkhanov, a Chechen member of Russia’s lower house and
the Chechen president's right-hand man, had masterminded the
killing. On April 12, 2010, Mahdi Tagi Dhurnia of Iran and Tajik
national Mahsoudjan Asmanov were sentenced to 25 years in prison
after being found guilty of aiding and abetting the assassination of
Yamadayev.
(AP, 3/31/09)(SFC, 3/31/09, p.A5)(AP,
4/5/09)(SFC, 4/6/09, p.A3)(AP, 4/12/10)(AP, 12/22/10)
2009 Apr 16, Russia ordered an
end to its counterterrorism operation in Chechnya, a move that could
lead to the withdrawal of tens of thousands of troops from the
southern republic battered by two separatist wars in the past 15
years.
(AP, 4/16/09)
2009 Jun 8, Interfax news
agency reported that Russian forces have killed Doku Umarov, the
leader of the Chechen separatist movement.
(Reuters, 6/8/09)
2009 Jun 25, Russia's Supreme
Court overturned the acquittal of three men charged with the 2006
murder of Anna Politkovskaya, a journalist whose reporting on
Chechnya directly challenged the country's most powerful leaders.
(AP, 6/25/09)
2009 Jul 13, In Russia 5
suspected militants and two law enforcement officers were killed in
separate attacks in the south. The militants were killed in two
separate gunbattles in Chechnya, while Interior Ministry troops in
Dagestan died in an ambush by insurgents.
(AP, 7/13/09)
2009 Jul 15, In Ingushetia
police officials said that the body of Natalya Estemirova (b.1959),
a prominent rights activist, was found not far from the main city of
Nazran, hours after she was kidnapped in Chechnya.
(AP, 7/15/09)(Econ, 7/25/09, p.23)
2009 Jul 20, The Russian rights
group, where slain activist Natalia Estemirova worked, said it has
suspended operations in Chechnya because of safety fears for her
co-workers. Memorial said it will continue tracking human rights
abuses in nearby Ingushetia. A spokesman for Chechen leader Ramzan
Kadyrov, who has condemned the murder and promised to find those
responsible, said a Moscow court had accepted a lawsuit from Kadyrov
against Memorial head Oleg Orlov for libel after the group's
chairman blamed Kadyrov for Estemirova's death.
(Reuters, 7/20/09)
2009 Jul 24, A senior Chechen
official held talks in Norway with prominent separatist figure
Akhmed Zakayev, who said they had agreed to seek a political
settlement of rebellion in the south Russian region.
(Reuters, 7/24/09)
2009 Jul 26, In Chechnya a
suicide bomber killed five people and wounded a number of others
near a concert hall in the capital. four policemen died trying to
prevent the bomber from entering the hall. 4 militants were found
dead after an explosion in the Nazran district of Ingushetia
province that borders Chechnya to the west.
(AP, 7/26/09)
2009 Aug 11, In Chechnya Zarema
Sadulayeva, the head of the Save the Generation Chechen aid
group, and her husband, Alik Dzhabrailov, were found shot dead in
the trunk of their car a day after being kidnapped.
(AP, 8/11/09)
2009 Aug 12, Chechen Interior
Ministry spokesman Magomed Deniyev said 2 policemen were killed in
separate attacks during the night as they returned to their homes.
(AP, 8/12/09)
2009 Aug 13, In Chechnya a gun
battle between police an 2 suspected militants left the 2 militants
dead as well as 4 police officers.
(SFC, 8/15/09, p.A3)
2009 Aug 21, In Chechnya
suicide bombers on bicycles detonated explosives, killing at least
four police officers and a civilian in coordinated attacks in the
capital.
(AP, 8/21/09)
2009 Aug 25, In Chechnya a
suicide bombing killed three police officers at a gas
station-carwash complex in the Shali region. Earlier in the day the
Chechen Interior Ministry said a policeman was killed and another
wounded in an overnight clash with militants.
(AP, 8/25/09)(AP, 8/28/09)
2009 Aug 28, Two Chechen
militants blew themselves up to escape capture, wounding three
policemen and three civilians in the process.
