December 31, 1994, the storming of Grozny. The First Chechen War

Today we will talk about one tragic event, which marked the first war in Chechnya (years - 1994 (December) - 1996 (August)). First, let's briefly describe the background of this war.

According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs of our country, in Chechnya in 1994-95. Killed about 26 thousand people: 2 thousand of them - Russian soldiers, about 10-15 thousand - militants, and the rest - civilians. However, General A. Lebed gave another estimate. According to his information, much greater losses were brought by the war in Chechnya. Years of it were marked by huge casualties among civilians - about 70-80 thousand people died. And losses in the ranks of federal troops amounted to 6-7 thousand people.

Chechnya is getting out of Russian control

In the post-Soviet space the boundary of 1980-1990 was marked by the so-called "parade of sovereignties". This meant that the Soviet republics of various levels (both the ASSR and the SSR) adopted one by one declarations of sovereignty. In 1990, on June 12, at the first republican Congress of People's Deputies, the Declaration on State Sovereignty of the RSFSR was adopted.

In Grozny on 23-25 November of the same year, the Chechen National Congress was held. It elected the Executive Committee, which was later transformed into the OKCN. Its chairman was Dzhokhar Dudayev, Major-General. At the congress, a declaration was adopted on the formation of the Chechen Republic Nokhchi-Cho. In July 1991, at the second congress of OKChN, it was decided to withdraw from the RSFSR and the USSR.

Dudayev becomes president, break of relations with Russian Federation

On November 1, 1991, Dudayev was elected president of Chechnya. On November 10, the executive committee of OKChN decided to break off relations with the Russian state. On the territory of the Chechen Republic, as early as November 1991, the seizure of the property and armaments of the internal troops and the Armed Forces, military cities by Dudayev's people began. On November 27, the President signed a decree on the nationalization of equipment and armament of military units that were on the territory of the republic. All federal forces left the territory of Chechnya by November 8 of the following year, but left a large number of weapons, equipment and ammunition.

The situation in the region again worsened in the autumn of 1992, when an Ossetian-Ingush conflict occurred in the Prigorodny district. Dudayev declared about the neutrality of the state, but Russian troops entered its territory during the escalation of the conflict.

Events of September - December 1994

Since September 1994, active military operations were conducted in Chechnya. The opposition forces, in particular, carried out bombing of military facilities. Dudayev's armed formations were armed with Su-24 attack aircraft and Mi-24 helicopters without identification marks.

On November 30, 1994, Boris Yeltsin signed Decree No. 2137c, which provided for the liquidation of armed units on the territory of Chechnya. According to him, from December 1, it was necessary to implement measures aimed at restoring law and order and constitutional legality in the Chechen Republic, begin liquidating troops, and carry out negotiations on the peaceful settlement of the armed conflict.

On December 11, 1994, the President of the Russian Federation addressed the Russians, in which he stated that the country should solve the problem of the Chechen Republic, one of its subjects, and protect its citizens from armed extremism. On the same day, an appropriate decree was signed, and at the same time the Russian troops set out to carry out the assignment. Their goal was Chechnya, the storming of Grozny. The whole of December continued clashes; Grozny, since the 18th, has been subjected to repeated attacks.

On December 26 of the same year, bombardments of rural settlements began.

New Year's storm of Grozny

On the night of December 31, 1994, on January 1, 1995, a New Year's storm took place. The Russian army that night suffered very large losses, the most significant since the Great Patriotic War. The death of the motorized rifle Maikop brigade No. 131 was one of the most tragic episodes during the assault. Till now about these events there is a set of myths.

Taking the palace of President Dzhokhar Dudayev was the main task of the upcoming assault. His task was assigned to the "North" grouping. KB Pulikovsky exercised command of it. It is interesting that the number of all the parts that were part of this group is not exactly known. Only official data are available, which probably differ from the real ones. According to them, the "North" grouping included 4,097 people, 211 infantry fighting vehicles, 82 tanks, 64 mortars and guns.

Command plans

December 30, 1994 a meeting was held. On it all the units received tasks for the assault. On the morning of December 31, the brigade was to go to the old airfield and organize defense there. The main task of the 81st regiment was to seize the intersection of Khmelnitsky-Mayakovsky. And then this unit was supposed to block the building in which the republican committee was located, after which to seize the city railway station. Regiment No. 276 was to occupy the approaches to the Garden and here to wait for further orders.

