Second Chechen War and Starship Troopers (film): Difference between pages

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{{Otheruses4|the film|the original novel|Starship Troopers}}

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{{Infobox Film

{{cleanup-english}}

| name = Starship Troopers

{{unreferenced|article}}

| image = Starship Troopers - movie poster.jpg

| image_size =

{{Infobox War

| caption =

|image=[[Image:Russi_cecenia1.jpg|300px]]

| director = [[Paul Verhoeven]]

|caption=

| producer = [[Jon Davison]]<br/>[[Alan Marshall]]

|conflict=Second Chechen War

| writer = '''Original Novel:'''<br/>[[Robert A. Heinlein]]<br/>'''Screenwriter:'''<br/>[[Edward Neumeier]]

|date=[[1999]] to present

| narrator =

|place=[[Chechnya]]

| starring = [[Casper Van Dien]]<br/>[[Denise Richards]]<br/>[[Dina Meyer]]<br/>[[Jake Busey]]<br/>[[Neil Patrick Harris]]<br/>[[Clancy Brown]]

[[North Caucasus]]

| music = [[Basil Poledouris]]

|result=Ongoing/Unknown

| cinematography =

|combatant1=<center>[[Image:Flag of Russia.svg|50px]]<br>[[Russian Federation]]

| editing =

|combatant2=<center>[[Image:Flag_of_Chechen_Republic_of_Ichkeria.svg|50px]]<br>[[Chechen Republic of Ichkeria]]

| distributor = [[TriStar Pictures]]<br/>[[Touchstone Pictures]]

|commander1=

| released = {{flagicon|USA}} [[November 7]], [[1997]]<br/>{{flagicon|UK}} [[2 January]], [[1998]]

|commander2=

| runtime = 129 min

|strength1=At least 93,000 in 1999

| country = [[USA]]

|strength2=Estimated at 10-25,000 in 1999 (mostly [[militia]]s)

| language = [[English language|English]]

|casualties1=Unknown, at least 4,600 killed by October [[2002]][http://www.cdi.org/russia/245-14.cfm]

| budget = $100,000,000 (est.)

<br>Hundreds of civilians.

| preceded_by =

|casualties2=Unknown, at least 1,400 killed by May [[2000]][http://www.rferl.org/features/2000/05/F.RU.000525083820.asp]

| followed_by = ''[[Starship Troopers 2: Hero of the Federation]]''

<br>Thousands of civilians, including at least 2,000 "disappeared"[http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGEUR460112005?open&of=ENG-RUS].

| website =

| amg_id = 1:158876

| imdb_id = 0120201

}}

'''''Starship Troopers''''' is a [[1997 in film|1997]] [[film]] directed by [[Paul Verhoeven]], written by [[Edward Neumeier]], and starring [[Casper Van Dien]], [[Dina Meyer]] and [[Denise Richards]]. The movie is very loosely based on the novel ''[[Starship Troopers]]'' by [[Robert A. Heinlein]].

{{Post-Soviet Conflicts}}

[[Image:RussiaChechnya.png|thumb|right|350px|Chechnya and Russia]]

[[Image:Chechnya_and_Caucasus.png|thumb|right|350px|Chechnya and Caucasus region]]

The '''Second Chechen War''' is the [[military campaign]] initiated by the [[Russian Federation]] in [[1999]] that recaptured the [[separatist]] region of [[Chechnya]], which had briefly gained [[de facto]] [[independence]] as the [[Chechen Republic of Ichkeria]] following the [[First Chechen War]].

The war has been one of the fiercest and bloodiest [[military conflict]]s in the world. At the turn of the [[millennium]] the [[Russians|Russian]] [[military]] and pro-Russian [[Chechens|Chechen]] [[paramilitary]] forces struggled to dislodge determined Chechen separatists. The full-scale military [[offensive]] ended with the Russian seizure of the Chechen [[capital]] [[Grozny]] in [[2000]], after a winter [[siege]]. Chechen [[guerrilla]] [[resistance]] throughout the [[North Caucasus]] region continued to inflict heavy Russian casualties and challenge Russian political control over Chechnya for several more years. Violations of [[human rights]] by the Russian forces drew international condemnation. Meanwhile, attacks by Chechen separatists against [[civilians]] in Russia, notably the taking of [[hostage]]s inside a [[Moscow]] theater in [[2002]] and in a school in [[Beslan]] in [[2004]], appalled the world. The [[death toll]] from this conflict is unknown, with estimates ranging from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands dead or missing, most of them Chechnya's civilians.

Although sporadic fighting continues to this day, the Russian military and political campaign has succeeded in installing a pro-Moscow Chechen regime, and eliminating the most prominent Chechen separatist leaders including former [[president]] [[Aslan Maskhadov]] and leading [[warlord]] [[Shamil Basayev]]. The war bolstered the domestic popularity of [[Vladimir Putin]], who launched the military campaign one month after becoming Russian prime minister. The sagging fortunes of the Chechen [[independence]] movement, plagued by internal disunity and association with [[Wahhabi]] radicalism, reflect the changing global political climate after [[September 11, 2001]].

==Historical basis of the conflict==

===Russian Empire===

The Russian [[Terek Cossack Host]] was established in [[lowland]] [[Chechnya]] in [[1577]] by free [[Cossacks]] who were resettled from the [[Volga]] to the [[Terek River]]. In [[1783]] Russia and the [[Georgia (country)|Georgia]]n kingdom of [[Kartl-Kakheti]] signed the [[Treaty of Georgievsk]], under which Kartl-Kakheti became a Russian protectorate. To secure communications with Georgia and other regions of the [[Transcaucasia]], the [[Russian Empire]] began spreading its influence into the Caucasus region, starting the [[Caucasus War]] in [[1817]]. Russian forces first moved into [[highland]] Chechnya in [[1830]]. Conflict in the area lasted until [[1859]]. Many troops from the [[annexed]] states of the Caucasus fought unsuccessfully against Russia in the [[Russo-Turkish War, 1877-78]].

===Soviet Union===

Following the [[Russian Revolution of 1917]], Chechens established a short-lived independent [[emirate]] which included parts of [[Dagestan]] and [[Ingushetia]]. The Chechen state was opposed by both sides of the [[Russian Civil War]] and was crushed by [[Bolshevik]] troops in [[1922]]. Then, months before the creation of the [[Soviet Union]], the Chechen [[Autonomous Oblast]] of [[RSFSR]] was established. It annexed a part of territory of the [[Terek Cossack Host]] that was also liquidated by the Bolsheviks. Chechnya and neighbouring Ingushetia formed the [[Chechen-Ingush Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic]] in [[1936]].

During [[World War II]] Chechens were accused by [[Stalin]] of aiding [[Nazism|Nazi]] forces. In [[1944]] Stalin deported [[Population transfer in the Soviet Union|nearly all the Chechens and Ingushs]] to [[Kazakh SSR]] and [[Kirghiz SSR]], and [[Siberia]]. Up to a quarter of these people died during the "resettlement." After the death of Stalin in [[1957]], [[Khrushchev]] allowed to the Chechens to return; the Chechen republic was reinstated.

===The First Chechen War===

[[Image:Evstafiev-checnnya-soldier-fire.jpg|thumb|200px|First Chechen war. Photo by [[Mikhail Evstafiev]]]]

{{main|First Chechen War}}

With the [[dissolution]] of the Soviet Union in [[1991]], [[Chechnya]] declared its [[declaration of independence|independence]] from the [[Russian Federation]]. In [[1992]], Chechen and Ingush leaders signed an agreement splitting the joint Chechen-Ingush republic in two, with Ingushetia joining the Russian Federation and Chechnya remaining independent. From [[1991]] to [[1994]], as many as 300,000 people of non-Chechen ethnicity (mostly Russians) fled the Chechen Republic. Chechyna's industrial production began failing after Russian engineers and workers were expelled from the Republic [[Ichkeria]].

The debate over independence ultimately led to a [[civil war]] in [[1993]]. The Russians supported the anti-[[Dudayev]] opposition forces. The [[First Chechen War]] began in 1994, when Russian forces entered Chechnya to restore constitutional order and central rule. Following the [[1996]] [[Khasavyurt]] [[ceasefire]] agreement, the defeated Russian troops were withdrawn from Chechnya.

==The beginning of the Second Chechen War==

===Chaos in Chechnya===

The [[1997]] election of separatist President [[Aslan Maskhadov]] led to turbulence within the country. Despite Russia's early recognition of Chechnya's independence and the 1997 Moscow [[peace treaty]], a chilly relationship between the two nations continued. In May [[1998]], Valentin Vlasov, a personal envoy of [[Boris Yeltsin]], was [[kidnapping|kidnapped]] outside the village of Assinovskaya; he was released on [[November 13]]. Further troubles arose in January and February of 1999 as President Maskhadov announced that [[Islam|Islamic]] [[Sharia]] law would be introduced in Chechnya over the course of the next three years. In March of that year, [[General]] Gennadiy Shpigun, the [[Kremlin]]'s envoy to Chechnya, was kidnapped at the airport in [[Grozny]]. He was ultimately killed in 2000.

The Grozny [[government]]'s grip on the chaotic Republic was weak. On [[October 25]] [[1998]], Shadid Bargishev, Chechnya's top anti-kidnapping [[official]], was killed in a [[remote control]]led [[car bomb]]ing as he was about to begin a major campaign against hostage-takers. On [[December 10]] Mansur Tagirov, Chechnya's top [[prosecutor]], disappeared while returning to Grozny. On [[June 21]] the Chechen security chief, Lecha Khulygov, and a guerrilla commander, Vakha Dzhafarov, fatally shot each other in an argument. In 1998 and 1999 President Maskhadov survived several [[assassination]] attempts. The internal violence in Chechnya peaked on [[July 16]] [[1998]], when fighting broke out between Maskhadov's [[National Guard]] led by [[Sulim Yamadayev]] and radical [[Wahhabi]] militants in the town of [[Gudermes]]; over 50 people were reported killed.

On several occasions, Russian [[special forces]] raided Chechen territory. In July 1999, the Russian Interior Ministry troops destroyed a Chechen border post, and on [[July 29]], they captured a stragegic 800 meter-section of roadway. Chechens responded by firing on the Russian positions at night.

===Terrorist incidents 1996-1999===

Despite the signing of the 1996-1997 peace agreements, allegedly pro-Chechen [[terrorism|terrorist]] activity in Russia continued.

* [[November 16]] [[1996]] - A bomb destroyed an apartment building in [[Kaspiysk]] (Dagestan); 69 people, mostly relatives of [[border guard]]s, died. <!--(Note: There has never been any proof of who exactly committed this [[bombing]]. Some claim it was Chechen [[nationalists]], others feel members of the Dagestani "caviar mafia" were involved; some even suspect the Russian government of this (and other) bombings as attempts to create violence and disorder and then blame the Chechens. This latter claim is of course highly controversial and no substantial proof has surfaced to support it. (See "Bombings in Russia" section below for more on this.) This note is list of hearings.-->

* [[April 23]] [[1997]] - A bomb exploded in the Russian [[railway station]] of [[Armavir]]; three people died.

* [[May 28]] [[1997]] - A bomb exploded in the Russian railway station of [[Pyatigorsk]]; two people died.

* [[December 22]] [[1997]] - Fighters of Dagestani Central Liberation Front and the [[Arab]] [[warlord]] [[Ibn al-Khattab]] raided the base of the 136th Armoured [[Brigade]] of the [[Russian Army]] in [[Buynaksk]] (Dagestan), destroying its 300 vehicle motors, including 50 [[T-72]] tanks (25 according to the Russian account), and killing scores of soldiers.

* [[April 16]] [[1998]] - A Russian army convoy was ambushed in Ingushetia near the Chechen border; a general, two [[colonel]]s and three soldiers were killed. Local Ingush [[militants]] were blamed.

* [[March 19]] [[1999]] - An explosion occurred in the central [[market]] of [[Vladikavkaz]] ([[North Ossetia]]); 51 people died.[http://edition.cnn.com/WORLD/europe/9903/20/russia.bombing/]

* [[April 7]] [[1999]] - Four Russian [[policemen]] patrolling the border were killed near [[Stavropol]] ([[Stavropol Krai]]).

* [[June 18]] [[1999]] - Russian border posts were attacked in Dagestan; seven [[servicemen]] were killed.

===Conflict in Dagestan===

:''See: [[Dagestan War]]''

[[Image:Shamilbasayev.jpg|thumb|200px|Basayev in Dagestan]]

In August and September of 1999, [[Shamil Basayev]] led two armies of 1,200 to 2,000 Chechen, Dagestani, Arab and [[Kazakhs|Kazakh]] militants from Chechnya into the neighbouring Republic of Dagestan. The purpose was to help local Islamic [[fundamentalist]]s who were under attack by [[federal]] <!--Note:what does federal mean in this context?. Answer:Russian Federation--> forces in the villages of Kadar, Karamakhi, and Chabanmakhi. This conflict saw the first use of aerial-delivered [[fuel air explosive]]s (FAE) in populated areas, notably in the village of Tando. By mid-September 1999, the militants were routed from the villages and pushed back into Chechnya. At least several hundred people were killed in the fighting; the federal side reported 279 servicemen killed and approximately 987 wounded.

The Russian government then began a bombing campaign in southeastern Chechnya, a region which they saw as a staging area for Chechen militants. On [[September 23]], Russian [[fighter jet]]s bombed targets in and around Grozny.

====Dagestan after 1999====

Since 2000, Dagestan has been a site of an ongoing, low-level conflict.<ref>{{cite web

|author =

|url =http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dagestan#Dagestani_conflict|guerilla war spilling from Chechnya

|title =Guerilla war spilling from Chechnya

|date=

|accessdate=2006-06-10

}}</ref> The conflict has claimed lives of hundreds of federal servicemen and [[officials]] as well as Dagestani [[insurgents]] and civilians. According to a July 2005 report by the [[Russian Academy of Sciences]], there were 70 "terror attacks" in Dagestan in the first six months of 2005, compared with 30 for all of 2004. The attacks, which are becoming more sophisticated and deadly, primarily target Russian soldiers and Dagestani [[police]] and government officials. Sources indicate that as many as 2,000 Islamic insurgents, many belonging to the [[Jamaat Sharia]] group, are involved in the Dagestani [[Jihad]]. After a string of attacks and assassinations, the Sharia Jamaat claimed legitimate power in Dagestan. On [[July 12]], [[2005]], the Sharia Jamaat confirmed the death of its commander, [[Rasul Makasharipov]].<ref>{{cite web

|url=http://www.jamestown.org/publications_details.php?volume_id=409&issue_id=3401

|title = SHARIA JAMAAT CONFIRMS DEATH OF ITS "EMIR"

|date=

|accessdate=2006-06-10

}}</ref>

===Bombings in Russia===

At the same time as the fighting in Dagestan, [[Russian Apartment Bombings|a series of bombings]] took place in Russia (in [[Moscow]] and in [[Volgodonsk]]) and in the Dagestani town of [[Buynaksk]] On [[September 4]], 62 people died in an apartment building housing members of families of Russian soldiers. The bombs targeted three other apartment buildings and a mall; in total, nearly 300 people were killed. The Russian government, including then-President Boris Yeltsin, blamed Chechen separatists for the attacks. Shamil Basayev has denied involvement in the bombings. Some high-profile individuals, including the Russian [[oligarch]] [[Boris Berezovsky]] (who is accused of fraud and political corruption by the Russian police and lives in exile)<ref>{{cite web

|url=http://eng.terror99.ru/publications/#berezovsky

|title=Boris Berezovsky vs. the FSB

|date=

|accessdate=2006-06-10

}}</ref> and [[U.S. Senator]] [[John McCain]]<ref>{{cite web

|url=http://mccain.senate.gov/index.cfm?fuseaction=Newscenter.ViewPressRelease&Content_id=1173

|title= MCCAIN DECRIES "NEW AUTHORITARIANISM IN RUSSIA"

|date=

|accessdate=2006-06-10

}}</ref> have suggested that the [[Federalnaya Sluzhba Bezopasnosti|FSB]] (a Russian domestic [[intelligence service]]) staged the bombings to provide a pretext for an [[invasion]] of Chechnya.<ref>{{cite web

|url=http://eng.terror99.ru/

|title= Terror 99: A Bloody September

|date=

|accessdate=2006-06-10

}}</ref> On [[September 29]], Russia demanded that Chechnya extradite the criminals responsible for the bombings in Russia. A day later, Russian troops began their ground offensive.

