Battle of Grozny (November 1994)

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November 1994 Battle of Grozny

Date	November 26, 1994
Location	Grozny, Chechnya
Result	Chechen government victory; open Russian intervention launched

Combatants

Chechen opposition

Russian counter-intelligence

Chechen government

Commanders

Umar Avturkhanov
Beslan Gantemirov

Aslan Maskhadov

Strength

1,200-4,000 men
50 Russian tanks
Russian air support

Casualties

500 killed
200 captured, including over 70[1] Russians

5 aircraft
37 tanks

November 1994 Battle of Grozny was a November 26, 1994 attempt to to seize the city of Grozny and overthrow the separatist government of Dzhokhar Dudayev, staged by the forces of the anti-Dudayev opposition with the active support of Russian tanks and aircraft.

The assault on the Chechen capital met with complete failure, prompting Moscow decided to carry out a large-scale military invasion of the republic.

1 Background
2 The battle
3 Aftermath
4 See also
5 References

[edit] Background

In the summer of 1994 the Federal Counter-Intelligence Service began active and open co-operation with the Chechen opposition leaders. Forces of Umar Avturkhanov (former officer of the Soviet MVD) and Beslan Gantemirov (former mayor of Grozny) not only received money from Moscow (a figure of 150 billion roubles was mentioned) but weapons as well.

August and September 1994 saw the outbreak of fighting between the opposition and Dudayev's forces. By this time, the opposition had established a force of several hundred men, equipped with armoured vehicles and backed by Russian helicopters based in Mozdok airfield. This military campaign climaxed in mid-October 1994, when Gantamirov's forces tried to take Grozny by assault for the first time.

Disappointed by their failures and aware of their military weakness up to and after the October assault, former Duma speaker Ruslan Khasbulatov intensified their lobbying with the FSK and Russian President Boris Yeltsin's staff in favour of more direct involvement on Moscow's part. As a result, Avturkhanov and Gantemirov, who by then had joined their military forces, received all the weapons, instructors, training and media support they requested, setting the ground for the final assault. Tank drivers from Russia's elite formations were recruited for the task.

[edit] The battle

Shortly before the storm of Grozny, Main Intelligence Department (GRU) agents reported that Dudaev's army was completely incapable of offering serious resistance, but three Russian tanks were destroyed even on their way to the city. On the morning of November 26, forces of the Chechen Provisional Council attacked Grozny with the support of unmarked federal helicopters.

This assault was an unmitigated disaster for the opposition. After nearly twelve hours of intense fighting, Dudayev's forces destroyed the opposition's armoured columns and captured a large number of ethnic Russian soldiers and officers who had manned the crews of the tanks and armoured personnel carriers. Five tanks surrendered intact after the opposition fighters fled, leaving the crews alone in the streets of Grozny. In addition, a Su-25 fighter-bomber and four helicopters manned by a Russian pilots were reportedly downed.

All that remained of the Russian tank unit and the supporting formations of the Chechen opposition had left the city the same day.

[edit] Aftermath

This defeat was truly catastrophic, not only in military but in political terms. The employment of the Russian soldiers, secretly hired by the FSK, vindicated Dudayev's long-standing propaganda tune - namely, that there was no Chechen opposition, only tools in "Moscow's imperial game." Russian complicity was at first denied by Moscow, but then acknowledged when Dudayev's men paraded several captured Russian soldiers before TV cameras.[2]

The November 26 defeat exhausted Russia's means of waging war against Dudayev by proxy means, leading to launching an all out and disastrous direct intervention next month, with Russian Defence Minister Pavel Grachev boasting that it would take a single parachute regiment only two hours to capture the city.[3]