Chechnya is one of the most media-rich and at the same time mysterious regions. The republic is regularly mentioned in the media, but at the same time it is covered with an aura of myths. Powerless women and aggressive men, prohibition and untold wealth. The correspondent spent the weekend in Grozny to sort out some of them.

In the eyes of the public, the Chechen Republic is still associated with zinc coffins, terrorism, human rights abuses and medieval customs. The Russians are ready to go to Egypt and Turkey with joy, despite the terrorist attacks on tourists in these countries, but they are frankly afraid to go to Chechnya. Meanwhile, the republic's leadership does not hide that it dreams of turning Grozny into a kind of Caucasian Dubai - a center of tourism and trade.

The emirate has long found a successful balance between Islamic traditions and oriental flavor on the one hand and European freedoms and high level of service on the other. Chechnya is only at the beginning of the road. By and large, Grozny is not yet an independent tourist center - you can see all the sights in two days, and the most interesting is the everyday exoticism of local life.

Father, son and holy spirit

Since Grozny, destroyed by the war, was actually rebuilt in the 21st century, the Soviet legacy is almost not felt here. There are practically no ugly concrete boxes of the era of stagnation, bas-reliefs and monuments to Lenin glorifying the shock workers of socialist labor. The place of the leader of the world proletariat was taken by new idols. Throughout the city, from posters, Akhmat-Khadzhi Kadyrov is thoughtfully looking at you from posters, who sometimes keeps company both together and separately. It is interesting that if the photographs of the father and son of the Kadyrovs are different everywhere, then Putin is almost always unchanged. The young and not quite like himself the current president in a suit looks at the traveler with a kind look.

Photos of Kadyrov the father are almost always accompanied by quotes. From the facades of schools, Akhmat-Khadzhi recommends to study well, on the territory of hospitals and clinics - to take care of health, and from billboards of streets and squares - to protect the hometown, history and honor of the people. For those who have not found the USSR, all this gives off Asiaticism, but those who are nostalgic for the Soviet system will feel at home. Only instead of Lenin, Kadyrov became the good grandfather of the whole people. If in the Land of Soviets everything that moves and does not move, from an icebreaker to a state farm, was named after Ilyich, then in modern Chechnya the universal name for the most important objects is Akhmat.

Many wars have been written in the history of Russia. Most of them were liberation ones, some began on our territory, and ended far beyond its borders. But there is nothing worse than such wars, which were started as a result of the illiterate actions of the country's leadership and led to horrific results because the authorities were solving their own problems, not paying attention to the people.

One of these sad pages russian history - Chechen War. This was not a confrontation between two different peoples. In this war, there was no absolute right. And the most amazing thing is that this war still cannot be considered over.

Prerequisites for the start of the war in Chechnya

It is hardly possible to talk about these military campaigns briefly. The era of perestroika, so pompously declared by Mikhail Gorbachev, marked the collapse of a huge country, consisting of 15 republics. However, the main difficulty for Russia was also that, being left without satellites, it faced internal fermentations of a nationalist character. The Caucasus turned out to be especially problematic in this respect.

Back in 1990, the National Congress was established. This organization was headed by Dzhokhar Dudayev, a former major general of aviation in the Soviet Army. The Congress set its main goal - secession from the USSR, in the future it was supposed to create the Chechen Republic, independent from any state.

In the summer of 1991, a situation of dual power developed in Chechnya, since both the leadership of the Chechen-Ingush Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic itself and the leadership of the so-called Chechen Republic of Ichkeria, proclaimed by Dudayev, operated.

This state of affairs could not exist for a long time, and the same Dzhokhar and his supporters seized the republican television center, the Supreme Soviet and the House of Radio in September. This was the beginning of the revolution. The situation was extremely volatile, and its development was facilitated by the official collapse of the country, carried out by Yeltsin. After the news that Soviet Union no longer exists, Dudayev's supporters announced that Chechnya was seceding from Russia.

The separatists seized power - under their influence, parliamentary and presidential elections were held in the republic on October 27, as a result of which power was completely in the hands of ex-general Dudayev. A few days later, on November 7, Boris Yeltsin signed a decree stating that a state of emergency was being introduced in the Chechen-Ingush Republic. In fact, this document became one of the reasons for the beginning of the bloody Chechen wars.