On [[January 12]] [[2004]], in a hearing at Moscow City Court closed to the public and the press, Adam Dekushev and Jusuf Krymshankhalov were sentenced to life sentences for delivering explosives to the residential buildings. Both were the members of [[Karachev]]-based pro-Chechen Wahhabi group, trained by [[emir]] Khattab in Chechnya. The alleged mastermind of the bombings, Achemez Gochiyaev, has never been apprehended. <ref>{{cite web

|url=http://eng.terror99.ru/publications/076.htm

|title=Agence France-Presse September 8, 2002 Alleged suspect for 1999 bombings hiding in Georgia: Russian FSB CORRECTION:

|date=

|accessdate=2006-06-10

}}</ref> The bombing trial, however, has raised questions by observers.<ref>{{cite web

|url=http://eng.terror99.ru/publications/125.htm

|title=Human rights activist says Moscow blasts verdict "sheds no light"

|date=

|accessdate=2006-06-10

}}</ref> <ref>{{cite web

|url=http://eng.terror99.ru/publications/138.htm

|title=Rights activists say the true guilty parties of 1999 bombings have not been found

|date=

|accessdate=2006-06-10

}}</ref> One week prior to the trial, the former FSB officer and lawyer [[Mikhail Trepashkin]] had been arrested. Trepashkin represented a victim's family and claimed to have obtained evidence of FSB involvement.<ref>{{cite web

|url=http://jamestown.org/publications_details.php?volume_id=13&issue_id=597&article_id=4417

|title=Rights activists say the true guilty parties of 1999 bombings have not been found

|date=

|accessdate=2006-06-10

}}</ref>

==Second Chechen War==

===Invasion===

In late September 1999, the Russian [[military]] began bombing targets within Chechnya and ground troops followed soon after. In response, [[martial law]] was declared in Ichkeria and [[Military reserves|reservists]] were called. President Maskhadov declared a ''gazavat'' (holy war) to confront the approaching Russian army. At this time, Russia's new [[Prime Minister]] [[Vladimir Putin]] announced that the Russian troops would advance only as far as the [[Terek River]], which cuts the northern third of Chechnya off from the rest of the republic. Putin's stated intention was to take control of Chechnya's northern plain and establish a [[cordon sanitaire]] against further Chechen aggression.

The Russian army moved with ease in the wide open spaces of northern Chechnya and soon reached the Terek River. Having quickly gained control of the north Chechen plain, the army crossed the river on [[October 12]] [[1999]], and began a two-pronged advance on the capital Grozny to the south. Hoping to avoid the significant casualties which plagued the [[First Chechen War]], the Russians advanced slowly and in force. The Russian military made extensive use of [[artillery]] and [[air power]] in an attempt to soften Chechen defences. On [[November 7]], Russian soldiers dislodged [[rebel]]s in Bamut, the rebel [[stronghold]] in the first war; at least 28 Chechen fighters and many civilians were reported killed.

Many thousands of civilians fled the Russian advance, leaving Chechnya for neighbouring Russian republics. Their numbers were later estimated to reach 200,000 to 350,000, out of the approximately 800,000 residents of the Chechen Republic. The Russians appeared to be taking no chances with the Chechen population in its rear areas, setting up notorious [[concentration camp|filtration camps]] in October in northern Chechnya for detaining suspected members of ''bandformirovaniya'' (bandit formations).

About 400 Chechen fighters responded to the announced [[amnesty]], first in the second war. However, according to Putin's [[advisor]] and aide [[Aslambek Aslakhanov]] most of these [[defection|defectors]] were since killed, both by their former comrades and by a Russian ''siloviki'' (armed servicemen), who by then perceived them as a potential [[fifth column]]ists.[http://www.kommersant.ru/k-vlast/get_page.asp?DocID=695544]

By [[December 1]] [[1999]] Chechen militants began carrying out a series of [[counter attack]]s against federal troops in several villages as well as in the outskirts of [[Gudermes]], the first major city occupied by Russian troops. Rebel fighters in [[Argun]], a small town five kilometers east of Grozny, put up some of the strongest resistance to federal troops since the start of Moscow's military offensive. Chechen fighters in Argun and [[Urus-Martan]] offered fierce resistance, employing guerrilla tactics Russia had been anxious to avoid. Chechnya's president [[Aslan Maskhadov]] said that fighters were retreating from some towns and villages, but would try to lure Russian troops into the mountains.

On [[November 26]] [[1999]] Deputy Army Chief of Staff Valery Manilov said that phase two of the Chechnya campaign was just about complete, and a final third phase was about to begin. According to Manilov, the aim of the third phase was to destroy "bandit groups" in the mountains. A few days later Russia's Defense Minister [[Igor Sergeyev]] said Russian forces might need up to three more months to complete their military campaign in Chechnya. Predictions on how long the campaign would last have varied. Some generals said the offensive could be over by [[New Year's Day]]. On [[December 4]] [[1999]] the commander of Russian forces in the North Caucasus, General [[Viktor Kazantsev]], claimed that Grozny was fully blockaded by Russian troops.

===Battle of Grozny===

Heavy fighting continued also elsewhere. By [[1 December]] Chechen militants began carrying out a series of [[counter attack]]s against federal troops in several villages as well as in the outskirts of [[Gudermes]], the first major city occupied by Russian troops. Rebel fighters in [[Argun]], a small town five kilometers east of Grozny, put up some of the strongest resistance to federal troops since the start of Moscow's military offensive. Chechen fighters in Argun and Urus-Martan offered fierce resistance, employing guerrilla tactics Russia had been anxious to avoid. By [[December 9]] Russian forces were still bombarding Urus Martan, although Chechen commanders said their fighters had already pulled out.

The Russian military's next task was the seizure of the town of [[Shali]], 20 kilometers southeast of the capital, one of the last remaining separatist-held towns apart from Grozny. Russian troops started by capturing two bridges that link Shali to the capital, and by [[December 11]] Russian troops had encircled Shali and were slowly forcing militants out; on [[December 13]] Russian General [[Gennady Troshev]] ordered the town of [[Shali]] to surrender or face destruction. By mid-December the Russian military was concentrating attacks in southern parts of Chechnya and preparing to launch another offensive from Dagestan. The assault on Grozny started on in early December.

{{main|1999-2000 battle of Grozny}}

===Battle for the mountains===

Heavy fighting accompanied by a massive shelling and bombing continued through the winter of 2000 in the mountainous south of Chechnya, particularly in the areas around Argun, Vedeno and [[Shatoy]].

* [[February 29]] - A Russian [[VDV]] [[paratroop]] company from [[Pskov]] was attacked and wiped out by the approximately 300 (70 according to the rebel version) Chechen and Arab insurgents near the village of [[Ulus-Kert]], in Chechnya's southern lowlands. 86 Russian soldiers and officers were killed in battle; Russian paratroop commander General [[Georgy Shpak]] and Chechnya federal commander [[Gennady Troshev]] both initially insisted only 31 men died in that battle. [http://www.rferl.org/features/2000/03/F.RU.000307182439.asp] The army spokesman also said federal forces have been ordered to eliminate all rebels remaining in the mountains before the appearance of the spring foliage, which could give the rebels camouflage, later this month.[http://www.rferl.org/features/2000/03/F.RU.000309102029.asp]

[[Image:24318.jpg|thumb|200px|OMON in Chechnya]]

* [[March 1]] - A unit of [[OMON]] from [[Podolsk]] opened fire on an OMON unit from [[Sergiyev Posad]], who had arrived in Chechnya to replace them.[http://www.gazeta.ru/2002/01/16/OMON.shtml] ''Omonovtsy'' traveling in nine trucks to a guard post in Staropromyslovsky city district of Grozny; out of the 98 OMON troops in the convoy, 22 were killed, including the unit's commander, Colonel Dimity Markelov, and 31 were wounded. Immediately after the appalling gaff, the Interior Ministry officers reported that the convoy was ambushed by "unidentified Chechen rebels, who managed to flee by planting booby-traps along their escape route." Independent journalists, however, managed to uncover the truth about the incident.

* [[March 29]] - A total of 42 Russian soldiers were killed as a result of the rebel ambush on the OMON convoy from [[Perm]], composed of 41 [[paramilitary]] [[police]] and seven [[mechanized infantry]]men. A column led by Major Valentin Simonov was on its way to conduct a mopping-up operation in [[Tsentoroi]], near Vedeno; only six troops succeeded in escaping and hide in a forest. A second convoy was then sent to the rescue but was also ambushed; at least 20 soldiers had been wounded before the rescue mission was forced to retreat. [[CNN]] showed later a video footage of the attack shot by one of the soldiers killed, which the Russian authorities tried to ban upon discovery. On the same day, Russian Interior Minister Vladimir Rushailo that the situation in Chechnya "is being fully controlled" by the Russian military.[http://www.rferl.org/features/2000/03/F.RU.000330165845.asp]

* [[April 23]] - A 22-vehicle convoy carrying ammunition and other supplies to the [[airborne]] unit was ambushed near [[Serzhen-Yurt]], in the Vedeno Gorge; in ensuing 4-hour battle the federal side lost up to 25 dead, according to official Russian reports. The rebels claimed killing more than 50 soldiers and suffering no casualties, while General Troshev told the press that the bodies of four fighters were found.

====Komsomolskoye====

In a March attack, a large group of more than 1,000 Chechen fighters, led by field commander [[Ruslan Gelayev]], seized the village of Komsomolskoye in the Chechen foothills. They held off a full-scale Russian attack on the town for over two weeks, although they said they suffered from 500-1,000 casualties in the greatest Chechen defeat of the war. [http://www.chechentimes.org/en/press/?id=14879] The village was totally destroyed. Vladimir Putin put the number of Chechen dead at 600, while the Russian side admitted 350 dead and wounded.

About 70 Chechens were taken prisoner and officially amnestied, but only three are known to survive captivity; two of them later hanged themselves, the third disappeared. A Russian videotape released years later by journalist [[Anna Politkovskaya]] show the prisoners with untreated wounds being abused by the [[Ministry of Justice]] troops, and several who had already died during transport ([http://video.kavkazcenter.com/nizam/destr_koms.wmv see edited version of footage]). According to Politkovskaya, most of the prisoners were then probably killed in the Chernokozovo filtration camp by blows from [[trench warfare|entrench]]ing tools.[http://serwisy.gazeta.pl/swiat/1,34270,2094754.html] Contrary to the [[Abu Ghraib scandal]], the tape didn't result in any official nor public reaction, both in Russia and abroad.[http://www.chechentimes.org/en/comments/?id=17213]

===Guerilla war in Chechnya===

Despite occuption of most the territory by the federal forces, guerilla fighting continues, particularly in the southern portions of Chechnya, spilling into nearby territories. Usually small rebel units are typically targeting Russian and pro-Russian [[officials]], [[security force]]s, and military and police convoys and vehicles - often with [[Improvised explosive device|IED]] attacks, and sometimes grouping up for a larger scale raids, with the Russian forces retaliating with an artillery and air strikes and conducting [[counter-insurgency]] operations.

For the list of notable incidents, see [[Guerilla phase of the Second Chechen War]]

===Air war===

Even befre the ground invasion, Russia mounted a [[NATO]]-style air campaign over Chechnya for weeks, while the officials claimed the aim was to wipe out militants who invaded Dagestan last month. Russian air force commander [[Anatoly Kornukov]] suggested there were similarities between the attacks on Chechnya and [[Kosovo war|NATO's air campaign against Yugoslavia]]. When the air strikes began, Chechnya's [[telephone]] system was among the first targets; soon after, the electricity supply was cut. In addition to its other consequences, the loss of electricity further crippled the Chechen administration's ability to compete in the [[information war]]. The [[air strike]]s were reported to have killed hundreds of civilians and forced at least 100,000 Chechens to flee their homes.

In October 1999, at the beginning of the invasion of Chechnya, Russia was able to deploy in the [[war zone]] only 68 transport and attack helicopters – a quarter of the number amassed for the war in [[Afghanistan]], though the number of troops sent to Afghanistan and the second Chechen war is roughly the same. According to the Russian military expert [[Pavel Felgenhauer]], Russian forces lost up to 50 helicopters in Chechnya between August 1999 and January 2003; the attrition rate has been appalling and especially painful for the Russian military, because there was no additional procurement during this period.[http://www.crimesofwar.org/chechnya-mag/chech-felgenhauer.html]

* [[August 9]] [[1999]] - Two [[Mi-8]] transport helicopters were hit at Botlikh [[airfield]] in Dagestan by [[anti-tank guided missile]]s.

* [[December 13]] [[1999]] - Russian Ministry of Defence has officially confirmed the loss of Mi-8 and [[Mi-24]]. Both helicopters were searching for the [[Su-25]] plane that crashed near the village of Bachi-Yurt earlier.

* [[February 18]] [[2000]] - Russian army transport helicopter was shot down in the south of Chechnya, killing 15 people aboard.

* [[June 14]] [[2001]] - Two Su-25 [[ground attack aircraft]] simultaneously disappeared from [[radar]] screens while on a combat mission in the area of Shatoi. According to official report, the two aircraft crashed due to low visibility and difficult terrain.

* [[August 19]] [[2002]] - A Russian-made [[Igla]] missile hit an overloaded [[Mi-26]] helicopter, causing it to crash in a minefield at the main military base near Grozny. A total of 127 Russian troops were killed in [[Khankala attack]], the greatest loss of life in the history of helicopter [[aviation]].[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3669279.stm]

* [[November 3]] [[2002]] - Chechen rebels shot down a Russian military helicopter, killing nine servicemen. The Mi-8 helicopter was struck by a portable ground-to-air missile fired from a building near Grozny shortly after its take-off from Khankala.

* [[March 10]] [[2005]] - A state security helicopter carrying members of OSNAZ FSB special-purpose unit as well as the FSB officers from [[Khabarovsk]] was downed by gunfire in [[Urus-Martanovsky District]]; at least 15 died and 12 others were injured.[http://jamestown.org/email-to-friend.php?article_id=2369432]

* [[July 18]] [[2005]] - A Russian air force Mi-8 helicopter carrying border guards crashed in mountainous southern Chechnya, killing eight people; one man survived.[http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2005/07/18/014.html]

According to the official data, Russian forces lost some 31 [[aircraft]], including a number of [[fighter bomber]]s, destroyed or heavily damaged between September 1999 and July 2001 over Chechnya.[http://www.aeronautics.ru/chechnya/losses/losses.htm]

===Assassinations===

* [[May 31]] [[2000]] - Sergei Zveryev, Russia's second highest official in Chechnya, was killed by a remote controlled bomb in Grozny. The city [[Mayor]] Supyan Makhchayev, who was with Zveryev, was injured in the bombing, and his assistant was also killed.[http://www.southcoasttoday.com/daily/06-00/06-01-00/a02wn012.htm]

* [[April 4]] [[2001]] - Adam Deniyev, pro-Russian deputy chief of administration, a reputed [[gangster]] and militia leader, died from head injuries in the bomb blast at the Avtury [[TV studio]] during a [[live television]] [[preaching]] session. Adam Deniyev had competed in Chechnya's 1996 presidential elections, won by Aslan Maskhadov, and he was named as a suspect in a 1999 [[US State Department]] report in the murder of six [[Spanish people|Spanish]] [[Red Cross]] nurses. His brother Gazimagomed was killed in Moscow the previous month.

