Editing Second Chechen War (section)

===Impact on the Russian population===
{{See also|Human rights in Russia|Racism in Russia}}
The start of the war bolstered the domestic popularity of Vladimir Putin as the campaign was started one month after he had become [[Prime Minister of Russia|Russian prime minister]].<ref name="poll">[http://www.jamestown.org/publications_details.php?volume_id=421&issue_id=4037&article_id=2372009 POLL FINDS A PLURALITY OF RUSSIANS DISTRUST RAMZAN] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080520043841/http://www.jamestown.org/publications_details.php?volume_id=421&issue_id=4037&article_id=2372009 |date=20 May 2008 }} [[The Jamestown Foundation]], 27 March 2007</ref> The conflict greatly contributed to the deep changes in the Russian politics and society.<ref name="warlord">[http://economist.com/world/displaystory.cfm?story_id=9254176 The warlord and the spook] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090126132118/http://economist.com/world/displaystory.cfm?story_id=9254176 |date=26 January 2009 }} [[The Economist]], 31 March 2007</ref>

Since the Chechen conflict began in 1994, cases of young veterans returning embittered and traumatized to their home towns were reported all across Russia. Psychiatrists, law-enforcement officials, and journalists started calling the condition of psychologically scarred soldiers "Chechen syndrome" (CS), drawing a parallel with the [[post-traumatic stress disorder]]s suffered by Soviet soldiers who fought in [[Afghanistan]]. According to Yuri Alexandrovsky, deputy director of the [[Moscow Serbsky Institute]] in 2003, at least 70% of the estimated 1.5&nbsp;million Chechnya veterans suffered CS.<ref>[http://205.188.238.181/time/printout/0,8816,901031006-490663,00.html Chechnya's Walking Wounded]  {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928082235/http://205.188.238.181/time/printout/0%2C8816%2C901031006-490663%2C00.html |date=28 September 2007 }} [[Time (magazine)]]/CNN, 28 September 2003</ref> Many of the veterans came back alcoholic, unemployable and [[Antisocial personality disorder|antisocial]].<ref name="warlord"/> Thousands were also physically [[disability|disabled]] for life and left with very limited help from the government.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20151016233612/http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4176/is_20030430/ai_n14548271 Island lessons for Russian war vet], Oakland Tribune, 30 April 2003</ref>

According to the 2007 study by [[Memorial (society)|Memorial]] and [[Demos (human rights center)|Demos]] human rights organisations, Russian policemen lost their qualifications and professional skills during their [[tour of duty|duty tours]] in Chechnya.<ref name="omon">[http://jamestown.org/chechnya_weekly/article.php?articleid=2374082 The Geography of OMON Deployments in the North Caucasus] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080612041833/http://jamestown.org/chechnya_weekly/article.php?articleid=2374082 |date=12 June 2008 }}, [[The Jamestown Foundation]], 3 April 2008</ref> The conflict was linked to the rising brutality and general criminalisation of the Russian police forces. According to human rights activists and journalists, tens of thousands of police and security forces that went to Chechnya learned patterns of brutality and impunity and brought them to their home regions, often returning with disciplinary and psychological problems. Reliable numbers on [[police brutality]] are hard to come by, but in a statement released in 2006, the internal affairs department of Russia's Interior Ministry said that the number of recorded crimes committed by police officers rose 46.8% in 2005. In one nationwide poll in 2005, 71% of respondents said they didn't trust their police at all; in another, 41% Russians said they lived in fear of police violence.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20050528002945/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A4009-2005Mar26.html For Russians, Police Rampage Fuels Fear] ''[[Washington Post]]'', 27 March 2005</ref><ref>[http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticle/2005/06/da84eb4b-5f23-4876-8d61-bc4d6f4f6260.html Russia: Police Brutality Shows Traces Of Chechnya] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080616101236/http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticle/2005/06/da84eb4b-5f23-4876-8d61-bc4d6f4f6260.html |date=16 June 2008 }} RFE/RL, 20 June 2005</ref> According to Amnesty International, torture of detainees in Russia had become [[Endemism|endemic]].<ref name="warlord"/> Since 2007, police officers from outside the Caucasus were not only being sent to Chechnya, but to all the region's republics.<ref name="omon"/>

The wars in Chechnya and associated Caucasian terrorism in Russia were major factors in the growth of intolerance, [[xenophobia]], and [[racism|racist]] violence in Russia, directed in a great part against the people from the Caucasus.<ref name="warlord"/> The Russian authorities were unlikely to label random attacks on people of non-Russian ethnicity as racist, preferring to call it "[[hooliganism]]".{{Citation needed|date=July 2009}} The number of murders officially classified as racist more than doubled in Russia between 2003 and 2004. The violence included acts of terrorism such as the [[2006 Moscow market bombing]] which killed 13 people.<ref>[http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/11/02/news/briefs.php Political turmoil erupts again in deadly protests]  {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080521014958/http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/11/02/news/briefs.php |date=21 May 2008 }}  IHT, 2 November 2005</ref><ref>[http://english.people.com.cn/200609/14/eng20060914_302534.html Migrants flee town after racial violence] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130522142249/http://english.people.com.cn/200609/14/eng20060914_302534.html |date=22 May 2013 }} [[People's Daily]], 14 September 2006</ref> In 2007, 18-year-old [[Artur Ryno]] claimed responsibility for 37 racially motivated murders in the course of one year, saying that "since school [he] hated people from the Caucasus."<ref>[http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2007/05/29/011.html Teenager Admits to Over 30 Murders] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081122123042/http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2007/05/29/011.html |date=22 November 2008 }} [[The Moscow Times]], 29 May 2007</ref> On 5 June 2007, an anti-Chechen riot involving hundreds of people took place in the town of [[Stavropol]] in southern Russia. Rioters demanded the eviction of ethnic Chechens following the murder of two young Russians who locals believed were killed by Chechens. The event revived memories of a recent clash between Chechens and local Russians in [[Kondopoga]], when two Russians were killed over an unpaid bill.<ref>[https://www.reuters.com/article/homepageCrisis/idUSL05224442._CH_.2400 Nationalists rally in Russian town near Chechnya] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090103155648/https://www.reuters.com/article/homepageCrisis/idUSL05224442._CH_.2400 |date=3 January 2009 }} [[Reuters]], 5 June 2007</ref> The Caucasians also face ethnic-related violence in the ranks of Russian Army.<ref>[http://iwpr.net/?p=crs&s=f&o=159879&apc_state=henicrs2000 Racist Violence Plagues Russian Army] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305130815/http://iwpr.net/?p=crs&s=f&o=159879&apc_state=henicrs2000 |date=5 March 2016 }} IWPR, 15-Sep-00</ref>