Editing First Chechen War (section)

==Human rights violations and war crimes==
[[File:A Chechen woman with a wounded child.jpg|thumb|upright|A Chechen woman with a wounded child.]]
Human rights organizations accused Russian forces of engaging in indiscriminate and disproportionate use of force whenever they encountered resistance, resulting in numerous civilian deaths. (According to [[Human Rights Watch]], Russian artillery and rocket attacks killed at least 267 civilians during the December 1995 raid by the Chechens on the city of [[Gudermes]].<ref name="human" />) Throughout the span of the first Chechen war, Russian forces have been accused by [[human rights]] organizations of starting a brutal war with total disregard for [[humanitarian law]], causing tens of thousands of unnecessary civilian casualties among the Chechen population. The main strategy in the Russian war effort had been to use heavy artillery and air strikes leading to numerous [[indiscriminate attack]]s on civilians. This has led to Western and Chechen sources calling the Russian strategy deliberate [[terror bombing]] on parts of Russia.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.dtic.mil/doctrine/jel/research_pubs/chechna.pdf |title=Russia's invasion of Chechnya: a preliminary assessment |last=Blank |first=Stephen J. |website=dtic.mil |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080308081654/http://www.dtic.mil/doctrine/jel/research_pubs/chechna.pdf |archive-date=8 March 2008}}</ref> According to Human Rights Watch, the campaign was "unparalleled in the area since World War II for its scope and destructiveness, followed by months of indiscriminate and targeted fire against civilians".<ref name="hrwdevelopment">{{cite web |title=Human Rights Developments |url=https://www.hrw.org/reports/1996/WR96/Helsinki-16.htm |website=[[Human Rights Watch]] |access-date=14 May 2022 |archive-date=25 May 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130525150038/http://www.hrw.org/reports/1996/WR96/Helsinki-16.htm |url-status=live}}</ref> Due to ethnic Chechens in Grozny seeking refuge among their respective ''[[teips]]'' in the surrounding villages of the countryside, a high proportion of initial civilian casualties were inflicted against ethnic Russians who were unable to find viable escape routes. The villages were also attacked from the first weeks of the conflict (Russian [[cluster bomb]]s, for example, killed at least 55 civilians during the 3 January [[1995 Shali cluster bomb attack]]).

Russian soldiers often prevented civilians from evacuating areas of imminent danger and prevented [[humanitarian organization]]s from assisting civilians in need. It was widely alleged that Russian troops, especially those belonging to the [[Internal Troops]] (MVD), committed numerous and in part systematic acts of [[torture]] and [[summary execution]]s on Chechen civilians; they were often linked to ''zachistka'' ("cleansing" raids on town districts and villages suspected of harboring ''boyeviki'' – militants). Humanitarian and aid groups chronicled persistent patterns of Russian soldiers killing, [[Wartime sexual violence|raping]] and [[looting]] civilians at random, often in disregard of their nationality. Chechen fighters took hostages on a massive scale, kidnapped or killed Chechens considered to be collaborators and mistreated civilian captives and federal prisoners of war (especially pilots). Russian federal forces kidnapped hostages for ransom and used human shields for cover during the fighting and movement of troops (for example, a group of surrounded Russian troops took approximately 500 civilian hostages at Grozny's 9th Municipal Hospital).<ref>{{cite web |title=Grozny, August 1996. Occupation of Municipal Hospital No. 9 Memorial |url=http://www.memo.ru/hr/hotpoints/chechen/szczyt/eng/Chapter7.htm |website=memo.ru |access-date=2007-01-08 |archive-date=2016-03-03 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303195318/http://www.memo.ru/hr/hotpoints/chechen/szczyt/eng/Chapter7.htm}}</ref>
 