* [[October 17]] [[2001]] - A SAM missile shot down a [[Very Important Person (person)|VIP]] Mi-8 helicopter over Grozny, killing all aboard. The helicopter was carrying Major-General Anatoli Pozdnyakov, member of the [[General Staff]] of the Russian Armed Forces, Major-General Pavel Varfolomeyev, deputy director of staff of the Russian Defence Ministry, eight colonels, and three crewmembers. According to Anna Politkovskaya, who interviewed General Pozdnyakov a hour before his death, the attack was actually work of the [[corruption|corrupt]] elements in the Russian military in Chechnya.[http://www.guardian.co.uk/Archive/Article/0,4273,4374098,00.html]

* [[November 29]] [[2001]] - A young Chechen woman, Elza Gazuyeva, carried out an assassination attempt on the Urus-Martan military district commandant, General Geydar Gadzhiev, blowing herself up with a [[hand grenade]] near a group of Russian soldiers. Gazuyeva had lost a husband, two brothers, and a cousin in the war. Gadzhiev, who was accused of atrocities against civilians by locals, reportedly had personally summoned Elza to witness her husband's and brother's torture and execution. He and several other soldiers later died of their wounds.[http://www.chechentimes.org/en/chechentimes/21/?id=1025][http://www.chechentimes.org/en/chechentimes/?id=15195][http://www.watchdog.cz/index.php?show=000000-000015-000006-000008&lang=1][http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2004-09/10/content_373509_2.htm]

* [[January 27]] [[2002]] - An Interior Ministry Mi-8 was shot down in [[Nadterechny District]], killing eleven people including crew. Among those killed in the crash were Russian Deputy [[Interior Minister]] Lieutenant-General Mikhail Rudchenko, responsible for security in the [[Southern Federal District]], and deputy commander of the Interior Troops Major-General Nikolai Goridov, as well as several other high-ranking officers including colonels Oriyenko, Stepanenko, and Trafimov. The chopper's downing coincided with the five-year anniversary of the election of separatist leader Aslan Maskhadov as president.[http://www.jamestown.org/publications_details.php?volume_id=12&&issue_id=515]

* [[March 19]] [[2002]] - One of the leaders of the radical wing of the Chechen resistance, the influential [[Jordanian]] [[volunteer]], [[Amir Khattab]], was killed by a poisoned letter in an operation by the FSB. The messenger, a Dagestani double agent Ibragim, was reportedly tracked down and killed a month later in [[Azerbaijan]] on Basayev's orders.[http://www.jamestown.org/print_friendly.php?volume_id=12&issue_id=525&article_id=23056]

* [[November 16]] [[2002]] - [[Lieutenant-General]] Igor Shifrin, head of the ''Glavspetzstroi'' (Main Directorate of Special Construction of the Ministry of Defense), was killed in ambush in Grozny when his and another vehicle came under intense fire from automatic weapons. During the manhunt for the killers of the general, two policemen were killed and two more were wounded; an unspecified number of Chechen gunmen were reported killed in the firefight.[http://www.sptimes.ru/index.php?action_id=2&story_id=8634]

* [[March 5]] [[2003]] - The Chechen OMON special-purpose police commander, Dzhabrail Yamadayev, was killed in his own house in the village of Dyshne-Vedeno by a bomb planted under a couch that he slept on; the explosive device was so powerful that the house was almost completely destroyed. Dzhabrail Yamadayev was one of Chechnya’s best-known and influential figures. During the First Chechen War the [[Sulim Yamadayev|Yamadayev]] brothers fought against the federal troops and enjoyed great influence as field commanders, but changed sides in 1999.

* [[June 25]] [[2004]] - A former top official in Chechnya’s pro-Moscow administration, Lieutenant-General Yan Sergunin, was shot point-blank and killed by an assailant riding a [[motorcycle]] in [[downtown]] Moscow, and his Chechen wife was wounded. Sergunin served as Chechnya’s Deputy Prime Minister and Chief of Staff for the late Chechen president, Akhmad Kadyrov, between 2001 and 2003.[http://www.cacianalyst.org/view_article.php?articleid=2512&SMSESSION=NO]

* [[February 13]] [[2004]] - The former Chechen President, [[Zelimkhan Yandarbiyev]], was assassinated by a car bomb in [[Qatar]]; up to two other people were killed in the blast and his teenage son was wounded. The Russian government denied involvement in the attack by blaming infighting among rebel factions and a dispute over money. Moscow had, at the time, been involved in a bid to extradite Yandarbiyev to Russia to face terrorism-related charges. A Qatari court convicted two Russian government [[Foreign Intelligence Service (Russia)|Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR)]] agents in the bombing.

[[Image:Kad.jpg|thumb|200px|Assassination of Kadyrov]]

* [[May 9]] [[2004]] - Pro-Russian President [[Akhmad Kadyrov]] was assassinated in a substantial bomb blast inside of a Grozny football stadium during the celebration of Russian [[Victory Day]]. A number of other top government and military officials were killed or injured in the attack including: The Chairman of the [[State Council]] of Chechnya, Hussein Isayev, the military commander in the North Caucasus, [[Colonel-General]] [[Valery Baranov]], the Chechen interior minister, Alu Alkhanov and the military commandant of Chechnya, Major-General Grigory Fomenko. In all, 13 persons in the VIP stand were killed, and 53 were wounded. Kadyrov had survived at least three preceding bomb attacks: one on his Grozny headquarters in 2002, one by a pair of [[female suicide bomber]]s at a religious festival in Iliskhan-Yurt on [[May 14]], 2003, and another by a young [[shahidka]], Mariam Tashukhadzhiyeva, in Grozny few weeks later. His successor, acting President [[Sergei Abramov]], was targeted by yet another bombing in July of 2004 which he survived.

* [[February 2]], [[2005]] - Major General [[Magomed Omarov]], Dagestan's deputy Interior Minister, was assassinated in capital [[Makhachkala]], when rebels ambushed his motorcade and killed him in the shoot-out. Omarov had coordinated all major anti-insurgent operations in the republic and had narrowly escaped another assassination attempt in 2003.

* [[March 22]] [[2006]] - A group of assailants fatally shot Ruslan Aliev, the chief administrator of mountainous [[Botlikhsky District]] of Dagestan, during a fierce gunbattle; Aliyev's vehicle was struck by gunfire in the center of Makhachkala, on the city's most guarded street. On [[March 10]], Magomed Magomedov, deputy head of the republican Criminal Investigation Department, was killed in Makhachkala by a bomb planted underneath his car. Two days later, [[March 12]], a senior officer from the Organized Crime Department was shot dead in Makhachkala, and another was killed on [[March 21]] in the town of Buinaksk.

* [[May 17]] [[2006]] - An explosion in Ingushetia killed seven people including among them the republic’s [[police chief]] and acting first Deputy Interior Minister Dzhabrail Kostoyev; the explosion was so powerful that his armoured [[SUV]] was thrown 20 meters by the blast. The attack in [[Nazran]] was presumably committed with a car loaded with remote detonated explosives. On [[April 7]] [[2004]], President [[Murat Zyazikov]], a former [[KGB]] general, was lightly injured by a suicide car bomb, and he was saved by the armour plating of his [[Mercedes-Benz]]. On [[August 26]] [[2005]], Prime Minister Ibragim Malsagov was wounded in a double bomb attack on his motorcade in Nazran which killed his driver. Dzhabrail Kostoyev himself had earlier become the target of several assassination attempts involving bomb and rocket attacks; two of his relatives including a brother, also police officials, were killed in 2005.

* [[June 9]] [[2006]] - Two officials were killed minutes apart in Ingushetia by gunmen wearing black uniforms, berets, and masks. The assassinations appeared to be another round of carefully timed attacks against the government. First, Galina Gubina, an administrator responsible for helping ethnic Russian families resettle in the region was gunned down. Then, Musa Nalgiyev, the commander of Ingushetia's OMON riot police, was killed as he drove his three young children to school. Nalgiyev's children were also killed, as were the commander's two guards. In recent weeks, rebels in Ingushetia have also kidnapped Magomed Chakhiyev, a [[lawmaker]] and the [[father-in-law]] of President [[Murat Zyazikov]], and have attempted to kill [[Health Minister]] Magomed Aliskhanov. Galina Gubina earlier escaped an attempt on her life two years ago when a bomb went off under Gubina's car, severely wounding her.[http://www.jamestown.org/email-to-friend.php?article_id=2371187]

* [[August 8]] [[2006]] - A car bomb and gun attack killed prosecutor Bitar Bitarov in Dagestan and wounded his two [[bodyguard]]s. A motorcade including the armored car carrying Dagestani Interior Minister Adilgerei Magomedtagirov was also fired on as it approached the scene to investigate, and two police officers accompanying him were shot and killed. After this, a second bomb went off around 20 meters from the site of the first blast, wounding three of minister's bodyguards and three civilians. The Interior Ministry said the attacks appeared to have been carefully planned, and the rebels claimed responsibility.[http://www.kavkazcenter.com/eng/content/2006/08/08/5228.shtml] The next day two hand grenades targeted house of [[Ingushetia]]'s [[Nazranovsky District]] prosecutor, Girkhan Khazbiyev, killing his brother and injuring 13 family members.[http://www.jamestown.org/publications_details.php?volume_id=416&issue_id=3831]

* [[August 29]] [[2006]] - A former police chief of an anti-organized crime department in southern Russia has been gunned down near hospital in central [[Nazran]] and died at the scene. Akhmed Murzabekov, a district police chief in Ingushetia, was shot three times but survived a previous assassination attempt on [[August 23]]. The official said a rapid reaction group following Murzabekov engaged the attackers, possibly wounding one of them, but added that the assailants escaped.

* [[September 11]] [[2006]] - Three army generals, including Chief of [[logistics]] of Russia's North Caucasus Military District, Major-General Vladimir Sorokin, died in an army Mi-8 helicopter crashed in a suburb of [[Vladikavkaz]], killing at least 12. It had a three-strong crew and was carrying a group of 11 high-ranking officers, including Gen Sorokin and a few other generals, who were taking part in a military exercise that had begun in the region of North Ossetia earlier in the day. The the local rebel group ''Kataib al-Khoul'', who has vowed to shoot down Russian military aircraft on [[September 7]], accepted responsibility.

===Suicide attacks===

Between June 2000 and September 2004 Chechen insurgents added [[suicide attack]]s to their weaponry. During this period there have been 23 Chechen related suicide attacks in and oustide Chechnya, and the profiles of the suicide bombers have varied just as much as the circumstances surrounding the bombings. Most of these targeted a military or government-related targets:

* June 2000 - On [[June 6]], Chechnya experienced its first suicide bombing when a young woman Khava Barayeva drove a truck loaded with explosives through a checkpoint of an OMON base at Alkhan-Yurt in Chechnya; she detonated her bomb outside barracks, killing a number of troops. Another "suicide operation" was carried on [[June 11]] at a checkpoint in [[Khankala]] by a former Russian soldier who had [[Religious conversion|converted]] to [[Islam]] and joined the rebels; this explosion killed two OMON officers.{{fact}}

* [[July 2]]-[[July 3]] [[2000]] - Chechen guerrillas launched five suicide bomb attacks into Russian military and police [[headquarters]] and barracks within 24 hours. In the deadliest, at least 54 police troops were killed and 81 wounded at OMON [[dormitory]] in Argun, near Grozny. The Russian Interior Ministry for Chechnya based in Gudermes is targeted twice; six Russian troops are killed. Following one of the bombings a firefight broke out between Chechen guerillas and soldiers, killing three soldiers and an unknown number of militants. [http://edition.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/europe/12/05/chechnya.timeline/]

* December 2001 - A suicide [[truck bomb]] driven by a 15-year-old Chechen girl was stopped by gunfire, as it smashed through checkpoints and blockposts on its way to a [[MVD]] building in Grozny.{{fact}}

* [[February 5]], [[2002]] - A 16-year-old girl detonated a bomb inside of the building of Zavodsky city district police station in Grozny.{{fact}}

[[Image:Photo09.jpg|thumb|200px|Government headquarters bombing]]

* [[December 27]] [[2002]] - Chechen suicide bombers ran vehicles into the heavily guarded republic's government headquarters in Grozny, bringing down the roof and floors of the four-story building. The drivers wore federal military uniforms and carried official passes which allowed them through three successive military checkpoints on their way to the headquarters building; a guard at the fourth and final checkpoint attempted to inspect the vehicles, and began firing on the trucks as they drove through the checkpoint towards the building. Chechen officials said about 80 people were killed and 210 wounded, and Basayev claimed responsibility for a planning and execution of the attack.{{fact}}

* [[May 12]] [[2003]] - Two suicide bombers drove a truck full of explosives into a government administration and security complex including republican FSB headquarters in Znamenskoye, in northern Chechnya; about 60 people were killed and more than 250 wounded, including a number of civilians.{{fact}}

* [[June 5]] [[2003]] - A [[female suicide bomber]] ambushed a bus carrying [[Russian Air Force]] [[Aviator|pilot]]s in [[North Ossetia]], blowing it up and killing herself and 20 other people and wounding 14.{{fact}}

* [[August 1]] [[2003]] - A suicide bomber driving a truck packed with explosives blew up a military hospital in the town of [[Mozdok]] in North Ossetia, bordering Chechnya. The blast killed at least 50.{{fact}}

===Georgia===

Russian officials have accused the bordering republic of [[Georgia (country)|Georgia]] of allowing Chechen rebels to operate out of Georgian territory, and permitting the flow of [[guerillas]] and [[materiel]] across the Georgian border with Russia.

* On [[October 8]] [[2001]], a [[UNOMIG]] helicopter carrying observers was shot down in Georgia in Kodori Gorge, near Abkhazia, and all nine people on board were killed. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/1586098.stm] Georgia denied having troops in the area, and the suspicion fell on the armed group headed by Chechen warlord Ruslan Gelayev, who was speculated to have been hired by the Georgian government to wage war against separatist [[Abkhazia]]. [http://www.diacritica.com/sobaka/2003/salvador.html]

* In February 2002, the United States began offering assistance to Georgia in combating alleged Arab [[mujahadeen]] activity as [[War on Terrorism: Pankisi Gorge|part of the "War on Terrorism"]].{{fact}}

* In August 2002, Georgia accused Russia of a series of secret [[air strike]]s on purported rebel havens in the [[Pankisi Gorge]]. A Georgian civilian was killed.{{fact}}

* On [[March 2]] [[2004]], following a number of raids from Georgia into Chechnya, Ingushetia, [[Abkhazia]], and Dagestan, Chechen warlord [[Ruslan Gelayev]] was killed in a clash with Russian border guards while trying to cross from Russia into Georgia.{{fact}}

===Unilateral ceasefire and death of Maskhadov===

On [[February 2]] [[2005]], Chechen rebel president [[Aslan Maskhadov]] issued a call for a [[ceasefire]] lasting until at least [[February 22]]: the day preceding the anniversary of Stalin's deportation of the Chechen population. The call was issued through a separatist website and addressed to President Putin, described as a gesture of goodwill.

But on [[March 8]] [[2005]], Maskhadov was "liquidated" in an operation by Russian security forces in the Chechen community of [[Tolstoy-Yurt]], northeast of Grozny, and branded an "international terrorist."

Shortly following Maskhadov's death, the Chechen rebel council announced that [[Abdul-Khalim Sadulayev]] had assumed the leadership, a move that was quickly endorsed by Shamil Basayev. On [[February 2]] [[2006]] Sadulayev made large-scale changes in his government, ordering all its members to move into Chechen territory. Among other things, he removed First Vice-Premier [[Akhmed Zakayev]] from his post (although later Zakayev was appointed a Foreign Minister [http://chechenpress.net/events/2006/05/27/06.shtml]).

Sadulayev himself was killed in June 2006, after which he was succeeded as the rebel leader by the veteran guerilla commander [[Doku Umarov]].

===Radicalisation of the Chechen insurgents===

The Chechen rebels are becoming increaingly more radicalised. Former [[Soviet army]] officers General Djokhar Dudaev and Colonel Aslan Maskhadov, have been succeeded by people who rely more and more on the religious feelings rather than the nationalistic feelings of the population. While Dudaev and Maskhadov were seeking from Moscow recognition of the independence of the Chechen Republic Ichkeria, Sadulaev and Basaev speak out more and more about the need to expel Russia from the territory of the whole [[North Caucasus]], an impoverished mountain region inhabited mostly by Muslim, non-Russian ethnic groups.

In April 2006, asked whether negotiations with Russians are possible, the top rebel commander and then-new Vice-President Doku Umarov answered:''

:"We offered them many times. But it turned out that we constantly press for negotiations and it's as if we are always standing with an extended hand and this is taken as a sign of our weakness. Therefore we don't plan to do this any more. And the reshuffle of the (rebel) Cabinet of Ministers is connected to this."''

In the same month, the new rebel spokesman [[Movladi Udugov]] said that attacks should be expected anywhere in Russia in 2006: "The minimum goal -- not to surrender -- has been met. Today, we have a different task on our hands -- [[total war]], war everywhere our enemy can be reached. (...) And this means mounting attacks at any place, not just in the Caucasus but in all Russia." It was not clear whether Udugov meant a return to the type of terrorist acts, not seen since 2004, or military style operations. Reflecting growing radicalization of the Chechen-led guerrillas, Udugov said their goal was no longer Western-style [[democracy]] and independence, but an Islamist "North Caucasian [[Emirate]]."

But regardless of goals and tasks announced by the current leaders of the separatists, the insurgents continue to enjoy the support of a significant part of the population of the Chechen Republic.