(AP, 8/28/09)
2009 Sep 4, In Ingushetia a
roadside bomb blast ripped through a police car, killing three
officers and wounding two others. Ingush authorities shot dead 3
insurgents. One man, identified as Rustam Dzortov, was a suspected
ringleader of rebel operations in Ingushetia and had organized the
suicide bombing of Ingush President Yunus Bek Yevkurov's motorcade
earlier this year. The two others may have been planning a terrorist
act in Moscow. In neighboring Chechnya two suspected insurgents were
killed in a similar incident. The suspected insurgents were found to
have explosives strapped to them, hand grenades, and train tickets
to Moscow.
(AP, 9/4/09)(AP, 9/5/09)
2009 Sep 12, In Chechnya three
police were wounded when a suicide bomber blew himself up in Grozny.
An alleged militant was killed in a separate incident in Chechnya.
(AP, 9/12/09)
2009 Sep 16, In Chechnya a
suicide bomber wounded six police officers in Grozny.
(AP, 9/16/09)
2009 Oct 2, Chechen forces
engaged in a 2-hour gunbattle with militants leaving 8 insurgents
dead.
(SFC, 10/3/09, p.A2)
2009 Oct 6, Chechnya's
Kremlin-backed leader Ramzan Kadyrov won a defamation lawsuit
against a rights activist who blamed him for the killing of a
colleague whose murder sparked international outrage. Moscow's
Tverskoi district court ordered Memorial rights group chairman Oleg
Orlov to retract his statement that Kadyrov was responsible for
Natalya Estemirova's death in 2006. Kadyrov sought 10 million rubles
($330,000) in damages, but judge Tatyana Fedosova ruled that
Memorial and Orlov should only pay 70,000 rubles ($2,300 rubles).
(AP, 10/6/09)
2009 Nov 5, Memorial, a Russian
rights group, said Chechen authorities have abducted Arbi
Khachukayev, a human rights advocate in Moscow, who has been
critical of Chechnya's Kremlin-backed leader.
(AP, 11/5/09)
2009 Nov 13, Chechen leader
Ramzan Kadyrov said security forces had killed up to 20 Islamist
rebels in a helicopter attack near the capital Grozny.
(Reuters, 11/13/09)
2009 Nov 27, In Russia a
homemade bomb planted on the tracks of the high-speed Moscow-to-St.
Petersburg route, caused a derailment of the 14-car Nevsky Express.
26 people were killed and dozens more injured. Chechen militants
later claimed responsibility and vowed further "acts of sabotage" in
a letter posted on a rebel website.
(AP, 11/28/09)(AP, 12/2/09)
2009 Wojciech Jagielski
authored “Towers of Stone: The Battle of Wills in Chechnya.
(Econ, 12/12/09, p.92)
2010 Jan 23, Russian PM
Vladimir Putin declared that peace has returned to North Caucasus,
the center of a growing Islamist insurgency, and called for the
region's economy to be rebuilt. He also ordered officials in the
North Caucasus to ensure what he called the "normal work" of human
rights groups operating in the volatile region.
(Reuters, 1/23/10)(AP, 1/23/10)
2010 Aug 1, In Chechnya, three
unknown men armed with Kalashnikovs ambushed a police patrol in
Grozny, the capital, and killed two officers.
(AP, 8/1/10)
2010 Aug 29, Chechen police
killed 12 rebels as they repulsed a raid on the Moscow-backed
president's home village of Tsentoroi. 5 civilians and 2 policemen
were also killed in the attack. An Islamist website,
www.kavkazcenter.com, challenged the official data saying that at
least 15 of Kadyrov's security officers were killed, while a total
of 60 insurgents attacked the village. It said 5 rebels were killed.
(Reuters, 8/29/10)
2010 Sep 10, Danish police
surrounded a suspect in Orsted Park near the Hotel Jorgensen
following a small explosion in a bathroom at the hotel. A bomb squad
removed a bag wrapped around his waist with remote controlled
cutting pliers. The man was later identified as Lors Doukayev, a
one-legged Chechen-born boxer living in Belgium. On May 3, 2011,
Doukayev was charged with terrorism for allegedly preparing a letter
bomb that had likely been intended for a newspaper known for
publishing cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad. On May 30, 2011,
Doukayev convicted of attempted terrorism.
