War in Dagestan (1999)

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War of Dagestan
)
War in Dagestan
Part of the spillover of the Second Chechen War
Date7 August – 14 September 1999[1][2]
(1 month and 1 week)
Location
Result Russian victory
Belligerents

Islamic Djamaat of Dagestan

 Chechnya

 Russian Federation

Commanders and leaders
Shamil Basayev
Ramzan Akhmadov
Dokka Umarov
Movladi Udugov
Ibn al-Khattab
Abu Zarr Shishani (Gerat)
Arbi Barayev
Movsar Suleimanov
Abdul-Malik Mezhidov
Abdul-Vahhab Shishani
Ismail Razakov (Bagram)
Khunkar-Pasha Israpilov
Shirvani Basaev
Abu al-Walid
Hakim al-Medani 
Yaqub al-Ghamidi
Abu Jafar al-Yemeni
Rappani Khalilov
Abdurrahman az-Zarki (Chechen from Jordan)
Magomed Tsagarayev
Ruslan Haihoroev 
Huta Ahmadov (Abdurrahman
Garib Shishani
Baudi Bakuyev
Umar Edilsultanov
Isa Umarov
Adallo Aliev
Sirazhudin Ramazanov
Bagaudin Kebedov
Magomed Tagaev
Strength
Up to 1,500–2,000 fighters in early August,
more than 10,000 militants by the end of September [3]
17,000 soldiers,
thousands of policemen and volunteers
Casualties and losses
Russian claim: 2,500 militants killed[4] 275 servicemen killed,
15 missing and 937 wounded (per Russia)[1]
Significant losses to local Dagestani police and militias[1]
Unknown number of civilian casualties

The 1999 war in Dagestan, also known as the Dagestan incursions

a series of apartment bombings in September 1999 served as the main casus belli for the Second Chechen War
.

Background

During the inter-war period of 1996 to 1999, a war-ravaged Chechnya descended into chaos and economic collapse.

Ibn Al-Khattab continued to undermine the Maskhadov government. In April 1998, the group publicly declared that its long-term aim was the creation of a union of Chechnya and Dagestan under Islamic rule and the expulsion of Russians from the entire Caucasian Region.[6]

In late 1997,

Buinaksk. Other attacks targeted civilians and Dagestani police on a regular basis.[8]

In April 1999, Magomedov, the "Emir of the

Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation (FSB) Director Vladimir Putin, in the summer of 1999, of the imminent invasion of Dagestan.[9]

Invasion and the Russian counterattack

On August 4, 1999, several

Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs (MVD) servicemen were killed in a border clash with a group of Magomedov's fighters led by Bagautdin Kebedov. On August 7, Shamil Basayev and Ibn al-Khattab officially launched an invasion into Dagestan with a group of roughly 1,500–2,000 armed militants consisting of Islamic radicals from Chechnya, including other international Islamists.[10][page needed
]

Khattab described himself as the "military commander of the operation", while Basayev was the "overall commander in the battlefield".[10][page needed] They seized villages in the districts of Tsumadi[11] (Echeda, Gakko, Kedy, Kvanada, Gadiri and Gigatl) and Botlikh[12] (Godoberi, Miarso, Shodroda, Ansalta, Rakhata and Inkhelo).[1] On August 10, they announced the birth of the "independent Islamic State of Dagestan" and declared war on "the traitorous Dagestani government" and "Russia's occupation units".[7][8][13]

The federal military response to the invasion was slow, and the efforts were initially fumbling and disorganized. As a result, all of the early resistance, and much of the later resistance, was undertaken by Dagestani police, spontaneously organized citizen militias, and individual Dagestani villagers.[8] Basayev and Khattab were not welcomed as "liberators" as they had expected; the Dagestani villagers considered the invaders as unwelcome religious fanatics. Instead of an anti-Russian uprising, a mass mobilization of volunteers formed in the border areas against the invading army.[7][10][page needed]