===Caucasus Front===

In May 2005, two months after Maskahdov's death, the Chechen separatists officially announced that they had formed a [[Caucasus Front]] within the framework of "reforming the system of military-political power." Along with the Chechen, Dagestani and Ingush "sectors," the [[Stavropol]], [[Kabardin]]-[[Balkar]], [[Krasnodar]], [[Karachai]]-[[Circassian]], [[Ossetian]] and Adighy "jamaats" were included in it. This, in essence, means that practically all the regions of the Russia's south will be involved in the hostilities.

The Chechen separatist movement has taken on a new role as the official ideological, logistical and, probably, financial hub of the new insurgency in the North Caucasus. Increasingly frequent clashes between federal forces and local militants continue in Dagestan, while sporadic fighting erupts in the other southern Russia regions, most notably in Ingushetia.

[[Image:Img5_6.jpg|thumb|200px|Destroyed military vehicle in Nazran after the Ingushetia raid]]

* [[June 21]]-[[June 22|22]] [[2004]] - A large force of 200 to 300 Chechen and Ingush fighters carried out a large-scale raid on Ingushetia, led by Shamil Basayev. The overnight attacks targeted 15 government buildings in the former Ingush capital, [[Nazran]], and at least three towns and villages located on the [[Baku]]-[[Rostov]] highway that crosses the republic from east to west. The targets of simultaneous attacks included the Interior Ministry headquarters in Nazran, the base of an FSB border-guard unit in Nazran, and also arms depots, [[municipal]] police headquarters and OMON headquarters in Karabulak and Sleptovskaya northeast of Nazran. The raid lasted nearly five hours, and the assailants withdrew almost unscathed with a large quantities of capured weapons; the raiders apparently lost only two men during the attacks (five according to Basayev). According to the official figures of Ingushetia's pro-Moscow administration, in total the dead numbered 98, including the republic's acting Interior Minister Colonel Abukar Kostoyev, his deputy Zyaudin Kotiev, the city of Nazran's chief prosecutor Mukharbek Buzurtanov, the district of Nazran's chief prosecutor Belan Oziev, the Ingushetia's investigator for major criminal cases Timur Detogazov, and other officials. Among the dead were five officers of the FSB and three commandos from the elite [[Vympel]] unit; 30 officers were reportedly killed at the Nazran ROVD. A few civilians, including a local [[United Nations]] (UN) worker, were killed in the crossfire. The federal troops managed to reach Nazran only at 4 a.m., after the battle there was over, as a 15 or 20 guerrilla raiders succeeded in neutralizing whole 503rd Regiment of the Russian Army by blockading the road to the city. Army General Vyacheslav Tikhomirov, the Russian Deputy Interior Minister and the commander of Russia's Interior Ministry forces, decided to resign after Federal Interior Minister [[Rashid Nurgaliyev]] blamed them for the high number of deaths.

*[[January 15]] [[2005]] - The government forces surrounded a group of five rebel fighters in a two-story house on the [[outskirts]] of Makhachkala. For 17 hours, the rebels battled Russian special forces supported by armoured vehicles and a helicopter, killing one of elite [[Alpha Group]] commandos and wounding another, until a tank smashed the remains of the burned and gutted house.[http://www.mosnews.com/news/2005/01/17/dagestan.shtml] The group was blamed of killing over 30 officers of the Dagestan MVD and the local branch of the FSB. In the weeks preceding the battle, Dagestani insurgents have derailed two trains, [[sabotage]]d gas supplies and shot dead a high-ranking intelligence officer from Moscow. In a separate clash this day, special police task force stormed another house in Dagestan's [[port]] of Kaspiisk to arrest a separate group of militants, leaving three police commandos, including commander Arzulum Ilyasov, dead. One rebel was killed and one wounded, the third one escaped.

*[[July 1]] [[2005]] - 11 members of the elite Russian MVD OSNAZ Rus battalion were killed and seven wounded in the bomb attack in Makhachkala. The commandos had been sent to Dagestan only two weeks ago to help the local MVD conduct "operation filter", started after a [[4 June]] bomb blew up an UAZ police vehicle with three policemen inside. On [[4 July]] the chief of the city's MVD Yusup Abdulayev and several other police officials were fired.

* [[October 13]] [[2005]] - Local and Caucasian insurgents organized a daylight raid on [[Nalchik]] in [[Kabardino-Balkaria]]. The failed insurrection attempt claimed lives of more than 90 people, including at least 33 troops and 41 rebels. (''See'': [[October 2005 Nalchik attack]])

*January 2006 - At least three OMON and Spetznaz servicemen died and more than 10 were wounded in a three-day battle on a mountain near Gimry in Dagestan between some 3,000 Russian troops led by the republic's Interior Minister Adilgerei Magomedtagirov and a group of estimated eight armed rebels (or 30 according to the [[Kavkaz Center]] version). Despite heavy artillery and aerial bombardment all the fighters managaged to escape the encirclement, leaving behind only an abandonened [[Dugout (shelter)|dugout]]. The ministry said the group included suspects in a recent assassination attempt on the deputy interior minister that left his son dead.

* [[July 10]] [[2006]] - The head of the Russian FSB service, [[Nikolai Platonovich Patrushev|Nikolai Patrushev]], announced the death of [[Shamil Basayev]] in a "special operation" in the Russian region of [[Ingushetia]], near Chechnya. Chechen rebel website Kavkaz Center later confirmed his death, though they reported a CRI representative as saying "there was no special operation whatsoever. Shamil and the other brothers of ours became Shaheeds according to Allah's will." Basayev, who was considered a key link between the Chechen separatists and the North Caucasian insurgency, was killed when a [[KamAZ]] truck carrying 220 lbs of explosives exploded in his convoy. Three other militants were killed along with him. [http://www.kavkazcenter.com/eng/content/2006/07/10/4942.shtml] [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/5165456.stm]

==Restoration of federal government==

===Government of Akhmad Kadyrov===

Russian President Vladimir Putin established [[direct rule]] of Chechnya in May 2000. The following month, Putin appointed [[Akhmad Kadyrov]] interim head of the government.

===Constitution===

On [[March 23]] [[2003]], a new Chechen [[constitution]] was passed in a [[referendum]]. The 2003 Constitution granted the Chechen Republic a significant degree of autonomy, but still tied it firmly to the [[Russian Federation]] and Moscow's rule; the new constitution went into force on [[April 2]] [[2003]]. The referendum was strongly supported by the Russian government but met a harsh critical response from Chechen separatists. Many citizens chose to boycott the ballot.

The international opinion was mixed, as enthusiasm for the prospect of peace and stability in the region was tempered by concerns about the conduct of the referendum and fears of a violent backlash. Chief among the concerns are the 40,000 Russian soldiers that were included in the eligible voters' list (out of approximately 540,000). No independent [[international organization]] (neither the [[Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe|Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE)]] nor the United Nations) officially observed the voting, but observers from [[Organization of the Islamic Conference]], [[League of Arab States]], [[CIS]], Muslim countries ([[Malaysia]], [[Indonesia]], [[Yemen]], [[Oman]] et al.) have recognized a referendum "free and democratic." The OSCE, the United States [[State Department]], and the [[United Kingdom]]'s [[Foreign Office]] all questioned the wisdom of holding the referendum while the region was still unsettled.

===Elections===

* '''2003 presidential elections'''

On [[October 5]] [[2003]], presidential elections were held in Chechnya under the auspices of the March constitution. As with the constitutional referendum, the OSCE and other international organizations did not send observers to monitor proceedings. The [[Kremlin]]-supported candidate Akhmat Kadyrov earned a commanding majority, taking about eighty percent of the vote. Critics of the 2003 election argue that separatist Chechens were barred from running, and that Kadyrov used his private militia to actively discourage political opponents.

* '''2004 presidential elections'''

At night on [[August 21]] [[2004]], a week before the appointed elections of the President of the Chechen Republic, large-scale military operation was carried out by Chechen fighters in the capital city of Grozny, targeting polling stations and other government targets. The Kremlin-backed Militsiya General [[Alu Alkhanov]] was reported to have won the elections with almost 74%, with over 85% of the people having voted according to Chechen elections commissions head Abdul-Kerim Arsakhanov. [http://www.mosnews.com/news/2004/08/30/elections.shtml]

* '''2005 parliamentary elections'''

The latest Chechen elections were held in November 2005. The independent observers said that there were plenty of Russian troops and more journalists than voters at [[polling station]]s. Lord Judd, a former [[Council of Europe]] special reporter on Chechnya, regarded the elections as flawed; "I simply do not believe we will have stability, peace and a viable future for the Chechen people until we have a real political process," he said. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4474902.stm] The candidates all belonged to Moscow-based parties and were loyal to Chechnya's Prime Minister Ramzan Kadyrov. [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/11/28/wchech28.xml&sSheet=/news/2005/11/28/ixworld.html]

===Government of Ramzan Kadyrov===

Since December 2005, the pro-Moscow militia leader [[Ramzan Kadyrov]] is functioning as the Chechnya's prime minister and the republic's de-facto ruler. Kadyrov, whose irregular forces are accused of carrying out many of the abductions and atrocities; has become Chechnya's most powerful leader since the 2004 assassination of his father Akhmat.

The 29-year-old was elevated to full-time premier in March 2006, in charge of an administration that is a collection of his allies and [[teip]] (clan) members. Same month, the Ramzan Kadyrov government officially took control of Chechnya's [[oil industry]] and rejected a federal proposition of the republican [[budget]], demanding much more money to be sent from Moscow; for years, Chechnya was know as a Russia's "financial black hole" where the funds are widely embezzled and tend to vanish without trace. On [[March 30]], 2006, Interfax reported Chechen People's Assembly Chairman Dukvakha Abdurakhmanov has spoken in favour of a complete withdrawal of all Russian federal forces except the border guards.

In April 2006 Kadyrov himself criticized remaining units of [[federal police]], namely Operational/Search Bureau (ORB-2), and called for their immediate withdrawal from the republic. He also called for [[refugee camps]] scattered about Chechnya to be closed down, saying they were populated by "international spies" intent on destabilizing the region. Later this month, Abdurakhmanov said Chechnya should be merged with Ingushetia and Dagestan; Ingush and Dagestani leaders disagreed. Paradoxically, a merger would reflect the will of Chechen separatists of establishing an Islamic state across the North Caucasus.

[[Image:649760_20040501205457.jpg|thumb|200px|Ramzan Kadyrov (centre) with the ''Kadyrovtsy'', after a rebel attack on Tsentoroi.]]

On [[April 29]] [[2006]], after a deadly clash between Kadyrov's and Alkhanov's men in Grozny, Ramzan Kadyrov officially disbanded his security service. [[Kadyrovtsy]], an irregular army of thousands of former rebels, have been pivotal in supporting Kadyrov. Rights activists working in Chechnya say the Kadyrovtsy abused their powers to crush any rivals to Kadyrov; they have repeatedly accused Kadyrov's personal guard of using kidnapping, murder and torture to cement his rule. On [[May 2]] [[2006]], representatives of European Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT), the Council of Europe's anti-torture [[watchdog]], said they were prevented from entering the fortress of Ramzan Kadyrov, the alleged site of [[prisoner abuse]]; rights activists claim that prisoners and kidnap victims are tortured in secret jails in Chechen villages, including Tsentoroi, the ancestral home of the Kadyrov clan.

===Islamization===

In 2006 Kadyrov has also started to create laws he says are more suitable to Chechnya's [[Islamic]] [[heritage]] -- banning [[alcohol]] and [[gambling]] on [[January 20]], and enforcing women's use of headscarves -- in defiance of Russia's [[secular]] constitution. He also publicly spoke in favor of [[polygamy]] on [[January 13]], and declared that lessons in the [[Koran]] and [[Sharia]] should be obligatory at Chechen schools. On [[February 11]], Ramzan criticized the republican media for broadcasting immoral programs and officially introduced [[censorship]] in Chechnya. Because of the [[Muhammad cartoons|cartoon scandal]] that shook the whole [[Muslim world]], Kadyrov issued a brief ban on the [[Danish Refugee Council]], the most active [[humanitarian organization]] in Caucasus.

On [[June 1]] Moscow-backed Chechen President Alu Alkhanov said he would prefer his republic be governed by Sharia law and suggested adapting the Islamic code, speaking in Paris after inconclusive talks with the Council of Europe. "If Chechnya were run by Sharia law, it would not look as it does today." Alkhanov also dismissed reports of conflicts with Kadyrov, who is

widely believed to want to take over the presidency when he turns 30 in October and can legally assume the job.

==War crimes==

Russian officials and Chechen rebels have regularly and repeatedly accused the opposing side of committing various [[war crimes]] including kidnapping, [[murder]], hostage taking, [[looting]], [[rape]], and assorted other breaches of the [[laws of war]]. International and humanitarian organizations, including the [[Council of Europe]] and [[Amnesty International]], have criticized both sides of the conflict for blatant and sustained violations of [[international humanitarian law]]. Russian rights groups estimate there have been 3,000-5,000 disappearances in Chechnya since 1999. They say Russian troops have

used abduction, rape and torture as weapons there and that the government has done too little to punish those responsible. [http://www.mosnews.com/news/2006/07/27/chechensuit.shtml]

US Secretary [[Madeleine Albright]] noted in her [[March 24]] [[2000]], speech to the [[United Nations Commission on Human Rights]]:

:We cannot ignore the fact that thousands of Chechen civilians have died and more than 200,000 have been driven from their homes. Together with other delegations, we have expressed our alarm at the persistent, credible reports of human rights violations by Russian forces in Chechnya, including extrajudicial killings. There are also reports that Chechen separatists have committed abuses, including the killing of civilians and prisoners. ... The war in Chechnya has greatly damaged Russia's international standing and is isolating Russia from the international community. Russia's work to repair that damage, both at home and abroad, or its choice to risk further isolating itself, is the most immediate and momentous challenge that Russia faces. [http://geneva.usmission.gov/press2000/0427chechnya.html]

According to the 2001 annual report by Amnesty International:

:There were frequent reports that Russian forces indiscriminately bombed and shelled civilian areas. Chechen civilians, including medical personnel, continued to be the target of military attacks by Russian forces. Hundreds of Chechen civilians and prisoners of war were extra judicially executed. Journalists and independent monitors continued to be refused access to Chechnya. According to reports, Chechen fighters frequently threatened, and in some cases killed, members of the Russian-appointed civilian administration and executed Russian captured soldiers. [http://web.amnesty.org/web/ar2001.nsf/webeurcountries/RUSSIAN+Federation?OpenDocument]

In 2001 the [[Holocaust Memorial Museum]] has placed Chechnya on its [[Genocide]] Watch List. [http://www.ushmm.org/conscience/alert/chechnya/]

===Forced disappearances===

Human rights campaigners estimate that since 1999 - the start of the second Chechen conflict - as many as 5,000 people have disappeared and are feared dead. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/5219254.stm]

* In March 2001 Human Rights Watch issued the report titled ''The "[[Dirty War]]" in Chechnya'' [http://www.hrw.org/reports/2001/chechnya/], which called the "disappearances" of detainees in the custody of Russian federal forces in Chechnya a major human rights crisis that the international community must address.

* On [[March 31]] [[2003]], Akhmad Kadyrov, the head of the pro-Moscow administration of the Chechen Republic, has suggested that Russian federal forces are behind breaking into homes at night and abducting people. "People continue to go missing in Chechnya. They are taken away in the middle of the night. Their bodies are not found and they are never seen again," Kadyrov said to reporters in Grozny. "Through their crimes, they maintain tension in the republic, and their hands are stained with the blood of innocent people. The force is made up of kidnappers in armoured vehicles. They are a [[death squad]]." But according to many journalists and experts on Chechnya, many such abductions are the work of Chechen [[security police]] headed by his son, [[Ramzan Kadyrov]].

* According to [[Amnesty International]] in 2005, Russian officials give about 2,000 as the official figure for "disappearances" since late 1999. [http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGEUR460112005?open&of=ENG-RUS]

* On [[February 25]]-[[February 26]] [[2006]], Alvaro Gil-Robles, resigning Council of Europe's Commissioner for Human Rights, visited Chechnya, together with his successor, [[Thomas Hammarberg]]; they criticized abductions, impunity and lack of security in Chechnya. On [[March 2]], 2006, Chechen ombudsman Nurdi Nukhadzhiyev stated the problem of [[forced disappearances]] of people in Chechnya cannot be solved by local authorities, adding that a special commission has to be created on the federal level.

* On [[May 12]] [[2006]], Dmitry Grushkin of the Memorial human rights group told Interfax that at least 1,893 residents of Chechnya have been kidnapped since 2002; of those, he said, 653 were found alive, 186 were found dead, and 1,023 "disappeared". Memorial monitors kidnappings for only 25-30 percent of Chechen territory.

