These were the mountains where the Chechens fought for their independence from the Russians. After the collapse of the soviet union in 1991 separation from Russia accrued in many states. Chechnya being one of them, the wanted their own independence since they had grown so far apart from Russia. forces From Russia came in to stop this in 1994 and this the first Chechen war was started. The tension between these two countries started long ago. When the red army took over Chechnya, the took them for two main reasons. one they had a vital trade route to the red sea, and the had oil and gas. The main government in northern Chechnya (Russian Federation's Republic of Chechnya) declared itself independent from the Russian Federation in 1991 their leader was Dzhokar Dudayev. The declaration of full independence issued by the Chechen government led to civil war in that republic. There were several Russian-backed attempts to overthrow Dudayev failed.the summer of 1994, the Russian Government intensified its charges against the government under President Dudayev, accusing it of repressing political dissent, of corruption, and of involvement in international criminal activities. Chechnya had become an outpost of organized crime, gun-running and drug smuggling. Several armed opposition groups financially and militarily supported by Russian government entities sought to overthrow President Dudayev. In August 1994 they bombed a telephone station and the Moscow-Baku railroad line. The Dudayev government blamed the acts on the political opposition and introduced a state of emergency, followed in September 1994 by martial law. Restrictions included a curfew, limits on exit and entry procedures, and restrictions on travel by road in some areas. The opposition launched a major reply attack with the covert support of volunteers from several elite regular Russian army units. Russian military leaders initially denied any involvement in the conflict. this attempt to unseat Dudayev failed . By December 1994 Russian military forces were actively working to overthrow the Dudayev regime. After a decision of in the Yeltsin administration, three divisions of Russian armor, invaded Chechnya.
The objective was a quick victory leading to the reestablishment of a pro-Russian government. The result, however, was a long series of military operations which was they Russians verses they rugged guerrilla forces of the Chechen separatists. Russian military aircraft bombed both military and civilian targets in Groznyy, the capital of the republic. Regular army crossed the border into Chechnya surround Groznyy. In late December 1994, following major Chechen resistance, there was massive aerial and artillery bombardment of Chechnya's capital, Groznyy, resulting in a heavy loss of civilian life and hundreds of thousands of internally displaced people. Air strikes continued through the month of December and into January, causing extensive damage and heavy civilian casualties. According to press reports, there were up to 4,000 detonations an hour at the height of the winter campaign against Groznyy. Beyond the large number of civilians injured and killed, most residential and public buildings in Groznyy, including hospitals and an orphanage, were destroyed. These actions were denounced as major human rights violations by Sergey Kovalev, President Yeltsin's Human Rights Commissioner, and by human rights NGO's. The Russian Government announced on December 28 that Russian ground forces had begun an operation to "liberate" Groznyy one district at a time and disarm the "illegal armed groupings." Dudayev supporters vowed to continue resisting and to switch to guerrilla warfare. Although Russian forces leveled the Chechen capital city of Groznyy and other population centers during a long and bloody campaign of urban warfare, Chechen forces held extensive territory elsewhere in the republic through 1995 and into 1996. Two major hostage-taking incidents--one at Budennovsk in southern Russia in June 1995 and one at the Dagestani border town of Pervomayskoye in January 1996--led to the embarrassment of unsuccessful military missions to release the prisoners. The Pervomayskoye incident led to the complete destruction of the town and numerous civilian casualties. These were the major events over the past two years.
http://nationalism.org/resources/articles/Pioneer/ChechenWar.htm
http://www.studentpulse.com/articles/396/disappearance-and-death-the-fate-of-chechen-human-rights-activists
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http://www.studentpulse.com/articles/396/disappearance-and-death-the-fate-of-chechen-human-rights-activists
http://fmso.leavenworth.army.mil/documents/secchech/secchech.htm <--- image
http://www.deviantart.com/morelikethis/artists/135143561?view_mode=2 <-- image