At that time, there were quite a lot of ammunition and weapons in the republic. Some of these reserves have already been seized by the separatists. Instead of blocking the situation, the leadership of the Russian Federation allowed it to get out of control even more - in 1992, the head of the Ministry of Defense Grachev transferred half of all these reserves to the militants. The authorities explained this decision by the fact that it was no longer possible to withdraw weapons from the republic at that time.

However, during this period there was still an opportunity to stop the conflict. An opposition was created to oppose Dudayev's rule. However, after it became clear that these small detachments could not resist the militant formations, the war was practically already on.

Yeltsin and his political supporters could no longer do anything, and from 1991 to 1994 it was in fact an independent republic from Russia. Here, its own government bodies were formed, there was its own state symbols. In 1994, when Russian troops entered the republic, a full-scale war broke out. Even after the resistance of Dudayev's militants was suppressed, the problem was never finally resolved.

Speaking about the war in Chechnya, it should be borne in mind that the blame for its unleashing, first of all, was the illiterate leadership of the USSR, and then Russia. It was the weakening of the internal political situation in the country that led to the shattering of the outskirts and the strengthening of nationalist elements.

As for the essence of the Chechen war, there is a conflict of interests and the inability to govern a huge territory on the part of first Gorbachev and then Yeltsin. In the future, it was the people who came to power at the very end of the 20th century to untie this tangled knot.

First Chechen War 1994-1996

Historians, writers and filmmakers are still trying to assess the scale of the horrors of the Chechen war. No one denies that it caused enormous damage not only to the republic itself, but to the whole of Russia. However, it should be borne in mind that by their nature, the two campaigns were quite different.

During the Yeltsin era, when the first Chechen campaign of 1994-1996 was unleashed, Russian troops could not act smoothly and smoothly enough. The country's leadership was solving its own problems, moreover, according to some information, many profited from this war - arms were supplied to the republic from the Russian Federation, and the militants often earned money by demanding large ransoms for hostages.

At the same time, the main task of the Second Chechen War of 1999-2009 was the suppression of bandit formations and the establishment of constitutional order. It is clear that if the goals of both campaigns were different, then the course of action was significantly different.

On December 1, 1994, air strikes were carried out on airfields located in Khankala and Kalinovskaya. And on December 11, Russian units were brought into the territory of the republic. This fact marked the beginning of the First Campaign. The entrance was carried out from three directions at once - through Mozdok to, through Ingushetia and through Dagestan.

By the way, at that time, Eduard Vorobyov was in charge of the Ground Forces, but he immediately resigned, considering it unreasonable to lead the operation, since the troops were completely unprepared to conduct full-scale hostilities.

At first, the Russian troops advanced quite successfully. The entire northern territory was occupied by them quickly and without any special losses. From December 1994 to March 1995, the RF Armed Forces stormed Grozny. The city was built up quite densely, and Russian units were simply stuck in gunfights and attempts to take the capital.

Russian Defense Minister Grachev hoped to take the city very quickly and therefore did not spare human and technical resources. Researchers estimate that more than 1,500 Russian soldiers and many civilians in the republic have died or gone missing near Grozny. Armored vehicles also suffered serious damage - almost 150 units were out of order.

Nevertheless, after two months of fierce fighting, federal troops nevertheless took Grozny. The participants in the hostilities later recalled that the city was destroyed almost to the ground, this is also confirmed by numerous photographs and video documents.

During the assault, not only armored vehicles were used, but also aviation and artillery. There were bloody battles on almost every street. During the operation in Grozny, the militants lost more than 7,000 people and, under the leadership of Shamil Basayev, on March 6 were forced to finally leave the city, which came under the control of the Russian Armed Forces.

However, the war, which killed thousands of not only armed, but also civilians, did not end there. Fighting continued first on the plains (from March to April), and then in the mountainous regions of the republic (from May to June 1995). Argun, Shali, Gudermes were sequentially taken.

The militants responded with terrorist acts carried out in Budennovsk and Kizlyar. After varying successes of both sides, it was decided to negotiate. And as a result, on August 31, 1996, they were concluded. According to them, the federal troops were leaving Chechnya, the infrastructure of the republic was to be restored, and the question of independent status was postponed.

