Editing Second Chechen War (section)

==Insurgency==
===Guerrilla war in Chechnya===
{{Main|Guerrilla phase of the Second Chechen War}}
:''Guerrilla phase by year: [[Guerrilla phase of the Second Chechen War (2000)|2000]], [[Guerrilla phase of the Second Chechen War (2001)|2001]], [[Guerrilla phase of the Second Chechen War (2002)|2002]], [[Guerrilla phase of the Second Chechen War (2003)|2003]], [[Guerrilla phase of the Second Chechen War (2004)|2004]], [[Guerrilla phase of the Second Chechen War (2005)|2005]], [[Guerrilla phase of the Second Chechen War (2006)|2006]], [[Guerrilla phase of the Second Chechen War (2007)|2007]], [[Guerrilla phase of the Second Chechen War (2008)|2008]], [[Guerrilla phase of the Second Chechen War (2009)|2009]]''

Although large-scale fighting within Chechnya had ceased, daily attacks continued, particularly in the southern portions of Chechnya and spilling into nearby territories of the Caucasus, especially after the [[Caucasian Front (Chechen War)|Caucasus Front]] was established. Typically small separatist units targeted Russian and pro-Russian officials, [[security force]]s, and military and police convoys and vehicles. The separatist units employed [[Improvised explosive device|IEDs]] and sometimes combined for larger raids. Russian forces retaliated with artillery and air strikes, as well as [[counter-insurgency]] operations. Most soldiers in Chechnya were ''kontraktniki'' (contract soldiers) as opposed to the earlier [[conscription|conscripts]]. While Russia continued to maintain a military presence within Chechnya, federal forces played less of a direct role. Pro-Kremlin Chechen forces under the command of the local strongman Ramzan Kadyrov, known as the ''[[kadyrovtsy]]'', dominated law enforcement and security operations, with many members (including Kadyrov himself) being former Chechen separatists who had defected since 1999. Since 2004, the Kadyrovtsy were partly incorporated into two Interior Ministry units, ''North'' and ''South'' (''Sever'' and ''Yug''). Two other units of the Chechen pro-Moscow forces, ''East'' and ''West'' ([[Special Battalions Vostok and Zapad|''Vostok'' and ''Zapad'']]), were commanded by [[Sulim Yamadayev]] (''Vostok'') and [[Said-Magomed Kakiyev]] (''Zapad'') and their men.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/elsewhere/journalist/story/0,,1796576,00.html|work=The Guardian|location=London|title=Land of the warlords|date=13 June 2006|access-date=23 May 2010|archive-date=12 March 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240312113244/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2006/jun/13/worlddispatch.russia|url-status=live}}</ref>

On 16 April 2009, the head of the [[Federal Security Service]], [[Alexander Bortnikov]], announced that Russia had ended its "anti-terror operation" in Chechnya, claiming that stability had been restored to the territory.<ref name="smh-end">{{Cite news|url=http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-world/russia-ends-10year-chechnya-operation-20090416-a8mi.html|title=Russia ends 10-year Chechnya operation|last=Williams|first=Stuart|date=16 April 2009|work=The Sydney Morning Herald|access-date=17 April 2009|archive-date=19 November 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111119054626/http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-world/russia-ends-10year-chechnya-operation-20090416-a8mi.html|url-status=live}}</ref> "The decision is aimed at creating the conditions for the future normalisation of the situation in the republic, its reconstruction and development of its socio-economic sphere," Bortnikov stated. While Chechnya had largely stabilised, there were still clashes with militants in the nearby regions of Dagestan and Ingushetia.

===Suicide attacks===
{{Main|Chechen suicide attacks}}

Between June 2000 and September 2004, Chechen insurgents added [[suicide attack]]s to their tactics. During this period, there were 23 Chechen-related suicide attacks in and outside Chechnya, notably the [[Beslan school siege|hostage taking at an elementary school in Beslan]], in which at least 334 people died.

===Assassinations===
{{Main|List of Second Chechen War assassinations}}

Both sides of the war carried out multiple assassinations. The most prominent of these included the 13 February 2004 killing of exiled former separatist Chechen President [[Zelimkhan Yandarbiyev]] in Qatar, and the 9 May 2004 killing of pro-Russian Chechen President [[Akhmad Kadyrov]] during a parade in Grozny.

===Caucasus Front===
{{Main|Caucasian Front (militant group)}}

While anti-Russian local insurgencies in the North Caucasus started even before the war, in May 2005, two months after Maskahdov's death, Chechen separatists officially announced that they had formed a [[Caucasian Front (militant group)|Caucasus Front]] within the framework of "reforming the system of military–political power." Along with the Chechen, Dagestani and Ingush "sectors," the [[Stavropol]], [[Kabardians|Kabardin]]-[[Balkar]], [[Krasnodar]], [[Karachai]]-[[Circassians|Circassian]], [[Ossetians|Ossetian]] and [[Adyghe people|Adyghe]] ''jamaats'' were included. This meant that practically all the regions of Russia's south were involved in the hostilities.

The Chechen separatist movement took on a new role as the official ideological, [[logistical]] and, probably, financial hub of the new insurgency in the North Caucasus.<ref>[http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/05/30/opinion/edaslan.php Beslan's unanswered questions], [[International Herald Tribune]], 30 May 2006, {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080521015033/http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/05/30/opinion/edaslan.php |date=21 May 2008 }}</ref> Increasingly frequent clashes between federal forces and local militants continued in Dagestan, while sporadic fighting erupted in the other southern Russia regions, such as Ingushetia, and [[October 2005 Nalchik attack|notably in Nalchik]] on 13 October 2005.