(Reuters, 9/12/10)(AP, 9/15/10)(AP, 5/3/11)(AP,
5/30/11)
2010 Sep 16, In Poland Akhmed
Zakayev (51), a senior Chechen separatist wanted in Russia for
alleged murder, kidnapping and terrorism, was arrested in Warsaw
where he was to attend a conference organized by the World Chechen
Congress. Zakayev, who lives in Britain, was apprehended "without
any trouble" on an international warrant issued by Russia. Zakayev
was released the next day.
(AP, 9/17/10)(AP, 9/18/10)
2010 Oct 19, In Chechnya
Islamic insurgents including a suicide bomber stormed the
Parliament, leaving six people dead and 17 injured in one of the
most brazen attacks on the provincial capital in months. The dead
included one parliamentary official, 2 policemen and 3 insurgents.
(AP, 10/19/10)
2010 Dec 22, A Dubai court
slashed the prison terms for two men convicted in the 2009 slaying
of a former Chechen warlord from life to just three years in a
surprise ruling that highlighted the international intrigue
surrounding the case. The family of the slain Chechen strongman,
Sulim Yamadayev, had submitted a letter disavowing any desire for
further punishments in connection with the killing.
(AP, 12/22/10)
2010 Thomas de Waal authored
“The Caucasus: An Introduction.”
(Econ, 10/23/10, p.102)
2011 Jan 24, In Russia 37
people were killed and 180 injured in a suicide bombing at Moscow's
Domodedovo airport. An autopsy later showed "a huge amount of highly
potent narcotic and psychotropic substances in parts of the suicide
bomber's body." On Feb 6 unnamed officials in the North Caucasus
region said they believed Magomed Yevloyev (20) of Ingushetia, was
the suicide bomber. On Feb 9 Itar-TASS reported that Yevloyev’s
brother Akhmed (16) and sister Fatima (22) have been arrested. Also
detained was Akhmed Aushev, a resident of the same village,
Ali-Yurt, Ingushetia. On March 29 Russian investigators charged Doku
Umarov, a Chechen warlord, and another militant with organizing the
airport bombing. Media reports said that Umarov might be among 17
militants killed in a security raid in the province of Ingushetia
west of Chechnya on March 28.
(Reuters, 1/24/11)(Reuters, 1/25/11)(AP,
1/29/11)(AP, 2/3/11)(Reuters, 2/6/11)(Reuters, 2/9/11)(AP, 3/29/11)
2011 Mar 5, Lawmakers in
Russia's Chechnya region handed strongman leader Ramzan Kadyrov a
new five-year term, unanimously approving the Kremlin nominee in a
vote whose outcome was never in doubt.
(Reuters, 3/5/11)
2011 Mar 10, Human Rights Watch
issued a report saying "The enforcement of a compulsory Islamic
dress code on women in Chechnya violates their rights to private
life, personal autonomy, freedom of expression, and freedom of
religion, thought, and conscience."
(AP, 3/10/11)
2011 May 17, Pakistani security
forces shot and killed 5 alleged suicide bombers, including three
women, when they tried to attack an army checkpoint in the
southwestern city of Quetta. A bomb disposal squad in its report
released in Quetta on May 21 said the alleged attackers, one Tajik
and 4 from Chechnya were unarmed. A post mortem report said one of
the women was pregnant with 7-month baby. In October Pakistan sacked
2 police officers over the killings.
(AFP, 5/21/11)(AFP, 10/26/11)
2011 May 31, Russian officials
said the suspected triggerman in the 2006 killing of journalist Anna
Politkovskaya has been arrested. Rustam Makhmudov, was arrested in
Chechnya and would be transferred to Moscow.
(AP, 5/31/11)
2011 Aug 30, In Chechnya 3
suicide bombers killed at least nine people in Grozny. One attacker
blew himself up at a police post on a street about 150 meters (500
feet) from the parliament compound, killing two officers. Two others
set off their explosives about 20 minutes later after more police
and emergency workers had rushed to the scene.
(AP, 8/31/11)
2011 Sep 16, In Turkey 3
Chechens were gunned down near a park in Istanbul. Chechen groups
blamed Russia's secret service for the killings of the three, who
were allegedly involved with Chechen militants.
(AP, 10/12/11)
2011 Oct 12, A Turkish court
began questioning a man and three alleged accomplices suspected of
attempting to kill Shamsuddin Batukayev (55), a former Chechen
separatist leader, in Istanbul earlier this week.
(AP, 10/12/11)
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