RUSSIA. Chechnya. Grozny. February 2002. Russian conscript guards a site where deminers blow up mined houses. Second Chechen War (1999-2009).
Grozny was once again the epicentre of fighting after the outbreak of the Second Chechen War, which further caused thousands of fatalities. The Second Battle of Grozny lasted from late 1999 to early 2000.
Supported by a powerful air force, the Russian force (around 50,000 soldiers) vastly outnumbered and out-gunned 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 (1994-1996). In addition, the tactics of both sides in this second campaign were drastically different.
The Russians met fierce resistance from Chechen rebel fighters intimately familiar with their city. The defenders had chosen to withstand the Russian bombardment for the chance to come to grips with their enemy in an environment of their choosing. Grozny was transformed into a fortress city. The Chechens dug hundreds of trenches and antitank ditches, built bunkers behind apartment buildings, laid land mines throughout the city, placed sniper nests on high-rise buildings and prepared escape routes. In some instances whole buildings were booby-trapped. Relying on their high mobility, the Chechens would use the trenches to move between houses and sniper positions, engaging the Russians. Well-organised small groups of no more than 15 fighters moved freely in the city’s sewer network, even sneaking behind Russian lines and attacking unsuspecting soldiers from the rear.
The final seizure of the city was set in early February 2000, when the Russian military lured the besieged militants to a promised safe passage. Seeing no build-up of forces outside, the militants agreed. One day prior to the planned evacuation, the Russian Army mined the path between the city and the village of Alkhan-Kala and concentrated most firepower on that point. As a result, both prominent separatist leaders and several hundred rank-and-file militants were killed or wounded. Afterwards, the Russians slowly entered the empty city and on February 6 raised the Russian flag in the centre. Many buildings and even whole areas of the city were systematically dynamited. President Putin announced Grozny was “liberated” and said that military operations had come to an end.
In 2003 the United Nations called Grozny the most destroyed city on earth.
Photograph: Thomas Dworzak/Magnum Photos
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