The violations committed by members of the Russian forces were usually tolerated by their superiors and were not punished even when investigated (the story of [[Vladimir Glebov]] serving as an example of such policy). Television and newspaper accounts widely reported largely uncensored images of the carnage to the Russian public. The Russian media coverage partially precipitated a loss of public confidence in the government and a steep decline in President [[Boris Yeltsin|Yeltsin]]'s popularity. Chechnya was one of the heaviest burdens on Yeltsin's [[Boris Yeltsin 1996 presidential campaign|1996 presidential election campaign]]. The protracted war in Chechnya, especially many reports of extreme violence against civilians, ignited fear and contempt of Russia among other ethnic groups in the federation. One of the most notable war crimes committed by the Russian army is the [[Samashki massacre]], in which it is estimated that up to 300 civilians died during the attack.<ref>{{cite web |title=Mothers' March to Grozny |url=https://wri-irg.org/en/story/1995/mothers-march-grozny |website=War Resisters' International |access-date=14 May 2022 |date=1 June 1995}}</ref> Russian forces conducted an operation of [[zachistka]], house-by-house searches throughout the entire village. Federal soldiers deliberately and arbitrarily attacked civilians and civilian dwellings in [[Samashki]] by shooting residents and burning houses with [[Flamethrower|flame-throwers]]. They wantonly opened fire or threw [[grenade]]s into basements where residents, mostly women, elderly persons and children, had been hiding.<ref>[http://www1.umn.edu/humanrts/commission/country52/1996_13.htm The situation of human rights in the Republic of Chechnya of the Russian Federation – Report of the Secretary-General] UNCHR {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120211102551/http://www1.umn.edu/humanrts/commission/country52/1996_13.htm |date=11 February 2012 }}</ref> Russian troops intentionally burned many bodies, either by throwing the bodies into burning houses or by setting them on fire.<ref>[http://www.jamestown.org/publications_details.php?volume_id=14&issue_id=564&article_id=4076 DETAILS OF SAMASHKI MASSACRE EMERGE.], [[The Jamestown Foundation]], 5 May 1995 {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070625152714/http://www.jamestown.org/publications_details.php?volume_id=14&issue_id=564&article_id=4076 |date=25 June 2007 }}</ref> A Chechen surgeon, [[Khassan Baiev]], treated wounded in Samashki immediately after the operation and described the scene in his book:<ref name="Baiev">{{cite book |last=Baiev |first=Khassan |title=The Oath A Surgeon Under Fire |year=2003 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing USA |isbn=0-8027-1404-8 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/oathsurgeonunder00baie/page/130 130–131] |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/oathsurgeonunder00baie/page/130}}</ref>

<blockquote>
Dozens of charred corpses of women and children lay in the courtyard of the mosque, which had been destroyed. The first thing my eye fell on was the burned body of a baby, lying in fetal position... A wild-eyed woman emerged from a burned-out house holding a dead baby. Trucks with bodies piled in the back rolled through the streets on the way to the cemetery.
<br />
While treating the wounded, I heard stories of young men – gagged and trussed up – dragged with chains behind personnel carriers. I heard of Russian aviators who threw Chechen prisoners, screaming, out their helicopters. There were rapes, but it was hard to know how many because women were too ashamed to report them. One girl was raped in front of her father. I heard of one case in which the [[mercenary]] grabbed a newborn baby, threw it among each other like a ball, then shot it dead in the air.
<br />
Leaving the village for the hospital in Grozny, I passed a Russian armored personnel carrier with the word SAMASHKI written on its side in bold, black letters. I looked in my rearview mirror and to my horror saw a human skull mounted on the front of the vehicle. The bones were white; someone must have boiled the skull to remove the flesh.
</blockquote>

Major Vyacheslav Izmailov is said to have rescued at least 174 people from captivity on both sides in the war, was later involved in the tracing of [[#Prisoners and missing persons|missing persons after the war]] and in 2021 won the hero's prize at the [[Stalker (film festival)|Stalker Human Rights Film Festival]] in Moscow.<ref name=247bulletin>{{cite web |title=The Jury Prize of the Stalker Festival was awarded to a film about Major Izmailov |website=247 News Bulletin |date=17 December 2021 |url=https://247newsbulletin.com/entertainment/55278.html |access-date=4 September 2022 |archive-date=4 September 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220904074838/https://247newsbulletin.com/entertainment/55278.html}}</ref><ref name=missingiz>{{cite magazine |title=Can Russia's Press Ever Be Free? |magazine=[[The New Yorker]] |date=12 November 2021 |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/11/22/can-russias-press-ever-be-free |access-date=4 September 2022}}</ref>