===Hostage takings===

====The Moscow theater hostage crisis====

[[Image:dubrovkaht.jpg|thumb|200px|Moscow theater hostage takers]]

{{main|Moscow theater hostage crisis}}

On [[October 23]] [[2002]], over 40 militants took more than 700 [[Moscow theater hostage crisis|hostages prisoner at a Moscow theater]]. The hostage-takers demanded an end to the Russian presence in Chechnya, and threatened to execute the hostages if their conditions were not met. The siege ended violently on [[October 26]], when Russian troops stormed the building. More than one hundred of the hostages perished from the incapacitating effects of [[Kolokol-1|knockout gas]] used by the Russian forces. Many casualties resulted from the fact that unconscious victims' airways were blocked and sub-optimal care was given during the rescue. In particular, the failure of Russian authorities to equip their troops with [[opioid]] [[antidote|antidoes]] and their efforts to conceal the identity of the gas for days afterward hindered efforts to save the lives of the stricken hostages.

Russian officials blamed Maskhadov and Baseyev for the attack; both initially denied responsibility and insist that the attack was the work of independent rebels and terrorists. On [[November 2]] Baseyev recanted his statements, assuming responsibility in a statement on his web site and apologizing to Maskhadov for not informing him of the plan.

====The Beslan school siege====

On [[September 1]] [[2004]], approximately 30 individuals [[Beslan school hostage crisis|seized control of Beslan's Middle School Number One]] and more than 1,000 hostages. Most of the hostages were students under the age of eighteen. Following a tense two-day standoff punctuated by occasional gunfire and explosions, [[Alpha Group]] of the OSNAZ raided the building. Fighting lasted more than two hours; ultimately 331 civilians, 11 commandos, and 31 hostage-takers died.

Once again, Russian officials publicly linked Baseyev and Maskhadov to the attack, and Baseyev again claimed responsibility in a [[September 17]] website publication; Maskhadov denounced the attacks and denied involvement. The carnage at Beslan and the outcry it caused has had an unexpected effect on the tactics employed by Chechen rebels and their allies. Since September 2004, neither Chechen nor North Caucasian militants have perpetrated a single hostage-taking or any attacks on civilian targets.

====Other hostage incidents====

* [[March 15]] [[2001]] - Three Chechens [[Aircraft hijacking|hijacked]] a Russian Tu-154 plane with 174 people after it left [[Turkey]]; they forced a landing in [[Medina]], [[Saudi Arabia]]. On [[March 16]], Saudi commandos freed over 100 hostages, killing three people including a hijacker, a female [[flight attendant]] and a [[Turkish people|Turkish]] passenger. A Russian diplomat in Saudi Arabia said the leader of the hijackers was a "highly-trained military officer who appears to know what he is doing."

* [[April 22]] [[2001]] - In Turkey pro-Chechen gunmen seized up to 100 hostages at a luxury hotel in [[Istanbul]]. The standoff involving had lasted nearly 12 hours before the hostage-takers armed with automatic rifles surrendered; police said they had encountered no resistance from the gunmen and there were no reports of anybody being injured. [http://archives.cnn.com/2001/WORLD/europe/04/23/turkey.hostage.03/index.html]

* [[October 29]] [[2004]] - The [[State Duma]] hosted Vladimir Ustinov, head of the Prosecutor General's Office, to discuss the Putin administration's anti-terrorism strategy. As he explained it to the deputies, in future hostage-taking episodes the security agencies would have a formal statutory right to seize and detain the relatives of the suspected hostage-takers. The government would then let the terrorists know that it will do to these "counter-hostages" whatever the terrorists do to their own hostages.

Meanwhile, the practice of taking civilians hostages exists among officers of Russian and local security agencies in Chechnya. On [[March 1]] [[2004]], officers of security agencies seized more than 30 relatives of Ichkerian defence minister Magomed Khambiyev, including women, in the Khambiyev family's native village of Benoy in Chechnya's Nozhay-Yurtovsky District. Magomed Khambiyev got an ultimatum to lay down arms in exchange for lives of his relatives, and he did it giving himself up to the authorities in a few days.

===Massacre incidents===

*On [[October 5]] [[1999]], a bus filled with refugees reportedly was shelled by a Russian [[tank]] in Chechnya, killing as many as 40 civilians and wounding several others. [http://www.cnn.com/WORLD/europe/9910/07/chechnya.bus/]

*On [[October 7]] [[1999]] federal forces carried out a rocket and bomb attack on the village of Elistanzhy in Vedensky District. Within several minutes 27 people were killed; among them only eight were men of the "fighting age", meaning aged 14 to 60. In the next two weeks 21 more wounded died of their wounds.

*On [[October 21]] [[1999]], US satellites (reportedly the [[Defense Support Program]]) tracked several Russian short-range [[ballistic missile]]s launched from the Russian city of Mozdok some 60 miles northeast of Grozny. The missiles, believed by western intelligence analysts to have been [[SS-21 Scarab]]s [http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=18123] and carrying [[cluster munitions]] [[warheads]], hit the crowded Grozny central [[marketplace]] and other targets; in all, at least 143 persons were killed in the attack. One of the missiles blew up over the courtyard of the only functioning maternity hospital in Grozny, killing 28 women and newborn babies and seven other people. Another rocket hit the mosque in the village of Kalinin, killing 41 of 60 people who gathered for prayer.

*In early December 1999, Russian troops under command of general [[Vladimir Shamanov]] killed some 41 civilians during two-week drunken [[rampage]] in the village of Alkhan-Yurt, near Grozny. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/575091.stm] Nearly all of the killings committed by Russian soldiers in Alkhan-Yurt were reportedly carried out by soldiers who were looting; many other civilians who attempted to stop the looting were threatened with death by Russian soldiers, and narrowly escaped execution. At least three women are believed to have been raped.[http://www.hrw.org/reports/2000/russia_chechnya2/index.htm#TopOfPage]

*Between late December 1999 and mid-January 2000 Russian soldiers summarily executed at least 38 civilians in Staropromyslovsky city district of Grozny, according to survivors and eyewitnesses. Most of the victims were women and elderly men, and all appear to have been deliberately shot by Russian soldiers at close range; six men from the district who were last seen in Russian custody "disappeared" during this same period and remain unaccounted for. [http://www.hrw.org/reports/2000/russia_chechnya/]

*In February 2000, the frustrated Russian troops who entered the pulverized Grozny appeared to have taken out their wrath on the surviving inhabitants who emerged from basements and cellars. A particularly brutal [[massacre]] was carried out on [[February 5]] in the suburb of Novye Aldi, where suspected members of OMON from [[St Petersburg]] and contract soldiers summarily executed at least 60 civilians, both Chechens and Russians, including children and elderly people. The killings were accompanied by acts of robbery and [[arson]]. [http://www.hrw.org/reports/2000/russia_chechnya3/]

*On [[February 4]] [[2000]], in an attempt to stop the Chechen retreat, Russian forces bombed the village of Katyr-Yurt, and then a civilian white-flag convoy, when up to 20,000 refugees desperately fled an intense bombardment there that commenced following the arrival of large numbers of fighters in the village. The bombing lasted for two days and at least 170 civilians died while many more were injured; according to the later reports 343 people were killed. [http://www.guardian.co.uk/russia/article/0,2763,191798,00.html]

===Terrorist bombings===

*[[May 8]] [[2002]] - An explosion of a Russian-made [[antipersonnel]] mine in the Dagestani town of [[Kaspiysk]] killed and wounded some 200 soldiers and civilian bystanders during a military [[parade]]. By [[12 May]], this toll had totalled 42 dead (17 of them children) and 130 wounded; only 19 of the dead were [[Russian Marines]]. A Dagestani pro-Chechen group blamed for an attack had previously killed seven Russian soldiers on [[18 January]] [[2001]], in the Dagestani capital [[Makhachkala]]. Several Russian officers from the garrison of the nearby Dagestani town of [[Buynaksk]] were accused of selling the radio-controlled MON-90 mine that was used in the attack, and were put on trial in January 2003.

*[[July 5]] [[2003]] - Two young Chechen girls were stopped by [[security guard]]s at separate entrances outside a rock festival at the [[Tushino]] airfield near Moscow, and detonated their explosives, killing 15 people. For many observers, the Tushino suicide attacks appeared out of place. The bombings marked the first time that Chechen separatists had attacked Russian civilians with no apparent motive; there were no demands or political aims, not even a claim of responsibility.

*[[December 5]]-[[December 10]] [[2003]] - A [[shrapnel]]-filled bomb believed strapped to a lone male suicide attacker ripped apart a [[commuter train]] near Chechnya, killing 44 people and wounding nearly 200. The explosion occurred during a busy morning rush hour when the train was loaded with many students and workers; it ripped the side of the train open as it approached a station near [[Yessentuki]], 750 miles south of Moscow. Only five days later another blast shook Russia -- this time the attack occurred in the very centre of Moscow a female suicide bomber set off explosives near the Kremlin and State Duma; the bomber used suicide belts packed with ball bearings to kill 6 people and injure another 44. Shamil Basayev later claimed responsibility for organising the December 2003 attacks.

[[Image:Moskwa_zamach_ranni.jpg|thumb|200px|Moscow metro bombing]]

*[[February 6]] [[2004]] - A bomb ripped through a Moscow [[Rapid transit|metro]] car during [[rush hour]] morning, killing 39 people and wounding 134. A previously unknown Chechen rebel group claimed responsibility for the bombing; the claim came from a group calling itself ''Gazoton Murdash'', led by Lom-Ali ("Ali the Lion"). According to the statement, the group launched the attack to mark the fourth anniversary of the killing of scores of Chechen civilians by Russian soldiers who took control of the Chechen capital Grozny.

* [[August 27]] [[2004]] - Officials said [[Russian aircraft bombings of August 2004|two Russian airliner]]s that crashed nearly simultaneously on [[August 24]] were brought down by bombs after finding traces of explosives in the planes' wreckages. An Islamic militant group claimed responsibility for the attack in which 90 people died in a Web statement. Chechen women Amanta Nagayeva (30) and Satsita Dzhebirkhanova (37), who lived in an apartment in Grozny, had purchased their tickets at the last minute; Nagayeva's brother disappeared three years ago and the family believed he was abducted by Russian forces.

* [[June 12]] [[2005]] - A bomb planted by a Russian nationalist extremists, said to be [[veterans]] of the Chechen wars belonging to the [[Russian National Unity]] group, derailed the Grozny-Moscow [[passenger train]] some 150 kilometers south of the Russian capital. Dozens of people were injured, but only eight hospitalized; on [[May 30]], 2006 suspects Vladimir Vlasov and Mikhail Klevachyov have been charged with terrorism and attempting to commit murder motivated by ethnic or religious hatred.

===Trials of Chechen fighters===

Since the Russian authorities do not treat the war as an [[armed conflict]] and enemies as [[combatants]], the secessionist Chechen fighters are invariably described by the Russian government as terrorists or bandits. Captured rebels are routinely tried for such articles of the Russian criminal code as illegal weapons possession, "forming and participating in illegal armed groups," and banditry. This strips detainees of key rights and protections under the [[Geneva Conventions]] rules of war, including the right to be released at the end of the conflict and not to be held criminally liable for lawful combat. Participation in combat is treated as a murder or [[attempted murder]] and terrorism, making little if any distinction with incidents of actual murders and terrorism.

* One of the earliest war crimes trials to be held was that of [[Salman Raduyev]], a notorious former field commander for the rebel Chechen forces. Raduyev was convicted in December 2001 of terrorism and murder charges and sentenced for life. He died in a Russian [[prison colony]] a year later. [http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGEUR460702002?open&of=ENG-380]

* On [[February 21]] [[2001]], a Chechen field commander Salautdin Temirbulatov has been sentenced to life in prison for murdering 4 Russian contract soldiers whose execution in 1996 was filmed on a [[video tape]]. When Russia invaded Chechnya for a second time in September 1999, the video became a powerful weapon in the Kremlin's [[propaganda]] war, as it was shown to soldiers preparing for active service in the war-torn republic. [http://premium.europe.cnn.com/2001/WORLD/europe/02/15/russia.chechnya/] Temirbulatov was also accused of terrorism and "abducting" Russian special unit servicemen taken prisoner during their raid into Chechnya in 1997. [http://www.iwpr.net/?apc_state=hruicrs2001&l=en&s=f&o=161950]

* On [[May 26]], [[2006]], [[Nur-Pashi Kulayev]] was jailed for life for his part in the Beslan school hostage crisis.

===Trials of Russian servicemen===

The cases of a Russian servicemen being tried for a war crimes are few and in between, and no one has been charged with mistreatment or murder of captured enemy fighters. Several servicemen have been accused and even convicted of a crimes against civilians:

* In 2003 Russian Colonel [[Yuri Budanov]] was sentenced for the [[abduction]] and murder of [[Elza Kungaeva]], a Chechen woman whom Budanov claimed was aiding a group of Chechen rebels who were attacking his unit. Legal proceedings against Budanov, who underwent several retrials, lasted a total of 2 years and 3 months. [http://www.rosbaltnews.com/2003/08/18/63577.html] Budanov was commanding a tank regiment, and is a recipient of the [[Hero of Russia]] medal. The subordinates of Colonel Budanov have testified that a fellow soldier mutilated the victim's body before burying it [http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2001/05/16/014.html]. The soldier, mechanic Alexander Yegorov, was amnestied, honourably discharged, and even awarded with Order for Service to the Motherland. [http://www.newtimes.ru/eng/detail.asp?art_id=566]

* On [[April 29]] [[2004]], a Russian court in [[Rostov-on-Don]] acquitted four [[GRU]] special purpose unit officers of the shooting dead six Chechen civilians. In an incident in January 2000, [[Captain]] Eduard Ulman's unit killed a civilian and subsequently extra-judicially executed five more, including a disabled woman, with silenced weapons; the troops then burned the bodies. They were again found not guilty in a re-trial on [[May 19]] [[2005]], although the four admitted to the killings, the court ruled that their actions were not punishable as they had been following orders. The acquittals of Captain Ulman and his three subordinates sparked public outrage in Chechnya, where rights advocates and many Chechens say Russian forces act with impunity.

* On [[March 29]] [[2005]], a court in Grozny found Sergei Lapin "Kadet", a member of the Khanty-Mansyski OMON, guilty of torturing Zelimkhan Murdalov, and sentenced him to 11 years' imprisonment. Murdalov, a civilian, had been detained by police officers in Grozny in January 2002 and subsequently "disappeared"; his whereabouts and fate remained unknown.

* On [[October 27]] [[2005]], Mukhadi Aziyev, company commander of the Vostok (East) SPETSNAZ GRU [[battalion]], was convicted of "exceeding official authority", and given a three-year [[suspended sentence]]. In June 2005, 11 men "disappeared" and at least two, including 77-year-old Magomaz Magomazov, were murdered during a raid by the Vostok battalion on the village of Borozdinovskaia. The raid prompted a mass [[exodus]] over the border to neighbouring Dagestan of the whole population of around 1,000 villagers.

* On [[April 5]] [[2006]], Alexey Krivoshonok, a Russian serviceman, accused of killing three Chechen civilians at a [[roadblock]], has admitted his guilt in his final plea. Next day, Krivoshonok, a contract soldier since 1995 whose rank was not disclosed, was sentenced to 18 years in prison for the violent murder in a state of alcoholic and narcotic [[intoxication]] on [[November 16]], 2005.

* On [[May 15]] [[2006]], the Grozny Garrison Military Circuit Court completed the trial of contract soldier, [[Private (rank)|Private]] Pavel Zinchuk. Zinchuk was sentenced to 7 years in a general penal colony for shooting and wounding, from "hooligan motives", three civilian persons in the village of Staraya Sunzha near Grozny. Zinchuk's case was separated from the triple murder case of Krivoshonok, soldier from the same roadblock.

==International response==

===Council of Europe===

*In October 2004, the [[European Court of Human Rights]] agreed to try cases brought by Chechen civilians against the Russian government.

