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First Chechen War
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==Continuation of the conflict and mounting Russian defeats== ===Growing Russian defeats and unpopularity in Russia=== [[File:Evstafiev-chechnya-handshake.jpg|thumb|A group of Chechen fighters.]] On 6 March 1996, a group of [[Battle of Grozny (March 1996)|Chechen fighters infiltrated Grozny]] and launched a three-day surprise raid on the city, taking most of it and capturing caches of weapons and ammunition. During the battle, much of the Russian troops were wiped out, with most of them surrendering or routing. After two columns of Russian reinforcements were destroyed on the roads leading to the city, Russian troops eventually gave up on trying to reach the trapped soldiers in the city. Chechen fighters subsequently withdrew from the city on orders from the high command.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Akhmadov |first1=Ilyas |last2=Lanskoy |first2=Miriam |title=The Chechen Struggle: Independence Won and Lost |date=2010 |publisher=PALGRAVE MACMILLAN |page=64 }}</ref> In the same month in March, Chechen fighters and Russian federal troops clashed near the village of [[Samashki]]. The losses on the Russian side amounted to 28 killed and 116 wounded.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Гродненский |first1=Николай |title=Неоконченная война: история вооруженного конфликта в Чечне |url=https://history.wikireading.ru/73073 |access-date=2023-04-09 |archive-date=2024-09-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240906142636/https://history.wikireading.ru/73073 |url-status=live }}</ref> On April 16, a month after the initial conflict, Chechen fighters successfully carried out an [[Shatoy ambush|ambush near Shatoy]], wiping out an entire Russian armored column resulting in losses up to 220 soldiers killed in action. In another attack near [[Vedeno]], at least 28 Russian soldiers were killed in action.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20010530184645/http://edition.cnn.com/WORLD/9604/01/russia_chechnya/ Russian fighting ceases in Chechnya; Skeptical troops comply with Yeltsin order] [[CNN]] </ref> As military defeats and growing casualties made the war more and more unpopular in Russia, and as the 1996 presidential elections neared, [[Boris Yeltsin]]'s government sought a way out of the conflict. Although a Russian [[guided missile]] attack assassinated the [[President of Ichkeria|Chechen president]] [[Dzhokhar Dudayev]] on 21 April 1996. Yeltsin even officially declared "victory" in Grozny on 28 May 1996, after a new temporary ceasefire was signed with the Chechen [[acting president]] [[Zelimkhan Yandarbiyev]].<ref>[http://www.cnn.com/WORLD/9605/28/russia.chechnya/ Yeltsin declares Russian victory over Chechnya] CNN {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081211122357/http://www.cnn.com/WORLD/9605/28/russia.chechnya/ |date=December 11, 2008 }}</ref><ref>[http://www.waynakh.com/eng/chechnya/history/ History of Chechnya] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120130002537/http://www.waynakh.com/eng/chechnya/history/ |date=2012-01-30 }} WaYNaKH Online</ref> While the political leaders were discussing the ceasefire and peace negotiations, Russian forces continued to conduct combat operations. On 6 August 1996, three days before Yeltsin was to be inaugurated for his second term as Russian president and when most of the Russian troops were moved south due to what was planned as their final offensive against remaining mountainous Chechen strongholds, the Chechens subsequently launched another surprise attack on Grozny. ===Third Battle of Grozny and the Khasavyurt Accord=== {{Main|Battle of Grozny (August 1996)}} Despite Russian troops in and around [[Grozny]] numbering approximately 12,000, more than 1,500 Chechen guerrillas (whose numbers soon swelled) overran the key districts within hours in an operation prepared and led by [[Aslan Maskhadov]] (who named it Operation Zero) and [[Shamil Basayev]] (who called it Operation Jihad). The fighters then laid [[siege]] to the Russian posts and bases and the government compound in the city centre, while a number of Chechens deemed to be Russian collaborators were rounded up, detained and, in some cases, executed.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.memo.ru/hr/hotpoints/chechen/checheng/fin_rep.htm|title=czecz|website=memo.ru|access-date=2006-12-13|archive-date=2016-12-15|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161215094538/http://www.memo.ru/hr/hotpoints/chechen/checheng/fin_rep.htm}}</ref> At the same time, Russian troops in the cities of [[Argun, Chechen Republic|Argun]] and [[Gudermes]] were also surrounded in their garrisons. Several attempts by the armored columns to rescue the units trapped in Grozny were repelled with heavy Russian casualties (the 276th Motorized Regiment of 900 men suffered 50% casualties in a two-day attempt to reach the city centre). Russian military officials said that more than 200 soldiers had been killed and nearly 800 wounded in five days of fighting, and that an unknown number were missing; Chechens put the number of Russian dead at close to 1,000. Thousands of troops were either taken prisoner or surrounded and largely disarmed, their heavy weapons and ammunition commandeered by Chechen fighters. On 19 August, despite the presence of 50,000 to 200,000 Chechen civilians and thousands of federal servicemen in Grozny, the Russian commander [[Konstantin Pulikovsky]] gave an ultimatum for Chechen fighters to leave the city within 48 hours, or else it would be leveled in a massive aerial and artillery bombardment. He stated that federal forces would use [[strategic bomber]]s (not used in Chechnya up to this point) and [[ballistic missile]]s. This announcement was followed by chaotic scenes of [[panic]] as civilians tried to flee before the army carried out its threat, with parts of the city ablaze and falling shells scattering refugee columns.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20021120100946/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/htmlContent.jhtml?html=/archive/1996/08/22/wrus22.html Lebed calls off assault on Grozny] ''[[The Daily Telegraph]]''</ref> The bombardment was however soon halted by the ceasefire brokered by General [[Alexander Lebed]], [[Boris Yeltsin|Yeltsin]]'s national security adviser, on 22 August. Gen. Lebed called the ultimatum, issued by General Pulikovsky (replaced by then), a "bad joke".<ref>[http://www.cnn.com/WORLD/9608/21/chechnya.final/ Lebed promises peace in Grozny and no Russian assault] [[CNN]] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081211122033/http://www.cnn.com/WORLD/9608/21/chechnya.final/ |date=December 11, 2008 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|author=Lee Hockstader and David Hoffman|url=http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/1996-08-22/news/9608220016_1_grozny-gen-konstantin-pulikovsky-alexander-lebed|title=Russian Official Vows To Stop Raid|publisher=Sun Sentinel|date=1996-08-22|access-date=2012-02-03|archive-date=2012-02-07|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120207065343/http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/1996-08-22/news/9608220016_1_grozny-gen-konstantin-pulikovsky-alexander-lebed}}</ref> During eight hours of subsequent talks, Lebed and Maskhadov drafted and signed the [[Khasavyurt Accord]] on 31 August 1996. It included: technical aspects of [[demilitarization]], the withdrawal of both sides' forces from Grozny, the creation of joint headquarters to preclude looting in the city, the withdrawal of all federal forces from [[Chechnya]] by 31 December 1996, and a stipulation that any agreement on the relations between the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria and the Russian federal government need not be signed until late 2001.
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