As resistance to the invaders stiffened, Russian

Colonel-General Viktor Kazantsev, commander of the North Caucasus Military District. On August 23, the Basayev and Khattab announced they were withdrawing from Botlikhsky District to "redeploy" and begin a "new phase" in their operations.[16] The war also saw the first use of the T-90 tank. In the Kadar zone, a group of 8 to 12 T-90S tanks pushed through stubborn resistance. One of the tanks was hit by seven rocket-propelled grenades and remained in action.[17]

On the night of September 4, as the federal forces were wiping out the last bastions of resistance in the

Russian apartment bombings. On the morning of September 5, Chechen rebels launched a second invasion into the lowland Novolaksky region of Dagestan, seizing the border village of Tukhchar, this time with a larger force numbering 200 fighters led by Umar Edilsultanov. Several Russian and Dagestani troops were executed on the way as they captured the village. The rebels came within a mere five kilometers of the major city of Khasavyurt. The second invasion at the height of the hostilities in the Karamakhi zone on September 5 came as an unpleasant surprise to Moscow and Makhachkala. According to Basayev, the purpose of the second invasion was to distract federal forces attacking Karamakhi and Chabanmakhi. Intensive fighting continued until September 12, when federal forces supported by local volunteers finally forced the Islamists back to Chechnya, even though sporadic armed clashes continued for some time.[17][18][19][20][21]

By 13 September, all the villages had been recaptured, and the militants were routed and pushed back fully into Chechnya the following day. Meanwhile, the Russian Air Force had already begun bombing targets inside Chechnya. The federal side announced that they suffered 275 dead, 15 missing and approximately 937 wounded. The number of civilians killed were never compiled.

Aftermath

four apartment bombings for which Russia blamed the Chechens, Russian ground forces invaded Chechnya, starting the Second Chechen War. After the Russian victory, Dagestan has been a site of an ongoing, low-level insurgency, which became part of the whole insurgency in the North Caucasus. This conflict between the government and the armed Islamist underground in Dagestan (in particular the Shariat Jamaat
group) was aided by the Chechen guerrillas. It claimed the lives of hundreds of people, mostly civilians.

The invasion of Dagestan resulted in the displacement of 32,000 Dagestani civilians. According to researcher Robert Bruce Ware, Basayev and Khattab's invasions were potentially genocidal, in that they attacked mountain villages and destroyed entire populations of small ethno-linguistic groups. Furthermore, Ware asserts that the invasions are properly described as terrorist attacks because they initially involved attacks against Dagestani civilians and police officers.[8]

Opposing forces

Federal forces

Despite the initial poor showing of the government forces (for example, military helicopters were hit by

counter-insurgency warfare
.

The government forces consisted of three main elements:

motorised infantry; the force even had a number of antiquated BTR-60 and BTR-70 armoured personnel carriers
, as well as heavy support weapons.

At the end of 1997 the republic also began raising volunteer territorial militia. During the emergency, its ranks of reservists and volunteers almost reached 5,000. Their training and equipment were minimal, making them little more than a home guard force. However, their motivation to defend and recapture their homes as well as intimate knowledge of the terrain made them a reliable garrison force.

Insurgent forces

The insurgents proved to be a collection of

to use as fire support.

Their first-among-equals leader was Shamil Basayev, Chechen rebel leader, erstwhile prime minister. Basayev's position was in many ways an ambiguous one. He was a staunch Muslim but didn't share the extreme Wahhabism of many of his allies; however, he strongly believed that Dagestan and Chechnya should be one state. Although a seasoned and wily guerrilla commander, this war saw him used as a political figurehead. His CPCD was officially charged with forming new "structures of Islamic self-government" in rebel-held areas. The brevity of the occupation and the opposition of many locals to their "liberation" meant that this was never a serious process.

Ibn al-Khattab's Islamic International Peacekeeping Brigade formed the core of the insurgent forces, accounting for perhaps half of the rebel fighters. Having fought against the Russians during the First Chechen War, he went on to wage an open campaign against President Maskhadov, whom he regarded as too close to Moscow. Khattab concluded a marriage of political convenience with Basayev, but in effect retained operational command and a veto on political direction.

