Background of the Second Chechen War and History of the Conflict Development. “Chechenization” of the Conflict.

Initially the ChR conflict was of purely separatist nature. The forces having come to power in the Republic in 1991 on the crest of the anticommunist wave advocated complete separation of the Chechen Republic from Russia.

In 1994, the RF leadership started the first Chechen war under the slogan of “reinstating the constitutional order”. After the August 1996 military defeat of Russia, Moscow and Groznyy signed a number of agreements.[1] The final solution of the Chechen issue was postponed for several years; the Republic actually became independent.

During 1996-1999, the situation was inevitably approaching a new confrontation. The RF leadership was openly preparing to gain revenge. The leadership of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria (ChRI) failed to cope with the post-war anarchy. Numerous armed gangs made the Chechen Republic their home kidnapping people both in Chechnya and in the adjacent territories of Russia. Fundamentalist Islamic groups created training bases where they trained volunteers in the methods of subversive and terrorist war in the territory of the Chechen Republic.

In summer and autumn of 1999, groups of Muslim fundamentalists raided into the Republic of Dagestan from the territory of the Chechen Republic.[2] There they met with a resounding rebuff of the significant part of the population and the RF military forces. Having routed the armed intruders and forced them to retreat the Russian armies entered into the Chechen Republic. This was the beginning of “the second Chechen war”. The Russian authorities called it “counterterrorism operation”, the reason for such a definition being a series of terrible acts of terrorism – exploded apartment houses in the Russian cities in September 1999. Despite of the statements made by the Russian leadership that these acts of terrorism had been authored by the terrorist underworld controlled from the Chechen Republic, it remains unclear as to who had organized these explosions.

The period of October 1999 through spring 2000 was the time of the first stage of war when Russia’s troops using the armored warfare, aircrafts, heavy artillery and missiles gradually occupied the ChR territory.

By the summer of 2000, the Chechen squadrons were unable to offer open resistance to the Russian troops and started using guerilla tactics. This period was characterized by creation of the "filtration" system and illegal places for holding in custody the detained persons, by the growing activity of “death squads”, numerous large-scale "special operations" in towns and villages and, as a whole, by extreme non-selectivity in the federal troops’ and security structures’ activities.

The year 2003 became a new stage in the conflict – beginning of the “chechenization”. The RF authorities declared that with the confrontation being over, the Republic was returning to the RF legal space and the process of political settlement. In fact, the "settlement" became a mere facade for the continuing conflict having changed its forms. The Republican authorities were formed through imitation of elections in the course of “chechenization”. In the course of conflict “chechenization” during the last three years, there were formed security structures staffed by local residents, i.e. ethnic Chechens. Along with the local militia, there have been formed specialized Chechen formations delegated the "right" to illegal violence in their fight against insurgents.[3]

These are the forces fighting now against insurgents and their underworld. At the beginning, the major part of these formations had no legal status but, by the end of 2006, their overwhelming majority had been already legalized and formally ranked as a subunit of some federal security agency. Many of these groups’ members are people with a criminal record; the groups are organized based on the clan principle and consist of former insurgents compelled by force or blackmail to join their former adversaries. Their formal inclusion in the lawful structures has in no way made them act within the law.

During the “chechenization”, the large-scale “special operations” in towns and villages were replaced with the “targeted special operations” (kidnappings, actually) organized mainly by the local security structures (in some cases jointly with the federals). The kidnapped people simply “disappear”; they are kept in illegal prisons without any court rulings being coerced to confess to the “committed” crimes. The thus obtained “confessions” are often used for the invention fabrication of criminal cases. Up to 40% of the kidnapped persons “disappear” without any traces; sometimes people find their corpses. The practice of taking hostage of insurgents’ family members aimed to compel them to surrender has become widely spread.[4]

Thus, the forces undertaking the “CTO” gradually switched in their actions from extreme non-selectivity to relative selectivity. However, all these actions are undertaken with gross violations of human rights in the situation of complete legal vacuum.

It is necessary to note another characteristic of the “CTO”: with the level of military opposition in the ChR going down, the armed conflict has started “spilling over” the territory of the Chechen Republic to other republics in the Northern Caucasus.[5]

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[1] The Hasavyurt Agreement of August 1996 and Moscow Agreement of May 1997

[2] Official leaders of the ChR represented by Mashadov censured this invasion

[3] The biggest pro-federalist security structure consisting of ethnic Chechens is subordinated to R. Kadyrov. It consists of numerous units scattered all over Chechnya and united at a certain point of time into the so-called Security Service. (“Security Service” in Chechnya no longer officially exists. However, its name remains as a kind of generalized notion for all Kadyrov’s units and is rather broadly used by the local residents and “security structures”. ) Security Service was initially formed for the assurance of security of the Head of the Chechen Administration A. Kadyrov and had no legal status. Within three years, it became a powerful armed formation. Throughout 2004–2005, the majority of the Security Service units became legalized within different structures of the Chechen Ministry of Interior, and namely, many of their members are serving today in the batallions of the Chechen Interior Ministry Internal Forces formed in 2006 named “Sever” [North] and “Yug” [South]. Besides “Kadyrovists” and the groups they control, Chechnya has battalions formed from Chechens named “Vostok” [East] (“Yamadyevists” – after the name of their leader Sulim Yamadayev) and “Zapad” [West] (“Kakiyevsts” – after the name of their leader Said-Magomed Kakiyev). These battalions are included in the 42^nd Motor Rifle Division of the RF Ministry of Defense. Besides ethnic Chechens there also serves a certain percentage of combatants sent from different regions of Russia. Throughout the last two years, the former members of the mentioned structures have taken all the key positions in the Chechen Ministry of Interior.

[4] The details about “chechenization” of the conflict can be found in the reports by the Legal Rights Centers “The Chechen Republic: Consequences of “Chechenization” of the conflict, March 2006”; “In a Climate of Fear: “Political Process” and Parliamentary Elections in Chechnya; “Torture in Chechnya: normalization of a nightmare”, et al.

[5] You can find this in the Report by the Legal Rights Center of “Memorial” – “Conflict Spill-Over Outside the Chechen Republic in 2004-2005 (Ingushetia and Kabardino – Balkariya)”.