:The first [[trial]] concluded in February 2005. The Court ruled that the Russian government violated several articles of the [[European Convention on Human Rights]], including a [[clause]] on the protection of [[property]], a guarantee of the right to life, and a ban on [[torture]] and inhumane or degrading treatment, and ordered the Russian government to pay [[compensation]] to the six [[plaintiff]]s of the case. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4295249.stm]

:The cases concerned the Russian federal forces' indiscriminate aerial bombing of a civilian convoy of refugees fleeing Grozny in October 1999; the "disappearance" and subsequent extrajudicial execution of five individuals in Grozny in January 2000; and the indiscriminate aerial and artillery bombardment of the village of Katyr-Yurt in February 2000. The compensations were not paid, [[NGO]]s claim that applicants to the court are met with repressions, including murders and disappearance.[http://hrw.org/english/docs/2005/03/10/russia10298.htm]

*In June 2005, the [[Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe|Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE)]] examined Russia's progress in honouring the obligations and commitments it undertook on joining the Council of Europe in 1996. PACE passed a resolution which stated that there had been very little progress in relation to the obligation to bring to justice those responsible for human rights violations. The resolution called on the Russian authorities to "take effective action to put an immediate end to the ongoing 'disappearances', torture, arbitrary detentions, detention in illegal and secret facilities, and unlawful killings" reported in Chechnya.

[[Image:Generalyandiev.jpg|thumb|200px|General Baranov (left) ordering a summary execution of Yandiyev (right). (CNN)]]

*In summer 2006 the European Court on Human Rights decides the first cases concerning forced disappearances from Chechnya. Decisions by the European Court might play an important role in changing Chechnya's terrible human rights situation. More than 100 disappearance cases related to Chechnya are pending in the court. [http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2006/07/28/002.html]

:The cases included one where the court ordered Russia to pay 35,000 euros to the mother of [[Khadzhi-Murat Yandiyev]] for violating her son's "right to life" as well as failing "to conduct an effective investigation" into his February 2000 disappearance. Key evidence in the case, according to court documents, was video footage filmed by a reporter for NTV and [[CNN]] television [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZW1uwMma5w] showing an army officer, later identified by CNN reporters as Colonel-General [[Alexander Baranov (general)|Alexander Baranov]], ordering soldiers to "finish off" and "shoot" Yandiyev. Baranov has since been promoted and awarded a [[Hero of Russia]] medal and is now responsible for all [[Defense Ministry]] forces in the North Caucasus. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/5219254.stm]

*The [[June 9]] [[2006]] PACE report by [[Dick Marty]] "It is hardly possible to speak of secret detention centres in Council of Europe member states without mentioning Chechnya. Mr Bindig's very recent report also notes not only numerous cases of forced disappearance and torture, but also the existence of secret places of detention." [http://assembly.coe.int/Main.asp?Link=/CommitteeDocs/2006/20060606_Ejdoc162006PartII-FINAL.htm] It quoted "Damning recent accounts by witnesses."

===United Nations===

* A resolution adopted in April 2000 by the [[United Nations Commission on Human Rights|United Nations Commission on Human Rights (UNHCR)]] called for Russia, among other things, to establish a "national broad-based and independent commission of inquiry" into abuse, with a view to bringing perpetrators to justice and preventing impunity. [http://www.hrw.org/press/2000/04/chech0425a.htm] However, Russia has not fulfilled the resolution's requirements.

* On [[April 20]] [[2001]], the UNHCR adopted another resolution condemning human rights violations in Chechnya perpetrated by federal forces, citing "forced disappearances, extrajudicial, summary and arbitrary executions, torture, and other inhuman and degrading treatment." The resolution called on Russia to "ensure that both civilian and military prosecutor's offices undertake systematic, credible and exhaustive criminal investigations and prosecutions" of all violations of international human rights and humanitarian law. It reiterated its requirement, also made in 2000 resolution, for Russia to establish a national commission of inquiry to investigate crimes in Chechnya; despite Russia's failure to create such a commission or ensure effective prosecutions after the 2000 resolution, the commission declined to call for the creation of an international commission of inquiry. [http://www.hrw.org/reports/2001/chechnya2/Mgrave-04.htm]

* In April 2004 the Commission rejected another resolution on Chechnya. 23 of 53 countries voted against the resolution, while 12 countries voted for the resolution - mainly European Union countries. Russian Foreign Minister [[Sergey Lavrov]] said "all attempts to depict the situation in Chechnya as a human rights problem have been unrealistic." [http://newsfromrussia.com/main/2004/04/17/53472.html]

* On [[February 22]] [[2006]], [[UN High Commissioner for Human Rights]], [[Louise Arbour]], said she was deeply shocked by accounts of torture and kidnappings in Chechnya. She recommended the creation of an independent body to investigate crimes committed during the war. [http://www.dailytelegraph.news.com.au/story/0,20281,18234155-5001028,00.html]

* On [[March 30]], [[Manfred Nowak]], the United Nations investigator on torture said that Moscow had agreed to let him visit Russia, including the troubled region -- the first such trip by a UN torture envoy in more than a decade. [http://www.unpo.org/news_detail.php?arg=14&par=4176]

==Casualties==

===Official figures===

'''The following figures are not confirmed by serious academic sources or researches. Military casualty figures from both sides are impossible to verify and are generally believed to be higher.'''

*On [[25 May]] [[2000]], Chechen militants reported on their website that they have lost 1,380 men since fighting started with Russia in the breakaway republic. A this tme, Russian military officials said they had lost 2,004 soldiers.[http://www.rferl.org/features/2000/05/F.RU.000525083820.asp]

*By [[December 17]] [[2002]], the official death toll for federal troops was about 4,705. However, Russia's Itar-Tass news agency reported on [[February 17]] [[2003]], that some 4,739 were killed in Chechnya in the year 2002 alone, with another 13,108 wounded and 29 missing. [http://www.cdi.org/russia/245-14.cfm]

*According to the latest figures released by the Russian Defense Ministry on [[August 10]], [[2005]], 3,450 Russian Army soldiers have been [[killed in action]] since 1999. This death toll does not include losses of the Internal Troops, Federal Security Service, [[Militsiya#Militsiya in the Russian Federation|Militsiya]] and all paramilitaries, and according to the figure cited by Interfax in March 2006 more than 1,000 Chechen policemen alone have been killed since 1999.

*On [[June 26]] [[2005]], Dukvakha Abdurakhmanov, a deputy prime minister in the Kremlin-controlled Chechen administration, said about 300,000 people have been killed during two wars in Chechnya over the past decade; he also said that more than 200,000 people have gone missing. [http://www.mosnews.com/news/2005/06/27/chechendeathtoll.shtml] Earlier in 2004, the chairman of Chechnya's State Council, Taus Djabrailov, said over 200,000 people have been killed in the Chechen Republic since 1994. [http://www.mosnews.com/news/2004/11/19/civiliandeath.shtml]

*On [[September 28]] [[2006]], Anatoliy Kulikov, deputy chairman of the Russian State Duma committee on security said: ''In the 12 years of our Russian antiterrorist war in the Chechen Republic, aggregate losses among the federal forces, illegal armed groups and civilians are estimated at about 45,000 people. More than half a million residents of Chechnya and adjacent territories have been forced to abandon their homes.''

*The Chechen separatist sources cite figures of some 250,000 civilians, and up to 50,000 Russian servicemen, killed during the 1994-2003 period. The rebel side acknowledged about 5,000 Chechen combatants killed as of 1999-2004, mostly in the initial phases of the war.

===Independent estimates===

Civilian casualty estimates vary widely, but many say about 80,000 civilians - 40 percent of them children - died in the first Chechen war. Many more have been killed since the conflict exploded again in 1999.

[[Image:Omon_pokhorony3.jpg|thumb|200px|Funeral of a Russian officer]]

* In 2000 the Russian weekly ''Nezavisimoye voennoye obozreniye'' (NVO, Independent Military Review) compiled an incomplete list of 1,176 military servicemen fallen in Chechnya during the first year of conflict. If available the list included name, year and place of birth, rank and military unit, place, date and cause of death. [http://nvo.ng.ru/wars/2000-08-11/8_least.html]

* In February 2003, the [[Union of the Committees of Soldiers' Mothers of Russia]], estimated that some 11,000 servicemen have been killed, with another 25,000 wounded, since 1999. It estimated the civilian death toll at about 20,000 people. [http://www.cdi.org/russia/245-14.cfm] Their estimate for the earlier Chechen war was 14,000 dead troops as compared with the official figure of 5,500.

* According to 2003 Military Balance, the annual report [[International Institute for Strategic Studies]], the [[United Kingdom|British]]-based [[think-tank]], Russian forces suffered 4,749 dead in Chechnya between August 2002 and August 2003. [http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,1317003,00.html]

* In September 2003 the [[International Campaign to Ban Landmines]] reported that almost 6,000 people, 938 of which were children, died or were injured by land mines in Chechnya in 2002, more than anywhere else in the world. It is an especially disturbing figure in a region whose population is less than one million people. [http://www.rferl.org/features/2003/09/11092003181035.asp]

* In 2004, the British strategic-research centre [[Jane's]] estimated that the federal forces in Chechnya suffered some 9,000 to 11,000 combat deaths during the second war's most intense phase, from its beginning in late summer 1999 to early 2002. In 2003, they lost roughly 3,000 dead. [http://www.jamestown.org/publications_details.php?volume_id=396&issue_id=2913&article_id=23561]

* On [[April 4]] [[2006]], [[UNICEF]] and [[European Commission]] said in a joint statement released in Moscow that over 3,030 people have been maimed or killed by [[landmine]]s in the Second Chechen War (April 4 marked the first International Mine Awareness Day). UNICEF has recorded 2,340 civilian landmine and [[unexploded ordnance]] casualties occurring in Chechnya between 1999 and the end of 2003.

* Alexander Cherkasov of the human rights group [[Memorial (society)|Memorial]] points out that the Russian government did not make any attempt to count civilian casualties in the war of 1994-96, nor after 1999. Many figures have been quoted, some greatly exaggerated; a figure of 250,000 dead in the two wars is sometimes repeated, but without there being adequate substantiation of such a number. Cherkasov's conclusion is rationally arrived at: ''The total number of peaceful residents of the Chechen Republic who perished during the two wars may have reached 70,000.'' He admits that the accuracy of these estimates is not high. With reference to the second war, he concludes: ''The total number of civilians killed, including those who disappeared, adds up to between 14,800 to 24,100.''

===Mass graves===

* [[April 30]] [[2000]] - Eight decapitated bodies were found in a fresh burial place near the village of Dargo, Vedensky District in southern Chechnya. They were identified as three OMON and three regular police officers, and one military conscript; all had been missing in action for weeks.

* [[July 27]] [[2000]] - The bodies of about 150 people are reported to have been found in a [[mass grave]] near the village of Tangi-Chu, Urus-Martanovsky District in southern Chechnya. 74 bodies, mostly men, were removed from the grave. As many as 80 more remained; people who happened to witness the [[exhumation]]s said later that the hands of the killed had been tied with [[barbed wire]]. An official of the republic's Moscow-approved government said about half the bodies were wearing Chechen rebel uniforms. The rest were civilians who, he said, appeared to have no marks of violence on them.

* [[February 21]] [[2001]] - 51 bodies of men and women, showing signs of torture and military-style execution, were uncovered across from the main Russian Khankala military base at Zdorovye, near Grozny. Some bore signs of mutilation, including stab wounds, broken limbs, flayed body parts, severed fingertips and ears cut off, and many had their hands tied behind them and had been blindfolded. Of the nineteen victims whose corpses were identified by relatives, sixteen were last seen as Russian federal forces took them into custody. Human rights groups suggested that Russian servicemen at the Khankala base used the Dachny (also called Zdorovye) [[dacha]] settlement as a disposal site for executed prisoners. At the beginning of the second Chechen war, numerous unofficial places of detention existed throughout Chechnya, many of them in the form of earth pits, and the biggest such facility was located on the territory of the headquarters of the federal army in Khankala.

:On [[March 29]] the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, [[Mary Robinson]], called for a thorough investigation of the mass grave site in a statement to the 57th session of the UNHCR; Robinson stated that "cases such as the mass grave in Zdorovie discovered earlier this year, less than a kilometer from the main military base in Chechnya, must be followed up and thoroughly investigated." Three weeks earlier, the authorities buried the rest of the bodies without prior notice and without performing adequate [[autopsies]] or collecting crucial evidence that would have helped to identify the perpetrators. [http://www.hrw.org/reports/2001/chechnya2/]

* In March 2001 Human Rights Watch has documented eight unmarked graves, all found in 2000 and 2001. It has also documented eight cases when dead bodies were simply dumped by roadsides, on hospital grounds or elsewhere, and the Memorial Human Rights Center has documented numerous additional cases. The majority of the bodies showed close range bullet wounds, typical of summary executions, and signs of severe mutilation. Examinations by medical doctors of some of these bodies have revealed that some of the deliberate mutilations were inflicted while the detainees were still alive. [http://www.hrw.org/reports/2001/chechnya/index.htm]

* [[April 10]] [[2001]] - Pro-Moscow Grozny Mayor Bislan Gantamirov announced 17 bodies with gunshot wounds had been found in the basement of a bombed-out dormitory next to Oktyabrskoye city district [[police station]], manned by the OMON troops from Siberia's [[Khanty-Mansiysk]]. An initial examination of the corpses showed that a majority of those killed were middle-aged men and that the bodies were approximately six months old. "We long suspected federal troops [of such crimes]. The mayor's office has hundreds of inquiries from city residents asking to find out about relatives who have disappeared. An especially high number of complaints concerned Oktyabrsky city district police station where detainees often disappeared without a trace," Gantamirov noted. The place was then cordoned off by the military, and the basement was soon destroyed in an apparent cover up. Gantamirov himself did an about-face and joined the chorus of federal officials denying the findings; OMON officer in charge of the station claimed the unit had nothing to do with the disappearance of local residents, adding that mass graves in Chechnya are commonplace.

:In June 2006, Russia's leading human rights groups has produced what it says is documentary evidence of a secret torture and murder cell in the basement of a former school for deaf children in Oktyabrsky city district. According to Memorial, Russian police used the dungeon to torture and murder hundreds of people, and was decommissioned only last month, when the federal Russian police unit occupying the building withdrew. According to the republic's prosecutor, Valery Kuznetsov, several criminal cases involving the disappearance of people allegedly dispatched to the "temporary holding cells" are being investigated. But Nurdi Nukhajiev, Chechnya's government-appointed representative for human rights, said: "I am not saying that the people [policemen] were ideal individuals. But this is 2006 and they weren't so stupid as to leave evidence of torture and murder behind." Memorial says it collected the evidence just in time and that the building housing the cellar has since been demolished in a crude attempt at a cover-up. [http://news.independent.co.uk/europe/article753719.ece]

* [[April 23]] [[2001]] - A Russian reconnaissance unit has found the remains of at least 18 people in a mass grave near a rough mountain road in southern Chechnya. The victims appeared to have been killed in 1996, but it was not immediately clear who they were, said a spokesman for Kremlin aide Sergei Yastrzhembsky.

* [[April 9]] [[2002]] - A mass grave containing remains of about 100 people was found in a mountain cave in [[Achkhoy-Martanovsky District]]. Local people who discovered the grave said the skulls and bones make it easy to define the age of the victims; some bones reportedly prove there are children aged 10-12 among the bodies, all reportedly beheaded. Lieutenant-General Vladimir Moltenskoi, who commanded combined federal forces in Chechnya, promptly announced the bodies might be of Russian soldiers captured by Chechen fighters in 1994-96 and held in an alleged "death camp". However, eyewitnesses say stewed-pork tins and bottles of vodka found on the spot prove roistering Russian soldiers stayed there, and local people say as early as in December 2000 several Russian military columns with Chechens detained during "mopping-up" operations, including children aged between 10-14, were stationed in the area of the caves.

* [[September 8]] [[2002]] - Police from Ingushetia have discovered a common grave near Goragorsk, on the border with neighboring Chechnya, containing the bodies of 15 ethnic Chechen men who had been last seen being taken into custody by the Russian troops at different times and in different places. The grave was reportedly found after relatives of the victims paid some Russian soldiers a large amount of cash for information.

*[[January 13]] [[2003]] - Ten blown up corpses were discovered near Grozny and later taken to a mosque in the [[Tolstoy]]-Yurt for identification. On the next day the attorney-general of the Chechen Republic, Vladimir Kravtshenko, said that the bodies belong to people who had earlier been abducted by Chechen fighters. However, the three identified bodies belonged to inhabitants who had been taken into custody by federal forces in the end of 2002; after the blast only fragments remained of the other bodies. A week later on [[January 19]] the remains of three blown-up bodies were found on near a pond in Kulary in Achkhoy-Martanovsky District. According to local inhabitants, the remains of human bodies had been strewn over an area 150-200 metres in diameter; the remains of the unknown bodies were buried at the local cemetery.

