Battle of Grozny (1999-2000)

Battle of Grozny
Part of the Second Chechen War
Date December 25, 1999 – February 6, 2000 Location Grozny, Chechnya Result Decisive Russian victory Capture of Grozny by Russian Forces Fall of the separatist Chechen government
Belligerents
Russian Federation Chechen federal militia	Chechen Republic of Ichkeria Arab Mujahideen in Chechnya Kurdish Mujahideen
Commanders and leaders
Anatoly Kvashnin Viktor Kazantsev Mikhail Malofeyev † Valentin Astaviyev Beslan Gantamirov	Aslan Maskhadov Aslambek Ismailov † Lecha Dudayev † Ibn al-Khattab Shamil Basayev Ruslan Gelayev Khunkar-Pasha Israpilov † Abdulla Kurd
Strength
About 50,000 Russian soldiers About 2,000 pro-Russian Chechen militiamen	Russian estimates of 3,000–6,000
Casualties and losses
Federal forces: officially 368 killed and 1,469 wounded Chechen militia: over 700 total casualties	Russian claim of more than 1,500 killed
Thousands of civilian casualties (figure never compiled)

Decisive Russian victory

The 1999–2000 battle of Grozny was the siege and assault of the Chechen capital Grozny by Russian forces, lasting from late 1999 to early 2000. The siege and fighting left the capital devastated. In 2003, the United Nations called Grozny the most destroyed city on Earth.

On October 15, 1999, after mounting an intense tank and artillery barrage against Chechen separatists, Russian forces took control of a strategic ridge within artillery range of Grozny. They then made several abortive attempts to seize positions on the outskirts of the city. On December 4, the commander of Russian forces in the North Caucasus, General Viktor Kazantsev, claimed that Grozny was fully blockaded by Russian troops. General Anatoly Kvashnin, chief of the army's general staff, even predicted the rebels would abandon the Chechen capital on their own, urged to withdraw by civilians fearing widespread destruction. Supported by a powerful air force, the Russian force vastly outnumbered and out-gunned the Chechen irregulars, who numbered around 3,000 to 6,000 fighters, and was considerably larger and much better prepared than the force sent to take the Chechen capital in the First Chechen War. In addition, the tactics of both sides in this second campaign were drastically different.

The Russian strategy in 1999 was to hold back tanks and armored personnel carriers and subject the entrenched Chechens to an intensive heavy artillery barrage and aerial bombardment before engaging them with relatively small groups of infantry, many with prior training in urban warfare. The Russian forces relied heavily on rocket artillery such as BM-21 Grad,BM-27 Uragan, BM-30 Smerch, ballistic missiles (SCUD, ) and fuel air explosives. (The TOS-1, a multiple rocket launcher with thermobaric weapon warheads, played a particularly prominent role in the assault). These weapons wore down the Chechens, both physically and psychologically, and air strikes were also used to attack fighters hiding in basements; such attacks were designed for maximum psychological pressure. They would also demonstrate the hopelessness of further resistance against a foe that could strike with impunity and that was invulnerable to countermeasures. In November, the Kremlin appointed Beslan Gantamirov, former mayor of Grozny, as head of the pro-Moscow Chechen State Council. Gantamirov had just been pardoned by Russian President Boris Yeltsin and released from a 6-year prison sentence which he had been serving for embezzling federal funds which had been earmarked for the rebuilding of Chechnya in 1995 and 1996. He was chosen to lead a pro-Russian Chechen militia force in the upcoming battle. Interior Minister Vladimir Rushailo however refused to supply the militia with heavy weapons, limiting their combat arsenal to "obsolete AK-47s" and accused Gantamirov of accepting anyone who would volunteer, including rebel fighters. The militia, often used to spearhead the federal forces, suffered heavy casualties, losing more than 700 men in the battle.

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