Budyonnovsk hospital hostage crisis
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| Budyonnovsk hospital hostage crisis | |
|---|---|
 Released hostages from the hospital at Budyonnovsk. |
|
| Location | Stavropol Krai, Russian Federation |
| Target(s) | Budyonnovsk |
| Date | June 14 - June 19, 1995 |
| Attack Type | Hostage crisis |
| Fatalities | More than 140 |
| Injuries | More than 400 |
| Perpetrator(s) | Shamil Basayev Aslambek Abdulkhadzhiev |
| Motive | Forcing ceasefire in the war, securing safe return to Chechnya |
The Budyonnovsk hospital hostage crisis took place from 14 June to 19 June 1995, when a group of more than 80 Chechen separatist fighters led by Shamil Basayev attacked the southern Russian city of Budyonnovsk (pop. 100,000), some 70 miles north of the border with the republic of Chechnya.
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[edit] The rebel attack
The rebels crossed into the Stavropol Krai concealed in a military trucks supposedly transporting coffins from the war zone in Chechnya, while some others infiltrated the city in a small groups earlier. At about noon of June 14 they stormed the police station, city hall and government offices, where at least 20 policemen and soldiers were killed and 21 others wounded.
After several hours, in the face of a Russian reinforcement, the rebels retreated to the residential district and seized a hospital. In the city and the hospital they took between 1,500 and 1,800 hostages, most of them civilians and including 150 children [1] and women with newborn infants.
[edit] Hostage crisis
[edit] Standoff
The hostage-takers issued an ultimatum threatening to kill the hostages unless their demands, including an end to the Chechen war and beginning of direct negotiations with Chechen rebel leadership, were met. Russian President Boris Yeltsin immediately vowed to do everything possible to free the hostages, denouncing the attack as "unprecedented in cynicism and cruelty."
On June 15, Basayev demanded that journalists be let into the hospital building to conduct a press conference, but when Basayev found the Russian authorities to be too slow in granting his request, he ordered six hostages killed (three helicopter pilots, two police officers and an official of military registration and enlistment office). Only after this journalists were passed into the hospital. Fearing for their lives, the hospital staff helped other policemen and pilots disguise themselves in civilian clothes and to appear committed to the hospital by changing the hospital records.
Chechen commanders enforced firm discipline among their men and reported to hostages that they will strictly punish subordinates for the least attempt at any violence. A member of Chechen force who was found to be threatening the hostages while under influence of narcotics was immediately shot. The Russians attempted various tactics to break the standoff, from threatening to execute 2,000 Chechen civilians to using Basayev's brother to talk him out of it.
[edit] Russian attacks
After several days of siege, the Russian MVD and FSB OSNAZ special forces tried to storm the hospital compound at dawn on the fourth day, meeting fierce resistance. A woman connected to artificial respiration apparatus died during the assault when the electricity to the hospital was disconnected. After many hours of fighting wherein more than 30 hostages were killed, unable to avoid the grenades the Russians were throwing in through the shot-out windows, a ceasefire was agreed on and 227 hostages were released.
A second Russian attempt to take control of the hospital few hours later also failed, resulting in more casualties. Russian authorities accused the Chechens of using the hostages as human shields.
[edit] Resolution of the crisis
On June 18, negotiations between Russian Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin and Shamil Basayev led to a compromise which became a turning point for the First Chechen War. In exchange for the hostages, the Russian government agreed to temporarily halt military actions in Chechnya and begin a series of negotiations.
The just-released hostages were especially angered by Boris Yeltsin's order to use force against the terrorists. [2] Yeltsin meanwhile had gone to Halifax, Nova Scotia, where the summit of the Group of Seven was being held. After meeting with Yeltsin, the seven condemned violence on both sides of the Chechen conflict.
On June 19, most of the hostages were released, and Basayev's group, under cover of 120 volunteer hostages (including 16 journalists and 9 State Duma deputies), departed for, and uneventfully reached, the Chechen village of Zandak near Chechnya's border with Dagestan. After these hostages were released, Basayev, accompanied by some of the journalists, moved to village of Dargo, where he was welcomed as a hero.
[edit] Casualties
In all, at least 105 citizens of Budyonovsk died at the result of the attack, including 18 women.
At least 11 Russian policemen and minimum of 14 soldiers were also killed [3] and 19 wounded, not including special forces servicemen. The elite anti-terrorist Alpha Group suffered at least 3 killed and 6 wounded. Eleven members of Basayev's group also died; their corpses went back to Chechnya in a special freezer truck.
About 160 buildings in the town were destroyed or damaged. Around 400 people were wounded while being held hostage. [4] Many of the former hostages suffer from various forms of psychological wounds and traumas, and are being treated at a new facility in Budyonnovsk.
[edit] Aftermath
Reacting to the perceived inept handling of the hostage situation, the lower house of the Russian parliament, the Duma, voted 241 to 72 in favour of an motion of no confidence of the government led by Viktor Chernomyrdin. The vote, however, was widely seen as purely symbolic, and the government did not step down.
Two weeks after the raid, Shamil Basayev expressed regrets about the way the attack had turned out, and that he and his men "had turned into beasts." In the years following the hostage-taking, about 30 of the attackers, including Basayev, have been killed, and 19 were convicted by the Stavropol territorial court. In June 2005 about 40 were still wanted in Russia.
[edit] See also
- First Chechen War
- Shamil Basayev
- Beslan school hostage crisis
- Kizlyar raid
- Moscow theater hostage crisis
- List of hostage crises