:In 2003, residents and human rights campaigners said fragments of blown-up bodies are being found all over the war-ruined region. Rather than put a stop to human rights violations, the military appears to be doing its best to hide them, critics said. [http://www.hrvc.net/news2-03/13g-2003.htm]

*[[March 31]] [[2003]] - Russian government's human rights [[commissioner]] Oleg Mironov has called on the authorities to open mass burial sites in Chechnya to identify the bodies and establish the reasons for their deaths. "It is necessary to open a number of graves in Chechnya and see why the people died, carry out necessary expert examinations, and then bury them as humans deserve," Mironov told a news conference in Moscow. At the same time, Mironov rejected the proposal by [[Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe]] to establish an international tribunal to investigate alleged war crimes committed in Chechnya.

==Plot==

* [[April 6]] [[2003]] - Police in Chechnya said they had discovered four graves filled with disfigured bodies over the past 24 hours. Three sites were found in the northern [[Nadterechny District]], usually a relatively peaceful area, Chechnya's Emergency Situations Ministry said. The heads and arms had been cut off of the corpses, which were stacked in a shallow grave and covered with soil, the ministry said. It did not say how many bodies were in the graves.

''Starship Troopers'' tells the story of an interplanetary war between Earth and colonies of large insect-like aliens in the twenty-third century. It focusses on the experiences of [[Juan Rico|Juan "Johnny" Rico]] ([[Casper Van Dien|Van Dien]]), one of three friends who sign up to the military one year before Earth declares war on the aliens.

The film opens to a futuristic television viewing sequence. The news is dominated by an ongoing war with the aliens, aptly called Arachnids or Bugs. A one year flashback takes the scene to

* [[October 9]] [[2004]] - A mass grave containing six unidentified bodies has been discovered in the capital Grozny during excavation work at a building site, Russia's NTV television said. The agency said on Saturday that the six had apparently been shot and buried about three months ago.

the posh [[Buenos Aires]] [[high school]] of a young man named [[Juan Rico|Juan "Johnny" Rico]] ([[Casper Van Dien|Van Dien]]). History teacher Mr Rasczak ([[Michael Ironside]]) forcefully quizzes his students about the efficacy of "naked force" in dispute resolution, and the need for civic responsibility. A blind, strutting biology teacher loudly corrects her students by pointing out the numerous daunting ways the Arachnids are superior to humans regarding competitive survival. Rico is shown to have high athletic ability, a very competitive nature, low math aptitude, great, but mostly unreturned, love for his girlfriend Carmen ([[Denise Richards|Richards]]), and much indecision about his future. He decides to become a Citizen, a privilege earned by joining the Federal Service ([[military]]) for two years of sacrifice and uncertain survival. His parents show immediate revulsion at his choice, his father demanding he attend [[Harvard University]] and dangling an expensive "Outer Rings" beach vacation to tempt him. Rico persists and is disowned, following Carmen into Federal Service.

Largely based on their academic test scores, Rico is assigned to Mobile [[Infantry]], while Carmen is assigned to Flight School, and his best friend Carl ([[Neil Patrick Harris|Harris]]) to the elite Games and Theory ([[military intelligence]]). A girl from Rico's high school football team, "Dizzy" Flores ([[Dina Meyer|Meyer]]) (long enamoured of him), secretly joins the Mobile Infantry and successfully requests a transfer to Rico's training unit. Rico soon finds the gruelling boot camp more difficult than anticipated, with terrible injuries being inflicted by the [[Officer (armed forces)|officers]] and [[Non-commissioned officer|NCOs]]&mdash;particularly his [[drill instructor|drill sergeant]], Zim ([[Clancy Brown|Brown]])&mdash;in an effort to teach the new soldiers quickly and efficiently. Rico excels at the training and eventually is promoted to squad leader. Carmen decides to "go career" because of her love of piloting massive starships, which precludes getting back together with Rico after two years of service, so she breaks up with him. A high school football rival of Rico, Zander ([[Patrick Muldoon]]) has intentionally placed himself as Carmen's instructor, and makes his romantic intentions known. She neither accepts nor rejects, seeming amused and remaining intent on her piloting. After Rico makes a fatal error as squad leader during a live fire training exercise, he is punished by [[flogging]] and quits. However, just as he is leaving the camp, an asteroid, used as a weapon by the Bugs, destroys [[Buenos Aires]], killing millions, including his parents. Now homeless, his doubt dissolves. He rejoins his unit and the newly-declared war against the perpetrators of the attack: the horse-sized Arachnids of the distant planet [[Klendathu]].

* [[November 20]] [[2004]] - A mass grave containing the bodies of eleven unidentified young people, aged 12 to 20, was discovered near [[Gudermessky District]] village of Dzhalka. On [[November 16]], local residents in the Grozny rural district discovered three bodies in the vicinity of residences located near a dairy farm; the victims, males aged 20-40, showed multiple signs of torture.

The initial invasion of [[Battle of Klendathu|Klendathu]] is a complete disaster, with 100,000 dead in one hour including several of Rico's fellow boot-mates. Rico is one of the few wounded to survive. The Federation supreme commander, Sky Marshal Dienes, resigns and is replaced by Sky Marshal Tehat Meru. She declares that "to fight the Bug, we must understand the Bug", leading to altered and more intelligent battle plans. Rico, Dizzy and his friend from training, Ace Levy, are reassigned to the super-tough MI unit, the "Roughnecks". Its soldiers are extremely loyal, most of whose lives have been saved by their commander, as has Rico's. He turns out to be Rico's old high school history teacher, now Lieutenant Rasczak, executing the lessons he formerly taught. After a spectacular and heroic battle on one of the Bug worlds, Tango Urilla, Rico is field-promoted to corporal and assigns Dizzy as squad leader. After a celebration later that night, Rico and Dizzy consummate her wish of several years.

* [[June 16]] [[2005]] - There are 52 mass graves in Chechnya, according to the local pro-Russian government. The chairman of the Chechen government committee for civil rights, Nurdi Nukhazhiyev, was quoted by ITAR-TASS news agency as saying the graves have not been opened, so the total number of dead is difficult to determine. Nukhazhiyev had earlier said that up to 60,000 people had lost a relative or friend in the disappearances that have blighted the republic for the past five years.

Their next mission plunges them into a trap, as they are assigned to investigate the silence of an outpost on one of the Bug worlds, Planet P. From the only survivor (and now a post-traumatic wreck) General Owen ([[Marshall Bell]]), they discover that the bugs possess somewhere a high intelligence, and are "sucking" the brains out of humans to learn directly from the brains. As the troopers realise their situation a huge force of bugs attacks. Rasczak, Dizzy, and almost all of the Roughnecks die. The survivors barely evacuate, having requested a "crazy" pilot to do the unlikely rescue, who coincidentally turns out to be Carmen. After a funeral service for Dizzy, Rico's old friend Carl, now a [[Colonel]] in intelligence, gives Rico and Carmen his unapologetic ("we're in it for the species, boys and girls - they simply have more") reason for the deaths of many of Rico's squad mates: Military intelligence had ascertained that there might be a "brain bug" on Planet P, and the Roughnecks were used as bait. He tells Rico that the Mobile Infantry will return to Planet P and attempt to capture the brain bug for research. Rico accepts the mission and Carl gives him command of the Roughnecks. Carmen's ship, the ''TFCT [[Rodger Young]]'', is the one from which the Roughnecks operate.

* [[April 02]] [[2006]] - 57 bodies were discovered in [[Sergey Kirov]] Park in Grozny. Valery Kuznetsov, the Chechnya's prosecutor, said an examination of the corpses buried in unmarked grave indicated that they belonged to "ordinary citizens" who had died from explosions of artillery shells and bombs during siege between 1999 and 2000; he said there will be no investigation on the finding. On the site of the former Kirov Park, where in April-May of 2000 nine graves were uncovered, the local authorities plan to build a large entertainment centre which will bear the name of Akhmad Kadyrov.

In the offensive, the ''Rodger Young'' explodes when hit by Bug plasma, shot from giant Bug abdomens. Carmen and Zander barely survive, and their escape pod lands deep underground in a Bug tunnel. They are captured, and Zander's brain is sucked out and ingested by the brain bug. Rico organises a rescue attempt and manages to save Carmen in the nick of time by threatening the brain bug with a miniature "nuke". They escape to the surface safely, where the brain bug has been captured by Rico's former training sergeant Zim, now demoted to buck private for requesting transfer from training to fighting. Rico, Carmen, and Carl renew their friendship, and the now fearful brain bug is sent to Earth for study in an attempt to find a way to defeat the Bug menace.

* [[June 27]] [[2006]] - A grave containing the bodies of nine federal soldiers and local supporters executed by Chechen rebels in 1996-1997 has been discovered in the republic, a spokesman for the FSB branch for Chechnya told Interfax. The grave was found on the premises of a destroyed militant base, he said.

==Cast==

==Influence on Russian politics==

{| class="wikitable"

=== Early conflict ===

! Actor/Actress || Role

Among ordinary Russian citizens, there existed a strong perception that Chechnya was firmly a part of Russia. The notion that it might secede was implausible and unacceptable, even after events of the First Chechen War; the violent acts of Chechen militants were portrayed within Russia as having been carried out by dangerous, unrepresentative fringe groups. Within the Russian government, there was a concern that allowing Chechnya substantial autonomy might lead to a domino effect—other regions within the already-fragmented former Soviet Union might choose to follow suit.

|-

| [[Casper Van Dien]] || [[Juan Rico|Johnny Rico]]

|-

| [[Dina Meyer]] || Dizzy Flores

|-

| [[Denise Richards]] || Carmen Ibanez

|-

| [[Jake Busey]] || Private Ace Levy

|-

| [[Neil Patrick Harris]] || Colonel Carl Jenkins

|-

| [[Clancy Brown]] || Career Sergeant Zim

|-

| [[Seth Gilliam]] || Private Sugar Watkins

|-

| [[Patrick Muldoon]] || Zander Barcalow

|-

| [[Michael Ironside]] || Lieutenant Jean Rasczak

|-

| [[Marshall Bell]] || General Owen

|-

| [[Lenore Kasdorf]] || Mrs. Rico

|}

==Reception==

Motivated by these factors, President Yeltsin authorized the invasion of Chechnya. Many argue over whether Yeltsin genuinely believed that victory would be swift and decisive, or that his assertions to that effect were simply meant to assuage the concerns of Russian citizens. Despite assembling a much larger and better-supported force than was brought to bear in the First Chechen War, the Russian army sustained appreciable losses but won the bloody battle for Grozny.

This movie polarized both popular audiences and critics, as did the original book. On one level, the movie tells a straightforward action-adventure [[science fiction]] story, with attractive stars, innovative [[computer-generated imagery]], and an entertaining but [[cliché]]d and often ludicrous plot. A prominent theme of the film is the human practice of senseless violence without reflection or empathy, which parallels the senseless aggression of the "Bugs." As such, the movie attracted widely divergent responses. This is reflected by a mixed critical response; for example the film receives a 59% rating on [[Rotten Tomatoes]] <ref>{{cite web | title= "Starship Troopers - Rotten Tomatoes" | url=http://uk.rottentomatoes.com/m/starship_troopers/ | accessdate= June 23 | accessyear= 2007 }}</ref>.

The film included visual allusions to [[propaganda]] films, such as ''[[Triumph of the Will]]'' and wartime news broadcasts. However, this satire was embedded in slickly produced action sequences with clever special effects.<ref>{{cite web|publisher=TheOnion.Com| url=http://www.avclub.com/content/node/41714| title=Who Will Love The Brown Bunny? A Decade Of Underrated Movies| first=Scott| last=Tobias| accessdate=2006-03-04}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|publisher=TheOnion.com| url=http://www.avclub.com/content/node/24776| title=Commentary Tracks Of The Blessed| first= Noel| last=Murray| coauthors=Nathan Rabin, Scott Tobias| accessdate=2006-03-04}}</ref> Some wonder whether the satire went unnoticed by an audience who may have treated the movie as a simple gung-ho [[action movie]].<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.dvdjournal.com/quickreviews/s/starshiptroopers_se.q.shtml| title=The DVD Journal | Quick Reviews: Starship Troopers: Special Edition| first=Kim |last=Morgan| accessdate=2006-03-04}}</ref> Accordingly, fans of the novel<ref name="novel fans">{{cite web | last =| first =| url = http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbninquiry.asp?ean=9780441783588&crvAll=1&crvStart=1&displayonly=CRV&z=y | title = book reviews critiquing movie adaptation | work = http://www.barnesandnoble.com | date =| accessdate =}}</ref> often regard it as a shallow insult to a great work.

=== Rule of Putin ===

The election of [[Vladimir Putin]] to the Russian presidency changed the tenor of the Chechen conflict; Putin was often less concerned about Western public opinion than Yeltsin, and continued to prosecute the war.

==Comparison with the original Novel==

Putin officially reestablished Russian rule in Chechnya in 2000; this development met with early approval in the rest of Russia, but the continued deaths of Russian troops dampened public enthusiasm. Following the [[September 11, 2001 attacks]] in the [[United States]], Putin was able to attract more foreign support for his actions in Chechnya by highlighting the links between Chechen rebels and [[Islamism|Islamist]] terrorist groups such as [[Al-Qaeda]].

There is a vast divergence between the [[Starship Troopers|original book]] and film. A report in an ''[[American Cinematographer]]'' article contemporaneous with the film's release states the Heinlein novel was optioned well into the pre-production period of the film, which had a working title of ''Bug Hunt at Outpost Nine''; most of the writing team reportedly were unaware of the novel at the time. According to the DVD commentary, Paul Verhoeven never finished reading the novel, claiming he read through the first few chapters and became both bored and depressed.

The film was also characterized by a conspicuous absence of anything resembling Heinlein's mechanized Mobile Infantry; troopers wore an unpowered ensemble which seemed to differ only slightly from modern-day army gear. Their weaponry was not far advanced considering that humans were depicted as having fleets of starships, but the MI fought as unsupported light infantry for most of the movie being unable to call on armor, artillery, air, or space support, all while moving mainly under their own motive power. A substantial portion of the soldiers' anatomy was left unprotected, and what little armor was present seemed to be of little use.

Although large-scale fighting within Chechnya has ceased, daily attacks continue. The local government is not stable and Russians are mindful of the potential for renewed conflict. Russia continues to maintain a substantial military presence within Chechnya.

Some dialogue is straight out of the book, or some variation of it, while much of the dialogue and many of the themes are not from Heinlein's story. Additionally, most of the characters have been significantly altered. In the novel, Juan Rico speaks [[Tagalog language|Tagalog]] at home and does not originate from Buenos Aires. Flores is female in the movie in order to add a love interest sub-plot. In the book, Dizzy Flores is male, has no relation to Rico save the fact they were soldiers in the same platoon, and is only mentioned in the first chapter, due to the fact that he dies at its conclusion. Additionally, Carl Jenkins serves an even lesser role in the book, with a one sentence mention about his death far away from the narrator halfway through the novel, while he survives the movie. Further, the movie was criticized in that the many of the characters are described as just graduating high school, despite the fact that the actors who played them were in their late 20s/early 30s at the time the movie was filmed.

President Putin and newly-minted Chechen leaders face a difficult task of restoring stability to the region and convincing the Russian people that they can manage the situation effectively. Currently the FSB has taken over the operations in Chechnya. Most soldiers in Chechnya are now ''kontraktniki'' (contract soldiers) as opposed to the earlier conscripts. Local militias are also being used to provide security. Ironically, many of the militiamen are former Chechen rebels from the First Chechen War.

==Politics of ''Starship Troopers''==

==Influence on society==

{{OR|section}}

===Chechen syndrome===

[[Image:Starship-Troopers---rico.jpg|thumb|250px|right|Mankind is at war with the bugs.]]

The "Chechen syndrome" among security forces returning from their service in Chechnya spreads an atmosphere of violence and disregarding human rights to other parts of Russia. The regular troops and police carry the Chechen syndrome home with them, haunted by the horrors they have witnessed and committed.

In his commentary on the DVD edition of the film, director [[Paul Verhoeven]] states unambiguously that the movie's message is "War makes fascists of us all", and that he sees the movie as a satire of American militarism. On the same commentary, screenwriter Ed Neumeier (who had previously worked with Verhoeven on ''[[RoboCop]]'') broadly concurs, although he sees the satire as applying to the whole of human history, rather than solely to the U.S.

Since the filmmakers did not make these statements at the time of the film's release, viewers have interpreted it variously: as a satire, as a celebration of fascism, or as a simple action film.