Second Chechen campaign 1999-2009

If the country's authorities hoped that by reaching an agreement with the militants, they had solved the problem and the battles of the Chechen war remained in the past, then everything turned out to be wrong. For several years of a dubious truce, the bandit formations have only accumulated strength. In addition, more and more Islamists from Arab countries entered the republic.

As a result, on August 7, 1999, the Khattab and Basayev fighters invaded Dagestan. Their calculation was based on the fact that the Russian government at that time looked very weak. Yeltsin practically did not lead the country, the Russian economy was in deep decline. The militants hoped that they would side with them, but they put up serious resistance to the bandit groups.

The reluctance to let Islamists into their territory and the help of the federal troops forced the Islamists to retreat. True, this took a month - the militants were knocked out only in September 1999. At that time, Chechnya was led by Aslan Maskhadov, and, unfortunately, he was not able to exercise full control over the republic.

It was at this time, angry that it was not possible to break Dagestan, that the Islamist groups began to carry out terrorist acts on the territory of Russia. In Volgodonsk, Moscow and Buinaksk, terrible terrorist acts were committed, which claimed dozens of lives. Therefore, those who died in the Chechen war must also include those civilianswho never thought that she would come to their families.

In September 1999, a decree was issued "On measures to improve the effectiveness of counter-terrorism operations in the North Caucasus region. Russian Federation"Signed by Yeltsin. And on December 31, he announced his resignation from the presidency.

As a result of the presidential elections, power in the country passed to a new leader - Vladimir Putin, whose tactical abilities the militants did not take into account. But at that time, Russian troops were already on the territory of Chechnya, again bombed Grozny and acted much more competently. The experience of the previous campaign was taken into account.

December 1999 is another of the painful and terrible pages of the war. The Argun Gorge was otherwise called the "Wolf Gate" - one of the largest in length in the Caucasus gorges. Here paratrooper and border troops carried out a special operation "Argun", the purpose of which was to recapture a section of the Russian-Georgian border from Khattab's troops, and also to deprive the militants of the path of supplying weapons from the Pankisi Gorge. The operation was completed in February 2000.

Many also remember the feat of the 6th company of the 104th parachute regiment of the Pskov Airborne Division. These fighters have become real heroes of the Chechen war. They withstood a terrible battle at the 776th height, when they, in the amount of only 90 people, managed to hold back over 2,000 militants for a day. Most of the paratroopers died, and the militants themselves lost almost a quarter of their strength.

Despite such cases, the second war, unlike the first, can be called a sluggish one. Perhaps that is why it lasted longer - many things happened over the years of these battles. The new Russian authorities decided to act differently. They refused to conduct active hostilities conducted by federal troops. It was decided to use the internal split in Chechnya itself. Thus, Mufti Akhmat Kadyrov went over to the side of the federals, and more and more often there were situations when ordinary militants laid down their arms.

Putin, realizing that such a war could last indefinitely, decided to use internal political fluctuations and persuade the authorities to cooperate. Now we can say that he succeeded. The fact that on May 9, 2004 the Islamists carried out a terrorist attack in Grozny, aimed at intimidating the population, also played a role. The explosion thundered at the Dynamo stadium during a concert dedicated to Victory Day. More than 50 people were injured, and Akhmat Kadyrov died from his injuries.

This notorious terrorist attack brought very different results. The population of the republic was finally disappointed in the militants and rallied around the legitimate government. A young man was appointed to replace his father, who understood the futility of Islamist resistance. Thus, the situation began to change for the better. If the militants relied on attracting foreign mercenaries from abroad, the Kremlin decided to use national interests. Residents of Chechnya were very tired of the war, so they already voluntarily sided with the pro-Russian forces.

The counterterrorist operation, introduced by Yeltsin on September 23, 1999, was canceled by President Dmitry Medvedev in 2009. Thus, the campaign was officially ended, since it was not called a war, but a WHO. However, can it be considered that veterans of the Chechen war can sleep peacefully if there are still local battles and terrorist attacks from time to time?

Results and consequences for the history of Russia

Hardly anyone can today give a concrete answer to the question of how many people died in the Chechen war. The problem is that any calculations will only be approximate. During the aggravation of the conflict before the First Campaign, many people of Slavic origin were repressed or forced to leave the republic. During the years of the First Campaign, many fighters died on both sides, and these losses also defy accurate calculation.

