Welcome to Russian History Retold.

Episode 282 Russian conflicts after 1991 Part 2

Last time we covered the first 9 of 18 conflicts Russia has been involved in after the breakup

of the Soviet Union. Today we will cover the rest ending with the current war in Ukraine.

Our first fight is known as the Second Chechen War, which began on August 26, 1999.

It started in response to the last conflict we discussed in the previous episode, the

War of Dagestan. This war would be a long-lasting one, one that would have continued for almost

10 years. It would have two stages, a significant combat phase that lasted almost 9 months and an

insurgency that would continue for nearly 9 years. After the first Chechen War ended, the country

was in the shambles, especially the capital Grozny. The countryside was filled with armed

insurgents, held bent on raising havoc in Chechnya. The newly minted warlords would kidnap people,

making about $200 million during the three year independence of Chechnya. It is estimated that

over 1,300 people were abducted during that time. On top of it, Chechen terrorists planted bombs

within Russia, killing hundreds. This continued for a while, but eventually it did die down.

All of a sudden, on September 4, 1999, 62 people died in a apartment building, housing members of

families of Russian soldiers. Over the next two weeks, the bombs targeted three other apartment

buildings and a mall. Over 350 people were killed. Putin quickly blamed the attacks on Chechen

militants, and despite no evidence whatsoever linking the bomb to Chechens, he ordered the

bombing campaign of Chechnya. American Secretary of State Madeleine Albright concurred that she saw

no evidence of Chechen involvement. Ahmed's Gautchayaev has been implicated in the largest apartment

bombing, which killed 307 people in three cities. There were no known links between Gautchayaev

and Chechen rebels. These bombings were used by Putin as justification for Russian involvement

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