Anniversary of Second Chechen War ignored by republic's authorities

Now, 20 years later, the deployment of troops in Chechnya in 1999, is presented by federal TV channels as a start of Russia's "sole" struggle against international terrorism. In Chechnya, the anniversary of the start of the second war is not remembered in any way at the official level.

On September 30, 1999, the invasion of federal troops into Chechnya began: tank units of the Russian Army crossed the republic's administrative border in the Naur and Shelkovskoi Districts; and at that moment, Russian aviation had conducted bombardments of Grozny and its environs for several days.

The residents of Chechnya interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot" recall that it was right on September 30, 1999, that they realized the inevitability of a new war. On this day, no events on the anniversary of the start of the military operation are held in the republic.

Even after the events in Dagestan, residents of Chechnya hoped that a new war could be avoided, says Alkhazur, Grozny resident.

"Until the last moment, we hoped that there would be no relapse of the war. The second war was much more horrible than the first one. If in 1994, people had some stocks, in 1999, the situation was different. Bombing and shelling attacks were constant. Only among my close relatives and acquaintances, over 20 persons perished in that war," said Satsita, a local woman.