Unexpected turn of events

It should be noted that the December 31, 1994 storm of Grozny was unexpected for all. Replenishment of military equipment and people did not produce all the parts, the troops did not have time to work well together. A participant in the storming of Grozny, Sivko Vyacheslav, commander of the 237th battalion, recalling these events, said that the key mistake was the lack of competent planning, interaction of units.

However, orders, as is known, are not discussed. On the morning of December 31, 1994, the storming of Grozny was begun. Parts went to the task. By 11 am the intersection of Mayakovsky-Khmelnitsky was seized. However, the 2nd battalion, because of the incessant fire of militants, could not get through the state farm "Rodina". Pulikovsky ordered him to turn back. Here the 2nd battalion set about carrying out another task.

Events near the railway station

The 131st brigade at the same time fulfilled its combat mission, taking up positions on the outskirts of the city, at the old airfield. She began to build defensive fortifications. However, suddenly she started off, as one battalion began to move toward the station, and the other went to the side of the market. The regiment went to Ordzhonikidze Square. One company was left here for cover. Yaroslavtsev, the regiment commander, after a while ordered the chief of staff to bring to the station all the surviving personnel and equipment. While the regiment was just beginning to move to pl. Ordzhonikidze, his columns were overtaken by the technique of Brigade No. 131, which at that time was following the station. Thus, almost simultaneously a brigade and a regiment approached him. The latter organized the defense at the freight station, and the first battalion occupied the station itself. The second battalion also tried to pass here, but it was attacked by militants and was forced to stay at the freight station.

After the regiment and the brigade organized a defense at the station, they were attacked by a large force of militants. Prior to the departure of units, clashes continued. Part of the equipment was destroyed, the rest - damaged. However, the fighters fought until the last ammunition. At first, the losses were small. However, the situation suddenly began to deteriorate sharply due to the fact that other parts did not fulfill their tasks, could not get into the center.

The blockade of Russian troops in the center of Grozny

At about 14 hours on December 31, 1994, the storming of Grozny was continued by new events. Grouping "North-East" came to the bridge across the Sunzha, located in the center of the city. In the city of Grozny, the troops of the "East" and the "West" also moved easily. They did not meet resistance until noon. And then it began ...

From the upper floors of buildings and cellars, Russian machine guns, clamped in cramped streets, were struck by machine guns and grenade launchers. The militants fought as if they were studying military academies, not Russian generals. First, the closing and head cars were burnt. The rest were shot, not hurrying. By 6 pm in the Lenin Park area, the 693rd motorized rifle regiment of the "West" was surrounded. On the southern outskirts of the dense fire, the parachute regiments of the 21st Brigade of the Airborne Division and the 76th Division were stopped. 3,5 thousand fighters with fifty tanks and guns with the onset of darkness suddenly attacked the 131st brigade and 81st regiment standing in columns near the railway station. Together with the two tanks that managed to survive, the remnants of these parts around midnight began to withdraw, but were surrounded and destroyed almost completely. Many people remembered this date for a long time - December 31, 1994. The storming of Grozny brought great losses both among the military and among the peaceful population.

The events of 1-2 January 1995

On January 1, the commanders all day tried to help the bloodless groups "North-East" and "North", blocked in the heart of Grozny. But unsuccessfully. The Chechens sent to the rescue troops provided the opportunity to move only along routes that had been previously targeted. And they mercilessly shot the troops. On January 2, the press service of the Russian government reported that the center of Grozny was controlled by federal troops that the presidential palace was blocked.

Results of the Chechen campaign

The first storm of Grozny did not bring victory. For a long time the militants resisted. Until August 31, 1996 the war continued. The storming of Grozny was only the beginning of new hostilities. The war was accompanied by acts of terrorism carried out outside Chechnya (Kizlyar, Budennovsk).

The campaign resulted in the Khasavyurt agreements signed on August 31, 1996. On the Russian side, they were signed by Alexander Lebedev, Secretary of the Security Council of our country, and by Chechen militants - Chief of Staff Aslan Maskhadov. Based on the results of these agreements, a decision was made on the so-called "deferred status". This meant that until December 31, 2001, the question of the status of Chechnya should have been resolved.