December 11, 1994 to December 11, 2014: The first war in Chechnya started 20 years ago!

The Society for Threatened Peoples would like to recall that the first war in Chechnya started 20 years ago, on December 11, 1994. "The spiral of violence continues to this day – and the Russian government has not been able to secure peace," concludes Sarah Reinke, the STP's expert on the CIS-states. "Instead of reaching out to the Chechens and to seek a peaceful solution in dialogues, the governments in Moscow and Grozny chose to rely on violence and oppression. Due to the serious human rights violations, the Chechen resistance movement has become more radical over the years too – to the detriment of the civilian population. As long as Vladimir Putin (who called for the second Chechen war in 1999) is involved, there will be no peace, no justice and no safety in the North Caucasus."

The first Chechen war ended with a ceasefire agreement in August 1996. According to official data, around 50,000 civilians, 5,042 Russian soldiers and more than 2,300 Chechen fighters were killed over the two years of the war; 16,098 were wounded. In the Caucasus republic, thousands of people became refugees due to the massive destruction. The material damage is estimated at more than 5.5 billion US dollars. The STP's estimates assume a significantly higher number of deaths: the first war might have claimed up to 80,000 lives.

The second Chechen war started in 1999 – under Putin's leadership – and officially ended ten years later. Russian troops committed war crimes, the air force flew raids on refugee convoys … and hospitals, schools and villages were attacked. Finally, Putin first helped Ramzan Kadyrov to take power, then the Chechen despot Ramzan Kadyrov who rules his people with extreme brutality.

There is still no peace in Chechnya: on December 4, there was a severe attack on the press building in Grozny. Eleven terrorists and 14 policemen were killed and 36 policemen were injured. Kadyrov announced to take revenge: Based on the assumption that parents are responsible for the actions of their children, relatives of alleged terrorists were expelled from Chechnya and their homes were destroyed. On December 6 and 7, six houses of relatives of alleged bombers were torn down in the village of Yandi (Urus-Martan district), in Engel-Yurt (Gudermes district), and near the town of Gudermes.

According to the STP, several houses of suspected terrorists and their families were burned in recent years. There are several documented cases, especially from 2009. "These are just a few examples of the serious human rights violations that still have impact on everyday life in Chechnya – in addition to the constant fear of brutal state arbitrariness," said Reinke.

Sarah Reinke - head of the Berlin office and STP's expert on Eastern Europe - is available for further questions: Tel. 030 428 048 91 or berlin@gfbv.de.

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