Editing First Chechen War (section)

===Continued Russian offensive===
[[File:Evstafiev-chechnya-boy-house-burns.jpg|thumb|left|A Chechen stands near a burning house in Grozny.]]
Following the fall of [[Grozny]], the Russian government slowly and methodically expanded its control over the lowland areas and then into the mountains. In what was dubbed the worst massacre in the war, the [[OMON]] and other federal forces [[Samashki massacre|killed up to 300 civilians]] while seizing the border village of [[Samashki]] on 7 April (several hundred more were detained and beaten or otherwise tortured).<ref name="human">[https://www.hrw.org/reports/1996/WR96/Helsinki-16.htm The Russian Federation Human Rights Developments] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130525150038/http://www.hrw.org/reports/1996/WR96/Helsinki-16.htm |date=2013-05-25 }} Human Rights Watch</ref> In the southern mountains, the Russians launched an offensive along all the front on 15 April, advancing in large columns of 200–300 vehicles.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://smallwarsjournal.com/documents/alikhadzhievinterview.pdf|title=Alikhadzhiev interview|access-date=2007-05-12|archive-date=2008-10-30|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081030112906/http://smallwarsjournal.com/documents/alikhadzhievinterview.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> The ChRI forces defended the city of [[Argun, Chechen Republic|Argun]], moving their military headquarters first to surrounded [[Shali, Chechen Republic|Shali]], then shortly after to the village of [[Serzhen'-Yurt]] as they were forced into the mountains and finally to [[Shamil Basayev]]'s ancestral stronghold of [[Vedeno]]. Chechnya's second-largest city of [[Gudermes]] was surrendered without a fight but the village of [[Shatoy]] was fought for and defended by the men of [[Ruslan Gelayev]]. Eventually, the Chechen command withdrew from the area of Vedeno to the Chechen opposition-aligned village of [[Dargo, Vedensky District|Dargo]] and from there to [[Benoy, Vedensky District|Benoy]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://smallwarsjournal.com/documents/iskhanovinterview.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080308081720/http://smallwarsjournal.com/documents/iskhanovinterview.pdf|title=Iskhanov interview |archive-date=March 8, 2008}}</ref> According to an estimate cited in a [[United States Army]] analysis report, between January and May 1995, when the Russian forces conquered most of the republic in the conventional campaign, their losses in Chechnya were approximately 2,800 killed, 10,000 wounded and more than 500 missing or captured.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.inetres.com/gp/military/FM3-06_11H.html |title=FM 3-06.11 Appendix H |website=inetres.com |access-date=2007-03-15 |archive-date=2007-04-18 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070418133849/http://www.inetres.com/gp/military/FM3-06_11H.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Some Chechen fighters infiltrated occupied areas, hiding in crowds of returning refugees.<ref>{{cite web |author1=Timothy L. Thomas |author2=Charles P. O'Hara |url=http://leav-www.army.mil/fmso/documents/stress.htm |work=Foreign Military Studies Office Publications |title=Combat Stress in Chechnya: "The Equal Opportunity Disorder" |archive-url=https://archive.today/20070801170345/http://leav-www.army.mil/fmso/documents/stress.htm |archive-date=2007-08-01 }}</ref>

As the war continued, the Chechens resorted to mass [[hostage]]-takings, attempting to influence the Russian public and leadership. In June 1995, a group led by the maverick field commander [[Shamil Basayev]] took more than 1,500 people hostage in southern Russia in the [[Budyonnovsk hospital hostage crisis]]; about 120 Russian civilians died before a ceasefire was signed after negotiations between Basayev and the Russian Prime Minister [[Viktor Chernomyrdin]]. The raid forced a temporary stop in Russian military operations, giving the Chechens time to regroup and to prepare for the national militant campaign. The full-scale Russian attack led many of [[Dzhokhar Dudayev]]'s opponents to side with his forces and thousands of volunteers to swell the ranks of mobile militant units. Many others formed local self-defence [[militia]] units to defend their settlements in the case of federal offensive action, officially numbering 5,000–6,000 armed men in late 1995. According to a UN report, the [[Armed Forces of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria|Chechen Armed Forces]] included a large number of [[Military use of children|child soldiers]], some as young as 11 years old, and also included females.<ref name=humanrts>{{cite web |title=The situation of human rights in the Republic of Chechnya of the Russian Federation |publisher=[[United Nations]] |date=26 March 1996 |url=http://www1.umn.edu/humanrts/commission/country52/1996_13.htm |archive-date=February 11, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120211102551/http://www1.umn.edu/humanrts/commission/country52/1996_13.htm |url-status=live}}</ref> As the territory controlled by them shrank, the Chechens increasingly resorted to classic [[guerrilla warfare]] tactics, such as [[booby trap]]s and [[land mine|mining]] roads in enemy-held territory. The use of [[improvised explosive device]]s was particularly noteworthy; they also exploited a combination of [[Land mine|mines]] and [[ambush]]es.

On 6 October 1995,<ref>{{Cite news |last=Specter |first=Michael |date=1995-11-21 |title=Pro-Russian Chechen Leader Survives Bombing in Capital |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1995/11/21/world/pro-russian-chechen-leader-survives-bombing-in-capital.html |access-date=2023-02-04 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=2024-04-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240422215044/https://www.nytimes.com/1995/11/21/world/pro-russian-chechen-leader-survives-bombing-in-capital.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Gen. [[Anatoliy Romanov]], the federal commander in Chechnya at the time, was critically injured and [[Paralysis|paralyzed]] in a bomb blast in [[Grozny]]. Suspicion of responsibility for the attack fell on rogue elements of the Russian military, as the attack destroyed hopes for a permanent ceasefire based on the developing trust between Gen. Romanov and the ChRI Chief of Staff [[Aslan Maskhadov]], a former colonel in the [[Soviet Army]]; in August, the two went to southern Chechnya to try to convince the local commanders to release Russian prisoners.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.sptimes.ru/index.php?action_id=2&story_id=11071 |title=Honoring a General Who is Silenced |work=[[The St. Petersburg Times (Russia)|The St. Petersburg Times]] |archive-date=July 17, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140717102746/http://www.sptimes.ru/index.php?action_id=2&story_id=11071}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine|title=Chechnya: Election Date Postponed, Prisoner Exchange in Trouble|magazine=[[Jamestown Foundation|Monitor]]|volume=1|issue=69|date=August 8, 1995|publisher=The Jamestown Foundation |url=http://www.jamestown.org/publications_details.php?volume_id=14&&issue_id=740|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061122084849/http://www.jamestown.org/publications_details.php?volume_id=14&&issue_id=740 |archive-date=2006-11-22}}</ref> In February 1996, federal and pro-Russian Chechen forces in Grozny opened fire on a massive pro-independence peace march of tens of thousands of people, killing a number of demonstrators.<ref>{{cite web|author=Chris Hunter|title=Mass protests in Grozny end in bloodshed|url=http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/63/080.html|website=hartford-hwp.com|access-date=2007-08-19|archive-date=2019-05-27|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190527082713/http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/63/080.html|url-status=live}}</ref> The ruins of the presidential palace, the symbol of Chechen independence, were then demolished two days later.