The third element in the loose rebel

Lak and former leader of the Union of Muslims in Russia, Khachilayev had a long pedigree of opposition to the local regime of Magomedali Magomedov. In 1998 he launched an abortive attempt to storm the government buildings in the Dagestani capital, Makhachkala. Khachilayev escaped to Chechnya where he found sanctuary with Islamist guerrilla movements, eventually forging an alliance with Khattab. Despite their Dagestani origins, he and the self-styled prime minister of 'Islamic Dagestan', Ramazanov, proved marginal, reflecting their failure to bring recruits to their side after they launched the operation. The self-proclaimed Shura of Dagestan
welcomed the "liberation" and declared an Islamic state, but proved to have relatively little authority.

Alleged agreement between Basayev and Russian authorities to start the war

The invasion of Dagestan leading to the start of the Second Chechen War was regarded by the Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya as a provocation initiated from Moscow to start war in Chechnya, because Russian forces provided safe passage for Islamic fighters back to Chechnya.[22]

According to

Terek River. Instead, Putin double-crossed the Chechens and started an all-out war."[23] In September 1999, transcripts of a number of alleged phone conversations conducted by Boris Berezovsky with Movladi Udugov, Gaji Makhachev and other radical Chechens in June and July 1999 were published by Moskovskij Komsomolets newspaper.[24]

It has also been reported that the head of the Russian presidential administration of the

French intelligence was able to listen in on everything that transpired.[27] However, Ilyas Akhmadov believed that Basayev hadn't actually been in Nice. According to Akhmadov, Basayev was portrayed in shorts[28] while Chechen men, especially fighters, do not wear shorts. Additional reasons not to take the story seriously were that Basayev had been a participant of a rally in Grozny on July 3, 1999, and that Akhmadov didn't know an instance when Basayev left the North Caucasus in the years after the First Chechen War.[29] According to a press report cited by Timur Muzayev from the International Institute of Humanities and Political Research, speakers at the rally in Grozny on July 3, 1999 included Aslan Maskhadov, Shamil Basayev, and Ruslan Gelayev; these men and others called for reconciliation and unity.[30]

