War in Dagestan (1999)
War in Dagestan | |||||||
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Part of the spillover of the Second Chechen War | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
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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
Background
During the inter-war period of 1996 to 1999, a war-ravaged Chechnya descended into chaos and economic collapse.
In late 1997,
In April 1999, Magomedov, the "Emir of the
Invasion and the Russian counterattack
On August 4, 1999, several
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
On the night of September 4, as the federal forces were wiping out the last bastions of resistance in the
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
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
This section needs additional citations for verification. (August 2017) |
Federal forces
Despite the initial poor showing of the government forces (for example, military helicopters were hit by
The government forces consisted of three main elements:
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
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
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
It has also been reported that the head of the Russian presidential administration of the
References
- ^ 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.
- ^ Oleg Lukin (2008). "Новейшая история: Российско-чеченские войны". Vestnik "Mostok" (in Russian). Vestnikmostok.ru. Retrieved 2015-02-23.
- ^ "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.
- ^ За время антитеррористической операции на Северном Кавказе боевики потеряли порядка 7 тыс. человек убитыми.
- ^ Lieven, Anatol. "Why Dagestan Needs the Russians". The New York Times. Retrieved 4 August 2023.
- ISBN 978-1-84331-164-5.
- ^ 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.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-84331-164-5.
- ^ "RFE/RL Newsline, 02-08-23". Hri.org. Retrieved 2013-08-24.
- ^ ISBN 978-1574888300.
- ^ "Tsumadinskiy Rayon". Google Maps. Retrieved 2015-02-23.
- ^ "Botlikhskiy Rayon". Google Maps. Retrieved 2015-02-23.
- ^ "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 - ^ "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.
- .
- ^ Steve Harrigan (1999-08-23). "Rebels say they're out of Dagestan; Russia says war continues". CNN. Retrieved 2015-02-23.
- ^ a b "Moscow Defense Brief". Mdb.cast.ru. Archived from the original on 2009-01-29. Retrieved 2013-08-24.
- ^ 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.
- ISBN 978-0-415-40765-6.
- ^ "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.
- ^ "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.
- ^ 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]
- ^ ISBN 1-416-55165-4, page 216.
- ^ (in Russian) "БЕРЕЗОВСКИЙ СЛУШАЕТ". Moskovskij Komsomolets. September 14, 1999.
- ^ 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.
- ^ Vladimir Pribylovsky and Yuriy Felshtinsky. "Операция "Наследник". Главы из книги" (in Russian). Lib.ru. Retrieved 2015-02-23.
- ISBN 978-3-8382-0388-1.
- ^ 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) - ^ p. 167, Akhmadov, Lanskoy, Brzezinski, "The Chechen Struggle: Independence Won and Lost", Palgrave Macmillan (2010)
- ^ (in Russian) Muzayev, Timur. "Political Monitoring of the Chechen Republic Ichkeria, July 1999". International Institute of Humanities and Political Research.
- ^ Andre Glucksmann (11 March 2005). "Western leaders betray Aslan Maskhadov". Prima-News. Archived from the original on 2007-10-25.
- ^ "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.
- ^ Fuller, Liz. "Analysis: Has Chechnya's Strongman Signed His Own Death Warrant?". Rferl.org. Retrieved 2015-02-23.
- ^ p. 204, Akhmadov, Lanskoy, Brzezinski, "The Chechen Struggle: Independence Won and Lost", Palgrave Macmillan (2010)
External links
- Media related to War of Dagestan at Wikimedia Commons
- War in Dagestan - Jane's Europe News (October 1999)
- ISN Case Study: The North Caucasus on the Brink (August 2006) Archived 2021-04-17 at the Wayback Machine