Here is some background information on the conflict
After the collapse of the Soviet union, Chechen nationalists began
pushing for increased autonomy, culminating in 1991 with the fall of the
government of the Chechen-Ingush Republic. Nationalist leader General D.
Dudajev was elected President and Chechnya declared its independence from
Russia. In 1994, Russia launched a military offensive aimed at forcing the
breakaway republic to accept Moscow's rule again. The Defense Minister
Pavel Grachev reassured Yeltsin that he would restore order with a handful
of paratroopers.
That turned out to be a lie. The Russian army consisted
mostly of untrained conscripts, aged 18-20, who were obviously both physically
and psychologically unfit to wage a full- scale war against the Chechens,
who were a lot more familiar with the mountainous terrain and who certainly
were a lot more experienced fighters. More than 100,000 people (mostly civilians)
were killed during the 2-year war, which ended in 1996 when a cease-fire was
signed in Moscow. The truce was made after the rebels recaptured Grozny second
time during the war. Among their other achievements were two lightning
raids onto the Russian territory which resulted in civilian casualties.
The wave of apartment bombings in september 1999 in which more
than 300 people were killed changed people's attitude towards the war. Russian
troops pulled in once again. This time, however, they were using a NATO-like
tactics, trying to bomb militants out of a village, rather than storming it with
the ground troops. So far, the tactics has been largely successful in a military
sense(Russian troops control up to 99% of the republic), although a lot of civilians suffered.
Russia has been continuously criticized by the West for its inhumane
treatment of civilians. However, it is important to understand that Russian
army lacks the precision weapons that NATO used in Kosovo to minimize the civilian
casualties. Therefore, they have to choose between sacrificing the lives of the
poorly trained soldiers or those of the largerly hostile civilian population.