If the military losses can still be more or less calculated, then no one was involved in clarifying the losses on the part of the civilian population, except perhaps human rights activists. Thus, according to the current official data, the 1st war claimed the following number of lives:

• russian soldiers - 14,000;
• militants - 3,800 people;
• civilian population - from 30,000 to 40,000 people.

If we talk about the Second Campaign, the results of the death toll are as follows:

• federal troops - about 3,000 people;
• militants - from 13,000 to 15,000 people;
• civilian population - 1000 people.

It should be borne in mind that these numbers are very different depending on which organizations are reporting them. For example, discussing the results of the second Chechen war, official Russian sources speak of a thousand civilian deaths. At the same time, Amnesty International (an international non-governmental organization) cites completely different figures - about 25,000 people. The difference in this data, as you can see, is huge.

The result of the war can be called not only the impressive numbers of casualties among the killed, wounded, missing people. It is also a destroyed republic - after all, many cities, first of all, Grozny, were subjected to artillery shelling and bombing. The entire infrastructure was practically destroyed in them, so Russia had to rebuild the capital of the republic from scratch.

As a result, today Grozny is one of the most beautiful and modern. Other settlements of the republic were also rebuilt.

Anyone who is interested in this information can find out what happened in the territory from 1994 to 2009. There are many films about the Chechen war, books and various materials on the Internet.

However, those who were forced to leave the republic, lost their relatives and health - these people hardly want to immerse themselves in what they have already experienced. The country was able to withstand this most difficult period of its history, and once again proved that it is more important for them - dubious calls for independence or unity with Russia.

The history of the Chechen war has not yet been fully understood. Researchers will be looking for documents on casualties among the military and civilians for a long time, and will double-check the statistics. But today we can say: the weakening of the top and the desire for disunity always lead to dire consequences. Only the strengthening of state power and the unity of the people can end any confrontation so that the country can live in peace again.

Why is the program to restore the size of the Russian-speaking population of Chechnya not working?

The program for the return of the Russian-speaking population is slowing down, activists lament. One of them, Sayputdin Guchigov, brings Russian residents who once fled from it to the capital of the republic. Shows new luxurious houses, palaces, fountains. Carries to the graves of loved ones. “Not very a large number of people returned. But many will arrive very soon, ”says the volunteer.

Last year, Oleg Petukhov, deputy head of the administration of the head and government of the Chechen Republic, also spoke about the need to return the Russian population: the region due to various circumstances ... Ramzan Akhmatovich welcomes the arrival of the Russian-speaking population, regardless of whether they lived in Chechnya or not.

March 1995. FOREST. RUSSIAN CEMETERY. REBURGERY OF PEACEFULS COLLECTED IN THE CITY AFTER WINTER.

It's safe, beautiful and comfortable here. There is no drunkenness, rudeness, hooliganism and you can freely walk at night without fearing for your life. "

However, former residents of the region question the need for a return.

Yes, I really miss Chechnya. We lived in Grozny on Proletarskaya Street. A wonderful place - there is a park nearby, - says Olga Rostovtseva, a displaced person, who now lives in the city of Engels, Saratov Region. - Relations with neighbors were good.

The problems began in 1990. In mailboxes, Russian residents found anonymous letters demanding to clean up. About a year later, Russian girls began to disappear on the streets, and young men were beaten and killed. My 14-year-old son came in completely bloody, with his clothes torn. I almost fainted.

Then they began to expel the Russians from Grozny from their apartments. The inscriptions appeared on the walls of the houses: "Do not buy apartments from Masha and Dasha, they will still be ours!" Nobody even bought for a symbolic amount.

Later, the slogans became popular: "Russians, don't leave: we need slaves." It was so scary - not to convey!
The family of the head teacher of school No. 10 was killed right in the apartment. Four people: her, husband and two daughters.
My neighbor was deprived of her life on the street - they punctured her head, broke her ribs and raped.
We ran away in the fall of 1993. Left without housing, without work. Thank you, relatives have sheltered.

But still, would you like to go back?

It seems like I want, but when I remember how fiercely they beat, robbed and killed the Russians, the desire disappears completely. Although, I must say, there were also those in Grozny who sympathized with us, but they were afraid to openly help.

Vera Sotnikova, a cardiologist who lives in Volokolamsk near Moscow, also misses Chechnya: “We lived in the small town of Neftemaysk. My son has been robbed many times. There was violence all around! Some were killed, others were turned into slaves ...

