Civil Population Of Chechen Republic In "Counter-Terrorist Operation"

Abstract

Regardless of the official names of euphemisms - “restoring constitutional order”, “counter-terrorist operation”, military actions in the Chechen Republic, should be qualified under the international law as an armed conflict of non-international nature. In 1994-1996 and from 1999 to 2003, large-scale military campaigns that lasted for many months were launched in the Chechen Republic with almost all forces and means, except nuclear ones. These forces and means were used massively and indiscriminately, and their result was the death of many thousands people and missing of more than five thousand civil population. If the losses of the Russian servicemen and militants in both wars were meticulously counted in 1994-1996, according to official data (which cause great doubts) 4103 soldiers were killed, 19794 injured, 1906 missing, and militants losses were estimated from 2740 to 10-15 thousand killed from August 1999 to December 2003, 13720 militants were killed and more than 4 thousand Russian soldiers, then for casualties among the civilian population are given approximate estimates: from 10-20 thousand to 120 thousand people in the war of 1994-1996, and from several thousand to 200 thousand people in 1999-2002. The same picture of the missing people, who in the absolute majority were detained or taken away by the representatives of the state security force. Their search, despite the rhetoric of state representatives, is practically not conducted. The lack of accurate information on these issues is a source of speculation for various political circles.