Editing Chechnya (section)

===Chechen Wars and brief independence===
{{Main|First Chechen War|Chechen Republic of Ichkeria|Second Chechen War}}

The [[First Chechen War]], during which Russian forces attempted to regain control over Chechnya, took place from 1994 to 1996. Despite overwhelming numerical superiority in troops, weaponry, and [[air support]], the Russian forces were unable to establish effective permanent control over the mountainous area due to numerous successful full-scale battles and [[insurgency]] raids. The [[Budyonnovsk hospital hostage crisis]] in 1995 shocked the Russian public. In April 1996, the first democratically elected president of Chechnya, [[Dzhokhar Dudayev]], was killed by Russian forces using a booby trap bomb and a missile fired from a warplane after he was located by triangulating the position of a [[satellite phone]] he was using.<ref>{{Cite news|title = 'Dual attack' killed president|url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/325347.stm|publisher = BBC|date = 21 April 1999|access-date = 1 January 2016}}</ref>

The widespread [[Morale|demoralisation]] of the Russian Army in the area and a successful offensive to retake Grozny by Chechen rebel forces led by [[Aslan Maskhadov]] prompted [[Russian President]] [[Boris Yeltsin]] to declare a ceasefire in 1996, and sign a [[peace treaty]] a year later that saw a withdrawal of Russian troops.<ref>{{Cite web|publisher = Friends & Partners |title=Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty archive |volume=1 |issue=28 |at=part I |date=12 May 1997|url = http://www.friends-partners.org/friends/news/omri/1997/05/970512I.html|website = friends-partners.org|access-date = 1 January 2016|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20151117033829/http://www.friends-partners.org/friends/news/omri/1997/05/970512I.html|archive-date = 17 November 2015|url-status = dead}}</ref>

After the war, parliamentary and presidential elections took place in January 1997 in Chechnya and brought to power new President Aslan Maskhadov, chief of staff and prime minister in the Chechen coalition government, for a five-year term. Maskhadov sought to maintain Chechen sovereignty while pressing the [[Russian government]] to help rebuild the republic, whose formal economy and infrastructure were virtually destroyed.<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.freedomhouse.org/modules/mod_call_dsp_country-fiw.cfm?year=2003&country=2593| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20111024203612/http://www.freedomhouse.org/modules/mod_call_dsp_country-fiw.cfm?year=2003&country=2593| url-status = dead| archive-date = 24 October 2011| title = Chechnya [Russia] (2003) |work=Freedom House}}</ref> Russia continued to send money for the rehabilitation of the republic; it also provided pensions and funds for schools and hospitals.<ref>Leon Aron. [http://www.aei.org/publications/pubID.15848/pub_detail.asp Chechnya, New Dimensions of the Old Crisis] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080312184427/http://www.aei.org/publications/pubID.15848/pub_detail.asp |date=12 March 2008 }} . [[American Enterprise Institute|AEI]], 1 February 2003</ref> Nearly half a million people (40% of Chechnya's prewar population) had been internally displaced and lived in [[refugee camps]] or overcrowded villages.<ref name="dissident">[[Alexander Goldfarb (author)|Alex Goldfarb]] and Marina Litvinenko. ''Death of a Dissident: The Poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko and the Return of the KGB''. New York: Free Press, 2007, pp. 95. {{ISBN|978-1-4165-5165-2}}.</ref> There was an [[economic downturn]]. Two Russian brigades were permanently stationed in Chechnya.<ref name="dissident" />

In light of the devastated economic structure, [[kidnapping]] emerged as the principal source of income countrywide, procuring over US$200&nbsp;million during the three-year independence of the chaotic fledgling state,<ref>Tishkov, Valery. ''Chechnya: Life in a War-Torn Society''. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2004, p. 114.</ref> although victims were rarely killed.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.cnn.com/WORLD/europe/9812/08/chechnya.01/ |title=Four Western hostages beheaded in Chechnya |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20021203141902/http://www.cnn.com/WORLD/europe/9812/08/chechnya.01/ |archive-date=3 December 2002 |publisher=CNN}}</ref> In 1998, 176 people were kidnapped, 90 of whom were released, according to official accounts. President Maskhadov started a major campaign against hostage-takers, and on 25 October 1998, Shadid Bargishev, Chechnya's top anti-kidnapping official, was killed in a remote-controlled [[car bombing]]. Bargishev's colleagues then insisted they would not be intimidated by the attack and would go ahead with their offensive. [[Political violence]] and [[religious extremism]], blamed on [[Salafism]] and [[Wahhabism]], was rife. In 1998, Grozny authorities declared a [[state of emergency]]. Tensions led to open clashes between the Chechen National Guard and [[Islamism|Islamist militants]], such as the July 1998 confrontation in Gudermes.

The [[War of Dagestan]] began on 7 August 1999, during which the [[Islamic International Peacekeeping Brigade]] (IIPB) began an unsuccessful incursion into the neighboring Russian republic of [[Dagestan]] in favor of the Shura of Dagestan, which sought independence from Russia.<ref>Harrigan, Steve. [http://www.cnn.com/WORLD/europe/9908/19/russia.dagestan.02/ "Moscow again plans wider war in Dagestan"]. ''[[CNN]]''. 19 August 1999. Retrieved 23 April 2013.</ref> In September, [[Russian apartment bombings|a series of apartment bombings]] that killed around 300 people in several Russian cities, including [[Moscow]], were blamed on [[Chechen Republic of Ichkeria|Chechen separatists]].<ref name="Encarta 2008" /> Some journalists contested the official explanation, instead blaming the [[Russian secret services]] for blowing up the buildings to initiate a new military campaign against Chechnya.<ref>[http://www.historycommons.org/context.jsp?item=a091399kashirskoyebomb "Context of 'September 13, 1999: Second Moscow Apartment Bombing Kills 118; Chechen Rebels Blamed{{'"}}]. ''History Commons''. ({{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130215082756/http://historycommons.org/context.jsp?item=a091399kashirskoyebomb |date=15 February 2013 }}). Retrieved 23 April 2013.</ref> In response to the bombings, a prolonged air campaign of retaliatory strikes against the Ichkerian regime and a ground offensive that began in October 1999 marked the beginning of the [[Second Chechen War]]. Much better organized and planned than the First Chechen War, the Russian armed forces took control of most regions. The Russian forces used brutal force, killing 60 Chechen civilians during a [[Novye Aldi massacre|mop-up operation in Aldy, Chechnya]] on 5 February 2000. After the re-capture of [[Grozny]] in February 2000, the Ichkerian regime fell apart.<ref>{{cite news |title=Gay Chechens flee threats, beatings and exorcism |publisher=BBC News |date=5 April 2018 |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-43658689 |access-date=10 October 2018}}</ref>

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File:Cadets of the Ichkeria Chechen national guard 1999.jpg|Cadets of the Ichkeria Chechen national guard, 1999.
File:Evstafiev-chechnya-palace-gunman.jpg|A [[Chechens|Chechen]] fighter stands near the government palace building during a short lull in fighting in [[Grozny]], Chechnya.
</gallery>