The bandits, who broke in with machine guns, confiscated my housing documents and ordered me to be evicted from me and my neighbors.

I know that the situation in this region is quite calm now. Russians are called back.

There are indeed many good people in the republic. And our local acquaintances in difficult times tried to provide support, of course, hidden.

By the way, I visited my hometown a year and a half ago. Neighbor Aishat recognized me and was delighted. Began to ask how are you, how are the children? Good woman. And the city is good. But we will not return to it. "

Chechnya desperately needs scientific and technical personnel, doctors and teachers. Therefore, the Russian-speaking population is called to return, hoping that it will wake up nostalgia for the times of its youth, - says the head of the Volga Center for Regional and Ethnoreligious Studies of the Russian Institute for Strategic Studies Rais Suleimanov. - Those who were young in the late 1980s and early 1990s are expected in Chechnya. That is, not very old.

The second reason for trying to return the Russians is political. The events that took place in the 1990s in Chechnya can rightfully be called genocide. The presence of Russians and their comfortable living will be evidence of stability in the republic. For Ramzan Kadyrov, who positions himself not only as the head of the region, but also as the leader of the people, this is very important.

Perhaps, although unlikely, Kadyrov has a desire to make excuses for the terrible events of the 90s. He, being very young, probably watched the process of ousting the Russian-speaking residents of Chechnya. Now he is trying to show: Chechens are hospitable and get along with people of other nationalities. The idea of \u200b\u200bus as fattening, getting rich at the expense of the rest of the country is fundamentally wrong.

Three Cossack villages have survived in the republic, they managed to survive in the hard times.

How many Russians are left in the region?

What is the current Russian population of Chechnya? The majority are law enforcement officers who go there on business trips every year. Old people who managed to survive in Grozny after two wars. The pages I mentioned earlier. Permanently residing - about 10,000 people.

: - How many of them left the republic?

The figure is called 300,000. However, it is not known how many fled from the region, how many were killed and taken into slavery.

: - A version is being expressed: a large number of the Russian-speaking population died from shells and bombs of the Russian army.

Of course, they died for this reason. Not only Russians. However, most of the dead Russian-speakers were exterminated during the "sweep" period.

Will Russians go to Chechnya?

There is nowhere to work. Perhaps, for purely propaganda reasons, they will create several enterprises for the Russians, but there will be no work for the rest.

If the newcomers get more jobs, the indigenous population will become angry and indignant.

There will be jobs for qualified specialists who are absent in Chechnya. But which of them will go there?

In addition, they do not say anything specific about the provision of housing.

Candidate of Political Science, Senior Researcher, Department of Russian Politics, Moscow State University Lomonosov Artur Ataev agrees with Rais Suleimanov: “The program to attract the Russian-speaking population operates in three regions: Dagestan, Chechnya and Ingushetia. The latter was transferred to the implementation of the planned amount of impressive size. However, according to the head of the republic, Yunus-bek Yevkurov, not a single Russian family returned.

It happened that residents of the Stavropol Territory entered into marriage with men from Ingushetia, received subsidies and left. Not a single case has been brought to court.

About Chechnya. Currently, there are no exact data on the number of Russian settlers living in other regions. There is no data on the number of those wishing to return.

Now let's analyze the political elite of the Chechen Republic. At the end of the 1990s, the first half of the 2000s, it consisted of 60% of Russians, now - one or two people.

What kind of situation will the Russians face when they want to move to Chechnya?

Currently, for example, in Grozny, there is a sense of stability. But how long will it last?

Radical bandit groups were successfully driven out to the territory of Ingushetia. But who will guarantee that they will not return in the near future? "

Vera Sotnikova says that while at home she felt that Chechen adolescents and young people regard Russians as their worst enemies.

You don't have to blame them. They were born either before the war, or during its period. Many are unhealthy because they grew up in a difficult situation.

And a large number of Chechen old people already regret the exodus of the Russians. They say: "It's bad without you."

However, not only Chechens are to blame for the tragedy of the Russian-speaking population of Chechnya. We were betrayed by the Russian government, which brought Dzhokhar Dudayev to power, by the military who said: "If you are still here, then you are also Chechens," and human rights activists who did not notice that we were being killed. We turned out to be second-class Russians. "