'''Post-traumatic stress disorder'''

===Satire on militarism===

[[Image:472c.jpg|thumb|200px|A Russian soldier in Chechnya]]

The film depicts a future state that is extremely militaristic and uncompromisingly warlike in its attitude toward a race of arachnids that inhabits a distant [[planetary system]]. The military training is cruel: officers purposely wound recruits, and [[flogging]] is a mode of punishment, which (however) is mitigated by the fact that existing technology can heal such wounds immediately. The movie highlights this further by using weaponry (and tactics) that, considering it is the 23rd century, can only be seen as totally inadequate - the assault rifles of the Mobile Infantry force them into man-to-man fights with the bugs, the latter using their animalistic weapons like tooth and claw, as well as simple head en masse infantry charges, which are reminiscent of World War I, stressing the point. And both of them are getting slaughtered in high numbers, while being photographed by embedded television crews for the benefit of viewers at home. Also, as Verhoeven mentions in the DVD commentary, the humans are the aggressors and the bugs the victims: when the bugs bomb Buenos Aires, they are not attacking the human race but reacting to human colonists encroaching on bug planets. It is even questionable whether the [[Arachnids]] were even responsible for the attack, given that the 'bug asteroid' is asserted to have been launched from [[Klendathu]], on the other side of the galaxy, and therefore tens of thousands of light years away. This, combined with the 'infotainment' nature of the film narrative as a recruitment advert, can be interpreted as a commentary on the propagandistic nature of contemporary media, and its role often as a willing accomplice to [[militarism]].

Since the Chechen conflict began in 1994, similar cases have been reported all across Russia: depressed young [[veteran]]s return embittered and traumatized to their home towns and begin lashing out at those around them; soldiers are [[psychology|psychologically]] scarred.

Russian psychiatrists, law-enforcement officials and journalists have started calling the condition Chechen [[syndrome]] (CS), drawing a parallel with the [[post-traumatic stress disorder]]s suffered by American soldiers who served in [[Vietnam]] and Soviet soldiers who fought in [[Afghanistan]]. "At least 70% of the estimated 1.5 million Chechnya veterans suffer CS," says Yuri Alexandrovsky, deputy director of the Serbsky National Center for Social and Forensic [[Psychiatry]] in Moscow. "Some readjust. Many don't. All need help." [http://205.188.238.181/time/europe/magazine/printout/0,13155,901031006-490663,00.html]

Verhoeven's use of fascist emblems to imply criticism of the Federation may be related to his background.{{Fact|date=February 2007}} He and some of his crew come from the [[Netherlands]], which endured occupation in [[World War II]]. Verhoeven himself witnessed dead bodies of fellow countrymen killed by bombs, as his home was close to the German rocket base and was frequently bombed by Allied air forces, hence the pervasive feel of moral equivalence between a victim and a culprit in all his movies, not only in this one.

'''Police brutality'''

==Complications==

This is particularly visible in the rising [[police brutality|brutality]] and [[criminalisation]] of the Russian police forces. According to human rights activists and journalists, tens of thousands of police and security forces have done [[tour of duty|tours of duty]] in Chechnya, after which they return to their home regions, bringing with them learned patterns of brutality and impunity.

{{original research}}

Despite its militarism and [[xenophobia]], the society depicted in the film also contains notable differences from traditional fascist ideology. The society depicted in the film is very open about sex, sexuality, and [[gender]] roles. In the army, men and women shower together, and appear to feel natural about it. Boys and girls compete more or less equally in high-school sports and are apparently recruited by professional teams with similar equality. One could interpret this as a statement about the [[eugenics]] based racial system, superficially supported by the fact that everyone is young, beautiful, and athletic. Second, humanity's army consists of soldiers of all [[race]]s and sexes. The most significant example of this is probably the nomination of Tahat Meru, a black woman, as the new Sky Marshal (i.e. supreme commander of the military), towards the middle of the movie, replacing a white male. This could, however, be interpreted as a statement about the univeralistic appeal of fascism and/or militarism historically, given various manifestation in Europe, Latin America, and Japan. Third, military service is not [[conscription|obligatory]], and some [[civilian]]s that have not served in the military are well respected (or, at least, financially successful) as evident by the high-society status of Rico's parents. This however, reflects a traditional fascist elevation of all things masculine, and the use of essentially military hierarchies to delineate social standing.

It is often believed that only citizens with military service are allowed to vote; however, the book explains that ''Federal Service'' is required to vote, and that there are other options besides the military. The film also explicitly uses the term Federal Service rather than Military Service. Also, if you are in military service, the Federation will pay your university fees, as exemplified by one character who wants to attend [[Harvard]]. One character in the film even states that "she wants to have babies...so joining the Federation would help her get a license", implying strict population control, and reinforcing the sense of eugenic policies. Another way the fascism of the movie differs is implied in the initial classroom scenes where it is asked what fascism would look like if it were stripped of sexism and racism, implying that such an "improved fascism" is ideal and the form of the Federation. Despite its dreary overtones, the future of Earth seems to be very bright after a series of catastrophic events. A devastating war between the Anglo-Russian Alliance and China has left humanity weary of internal wars. Also devastating Space Wars have left millions of humans dead. After all of the carnage arose the Federation, which tore down racist and sexist barriers in the hopes of uniting humanity under a common cause. Technology is advanced and can be seen in the form of zero-gravity sports, jet-propulsion vehicles, and faster-than-light travel. The state does have supreme control and this can be seen in public executions (in the film a murderer is executed on public TV) and the Federation itself. Travel on Earth isn't an issue because Rico, despite being of Filipino origins, lives in Buenos Aires and has an American mannerism about him. Also in the film, Diz states that she wants to play Jumpball (future zero-gravity arena football) in Tokyo. <ref name="space">{{cite web | last =Peterson| first =Robert| url = http://www.space.com/sciencefiction/books/troopers_book_000610.html | title = Militarism and Utopia in ''Starship Troopers'' | work = [[Space.com]]| accessdate = February 19 | accessyear = 2007}}</ref>

In a 2003 report, the International Helsinki Federation said "torture, ill-treatment and inhumane and degrading treatment are commonly employed in order to get a confession to a crime." A Human Rights Watch report said that in the first hours after detention, "police regularly beat their captives, nearly [[asphyxiate]] them, or subject them to [[electroshock]] in pursuit of confessions or testimony incriminating others".

The integration of women with men in the combat arms units of the military is not described in Heinlein's novel. Rather the novel tends to segregate genders so that the Mobile Infantry is exclusively male (reflective of the armed forces at the time of the writing) while numerous references are made to pilots and naval officers being almost exclusively female. Within the context of the novel, this job segregation is based on presumed gender-specific aptitudes. In part, this integration provides an opportunity for titillating nudity; in part, it mirrors social changes in the mid 20th century: By 1970, many universities had coed dorms, and coed showers were not unknown. If Rico had gone to Harvard instead of the MI, life would have been similar in many ways, although Harvard generally lacks the element of lethal danger.

Reliable numbers on police brutality are hard to come by. In a statement released [[January 31]], 2006, the internal affairs department of Russia's Interior Ministry said that the number of recorded crimes by police officers rose 46.8 percent in 2005. In one nationwide poll in 2005, 71 percent of respondents said they didn't trust the police; in another, 41 percent said they lived in fear of police violence.

==Spinoffs==

'''Impact on the Chechen population'''

===Games===

In [[1997]], [[Avalon Hill]] released ''[[Starship Troopers: Prepare For Battle!]]'', a boardgame based on the film version rather than Heinlein's book. Its beer and pretzel gameplay focused on limited skirmishes rather than larger battles. The "Skinnies" do not appear, nor is there a political element.<ref name="boardgame">{{cite web | last =| first =| url = http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/260 | title = Starship Troopers: Prepare For Battle! | work = http://www.boardgamegeek.com/| accessdate = December 3 | accessyear = 2006}}</ref>

In [[2000]], a [[real-time tactics]] [[video game]] titled ''Starship Troopers: Terran Ascendancy'' was released. This game also incorporated the powered suits in Heinlein's novel into the Verhoeven version of the Mobile Infantry. It was developed by [[Australia]]n software company [[Blue Tongue Entertainment]]. The game is currently considered [[abandonware]] and as such can be found at numerous abandonware sites.

The 2003 [[WHO]] in-depth study of the psychological health of the population of Chechnya, which has experienced crisis almost continuously since 1991, concluded that 86 percent of the Chechen population was suffering from physical or emotional "distress" - about 30 percent more than people living in the [[Chernobyl]] reactive zone. 31 percent of those studied showed symptoms of ill health recognizable as post-traumatic stress syndrome. [http://www.hrvc.net/news2-03/7c-2-2003.htm]

A [[first-person shooter]] game also titled ''[[Starship Troopers (2005 computer game)|Starship Troopers]]'' was released [[15 November]] [[2005]]. This version was developed by Strangelite Studios and published by Empire Interactive. Set five years after the events of the movie, the game also featured Casper van Dien voicing the in-game version of Johnny Rico.

Psychologists are discovering that a whole generation of Chechen children is showing symptoms of [[Psychological trauma|trauma]]. In 2006 Sultan Alimkhadzhiyev, pro-Russian Chechnya's deputy health minister, said the Chechen children had become "living specimens" of what it means to grow up with the constant threat of violence and chronic joblessness and poverty. "Our children have seen bombings, artillery attacks, large-caliber bombardment. They saw houses, schools and hospitals burning. They lost parents, brothers, sisters, neighbors. And they still see tanks and armored vehicles every day in the street. (...) A state of panic. Children are feeling constant fear, a premonition of tragedy." [http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/la-fg-sickness10mar10,1,6583819.story]

In addition, Sega Pinball released a pinball machine based on this movie. [http://www.ipdb.org/machine.cgi?id=4341]

===Rise of racism and xenophobia===

===Comic books===

The war in Chechnya and the associated Caucasian terrorism in Russia and [[Russophobia#Caucasian_aspects|ethnic cleansing of Russians in the North Caucasus]] resulted in growing [[intolerance]] and [[racism|racist violence]] in Russia, directed in a great part against the people from Caucasus. Even while the Russian authorities are unlikely to label attacks on people with dark skin as racist, preferring calling this "[[hooliganism]]", a report in November 2005 found that murders officially classified as racist more than doubled in Russia between 2003 and 2004 from around 20 to at least 45.

The movie was released simultaneously with a [[graphic novel]]ization, which retold events from the movie. There were also additional series that were released based in the Verhoeven universe, though not directly related to the movie. Further series were published by [[Dark Horse Comics]] and [[Markosia]].

===Sequels===

A nationwide opinion poll in 2005 found that 61% of respondents approved of the "Russia for Russians" slogan, almost twice the 31% level recorded in 1998. [http://www.time.com/time/europe/magazine/printout/0,13155,901040809-674718,00.html] According to the 2006 poll by the Public Opinion Foundation, 12% of Russians see "positive ideas" in [[fascism]]; 24% think that people who hold fascist views do not constitute a danger to society.

The film was followed by the CGI animated television series ''[[Roughnecks: Starship Troopers Chronicles]]'' in 1999, along with a [[direct-to-video]] sequel ''[[Starship Troopers 2: Hero of the Federation]]'' in 2004. The sequel was not as popular as the first, mostly due to its low budget and the fact it was more in the horror genre than the Sci-fi-action original.

In May 2006, MovieHole.net reported that Ed Neumeier returned to write the script for a second sequel, ''[[Starship Troopers 3]]'', and also stated that original cast members would be returning, including Casper Van Dien.<ref name="moviehole">{{cite web | last =Morris| first =Clint| url = http://www.moviehole.net/news/20060531_sony_debugs_starship_troopers.html | title = Sony Debugs ''Starship Troopers'' | work = http://www.moviehole.net/| accessdate = February 19 | accessyear = 2007}}</ref> Van Dien had this to say on the script: "The script is along the same line as the first. It is awesome."<ref>http://caspervandien.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=248&highlight=starship+troopers</ref>

==References==

<div class="references-medium">

<!--See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Footnotes for an explanation of how to generate footnotes using the <ref(erences/)> tags-->

<references/>

It had been announced that ''[[Starship Troopers 3]]'' was going to start filming in South Africa in March, 2007 but it's now pushed back to May, 2007.{{Fact|date=February 2007}}

==External links==

==Trivia==

;Timelines and chronologies

{{Trivia|date=June 2007}}

*[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/country_profiles/2357267.stm BBC Timeline: Chechnya]

*The Trooper's combat uniforms (shown in the movie poster above) were later reused on the ''[[Power Rangers: Lost Galaxy]]'' series for military personnel aboard the colony ship ''Terra Venture''. The uniforms were also repainted and reused in episodes of the TV series ''[[Firefly (TV series)|Firefly]]'' as Alliance soldiers' uniforms. The helmets were repainted again and used by the SWAT team at the end of the 2001 remake of ''[[Planet of the Apes (2001 film)|Planet of the Apes]]''. The uniforms, along with footage from numerous sci-fi films including ''Starship Troopers'' itself, were used in the sci-fi movie ''[[Impostor (film)|Impostor]]'', starring [[Gary Sinise]], and the live action [[Gundam]] film ''[[G-Saviour]]''.

*Much of the non-combat military dress seen in the film appears to be adapted from the designs of World War II German Army uniforms and East German uniforms (until East Germany was dissolved), most prominently amongst the fleet personnel (like the character, Ibanez) and the intelligence officers (like the character, Carl). The use of the same grey colour scheme, seen in almost all the uniforms, is also prominent.

*The quote "Come on, you apes, you want to live forever?", repeated by multiple characters in the film, is seen at the beginning of the first chapter in the novel, and is quite similar to decorated [[United States Marine Corps|Marine]] [[Daniel Daly]]'s "Come on, you sons of bitches, you want to live forever?"

*Several cameos in the film include producer [[Jon Davison]] as the angry Buenos Aires resident who says to the FedNet camera, "The only good Bug is a dead Bug!", and screenwriter [[Edward Neumeier|Ed Neumeier]] as the quickly captured, convicted, and condemned murderer in another FedNet clip. Former [[United States Marine Corps|U.S. Marine]] [[Dale Dye]], whose company [[Warriors, Inc.]] provided technical military advice on the film, appeared as a high-ranking officer following the capture of the Brain Bug ("What's it thinking, Colonel?").

*Director Paul Verhoeven, producer Jon Davison, writer Edward Neumeier and composer Basil Poledouris were all involved with the original ''RoboCop'' movie. Actor Michael Ironside was also considered for the role of Murphy/RoboCop. Ironside did appear in Verhoeven's [[Total Recall]].

*On the TV series ''[[Stargate SG-1]]'', in the 9th season episode "[[The Scourge (Stargate SG-1)|The Scourge]]", the team decides to watch ''Starship Troopers'' for movie night after barely escaping a massive carnivorous alien bug infestation on another planet.

==Footnotes==

;Human rights issues

<references />

*Council of Europe Resolutions on 'The human rights situation in the Chechen Republic'

**[http://assembly.coe.int/Mainf.asp?link=http://assembly.coe.int/Documents/AdoptedText/TA03/ERES1323.htm Resolution 1323 (2003)]

**[http://assembly.coe.int/Mainf.asp?link=http://assembly.coe.int/Documents/AdoptedText/ta04/ERES1403.htm Resolution 1403 (2004)]

== External links ==

;2005 ceasefire events

{{wikiquote}}

*Moscow News [http://www.mosnews.com/news/2005/02/07/maskh.shtml Ceasefire announcement] [[2 February]] [[2005]].

* {{imdb title|id=0120201|title=Starship Troopers}}

*BBC News [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4330039.stm Aslan Maskhadov's death] [[8 March]] [[2005]].

* {{rotten-tomatoes|id=starship_troopers|title=Starship Troopers}}

* [http://www.soundboard.com/sb/starship_troopers.aspx Starship Troopers Audio Soundboard]

{{Paul Verhoeven}}

;Articles

* [http://www.ifex.org/en/content/view/full/68793/ Critical media coverage of Chechnya stifled]

* [http://www.jamestown.org/publications_details.php?volume_id=416&issue_id=3697&article_id=2371008 Shifting Battlefields of the Chechen War (April 2006)]

* [http://www.isn.ch/pubs/ph/details.cfm?id=22365 ISN Case Study: The North Caucasus on the Brink (August 2006)]

<!--Split film/book article intentional - Please do not remove this comment-->

;Advocacy groups and mailing lists

* [http://eng.terror99.ru/explosions/ The Terror of 9/99: Fact Sheet]

* [http://groups.yahoo.com/group/chechnya-sl/ Chechnya-sl mailing list]

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