1997 election campaign and accepted a Foreign Minister position in Maskhadov's Government in 1999, allegations that Shamil Basayev was working for Russians should be viewed as an element of the political strife among Chechen leaders, as he criticized what he called "tangents about how Shamil was Russia's agent", noting that "Shamil equally strongly believed that Maskhadov's various calls for peace benefited only Russia".[34]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Alexander Pashin (2002). "Russian Army Operations and Weaponry During Second Military Campaign in Chechnya". Moscow Defense Brief. No. #3. Mdb.cast.ru. Archived from the original on 2009-01-29. Retrieved 2015-02-23.
  2. ^ Oleg Lukin (2008). "Новейшая история: Российско-чеченские войны". Vestnik "Mostok" (in Russian). Vestnikmostok.ru. Retrieved 2015-02-23.
  3. ^ "АНТИТЕРРОРИСТИЧЕСКАЯ ОПЕРАЦИЯ НА СЕВЕРНОМ КАВКАЗЕ (август 1999–2000 г.) | Операция на территории Республики Дагестан". 10 March 2020. Archived from the original on 2009-04-14.
  4. ^ За время антитеррористической операции на Северном Кавказе боевики потеряли порядка 7 тыс. человек убитыми.
  5. ^ Lieven, Anatol. "Why Dagestan Needs the Russians". The New York Times. Retrieved 4 August 2023.
  6. .
  7. ^ a b c Emil Souleimanov (December 2005). "Chechnya, Wahhabism and the Invasion of Dagestan". The Middle East Review of International Affairs. 9 (4). Archived from the original on 2012-04-20.
  8. ^ .
  9. ^ "RFE/RL Newsline, 02-08-23". Hri.org. Retrieved 2013-08-24.
  10. ^ .
  11. ^ "Tsumadinskiy Rayon". Google Maps. Retrieved 2015-02-23.
  12. ^ "Botlikhskiy Rayon". Google Maps. Retrieved 2015-02-23.
  13. ^ "Rebels pick Chechen warlord in Dagestan insurgency; Government focuses on crisis in southern Russia". CNN. Archived from the original on January 3, 2008. Retrieved 2006-08-22.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link), CNN, August 11, 1999
  14. ^ "Справочный материал по объемно–детонирующим боеприпасам ("вакуумным бомбам")" (in Russian). Human Rights Watch. February 2001. Archived from the original on 2009-02-16. Retrieved 2015-03-19.
  15. .
  16. ^ Steve Harrigan (1999-08-23). "Rebels say they're out of Dagestan; Russia says war continues". CNN. Retrieved 2015-02-23.
  17. ^ a b "Moscow Defense Brief". Mdb.cast.ru. Archived from the original on 2009-01-29. Retrieved 2013-08-24.
  18. ^ Jonathan Littell (2006). "The Security Organs of the Russian Federation (Part III): Putin returns to the organs". The Security Organs of the Russian Federation. A Brief History 1991–2004. Psan Publishing House. Archived from the original on 2007-03-14.
  19. .
  20. ^ "Прокуратура Дагестана расследует обстоятельства казни шестерых российских солдат осенью 1999 год" [Dagestan Prosecutor's Office is Investigating the Circumstances of the Execution of Six Russian Soldiers in Autumn 1999]. 1tv.ru (in Russian). Channel One Russia. 28 June 2002. Retrieved 2016-05-12.
  21. ^ "Убийство российских военнослужащих в селе Тухчар (полное видео) 1999 год" [The murder of Russian troops in the village Tukhchar (full video) 1999]. shtab.su (in Russian). 7 October 2015. Archived from the original on 2022-05-19. Retrieved 2016-05-12.
  22. ^ Politkovskaya, Anna (2003). A Small Corner of Hell: Dispatches from Chechnya. Translated by Alexander Burry and Tatiana Tulchinsky. Archived from the original on 2005-02-05.[dead link]
  23. ^ , page 216.
  24. ^ (in Russian) "БЕРЕЗОВСКИЙ СЛУШАЕТ". Moskovskij Komsomolets. September 14, 1999.
  25. ^ John B. Dunlop (October 17, 2001). "The Second Russo-Chechen War Two Years On". The American Committee for Peace in the Caucasus. Archived from the original on 2007-04-21.
  26. ^ Vladimir Pribylovsky and Yuriy Felshtinsky. "Операция "Наследник". Главы из книги" (in Russian). Lib.ru. Retrieved 2015-02-23.
  27. .
  28. ^ The photo can be seen in the updated version of the original article, "Sgovor-2": (in Russian) Прянишников, Пётр (4 July 2000). "Волошин и Басаев на Лазурном берегу. Фото на память". compromat.ru. Archived from the original on 28 February 2007.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  29. ^ p. 167, Akhmadov, Lanskoy, Brzezinski, "The Chechen Struggle: Independence Won and Lost", Palgrave Macmillan (2010)
  30. ^ (in Russian) Muzayev, Timur. "Political Monitoring of the Chechen Republic Ichkeria, July 1999". International Institute of Humanities and Political Research.
  31. ^ Andre Glucksmann (11 March 2005). "Western leaders betray Aslan Maskhadov". Prima-News. Archived from the original on 2007-10-25.
  32. ^ "Chechen Parliamentary Speaker: Basayev was G.R.U. Officer". The Jamestown Foundation. 2006-09-08. Archived from the original on 2015-04-02. Retrieved 2015-02-23.
  33. ^ Fuller, Liz. "Analysis: Has Chechnya's Strongman Signed His Own Death Warrant?". Rferl.org. Retrieved 2015-02-23.
  34. ^ p. 204, Akhmadov, Lanskoy, Brzezinski, "The Chechen Struggle: Independence Won and Lost", Palgrave Macmillan (2010)

External links