Eyewitnesses of "New Year assault" tell about tragedy of Russian Grozny residents

In December 1994, many Russian citizens, who could not evacuate from the city to their relatives, fell victims to the assault of Grozny, eyewitnesses of the events of 25 years ago assert.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that this year marks 25 years since the start of the first Chechen War. The assault of Grozny, launched by Russian militaries on December 31, 1994, was remembered by endless shooting and the awareness of the outbreak of the real war, residents of Chechnya told the "Caucasian Knot" on the 25th anniversary of the assault.

Russian residents of Grozny actually became hostages of the situation, because, unlike Chechens, they had no relatives in Chechen villages, and they had nowhere to move from the city, said Ruslan Martagov, a publicist and a political analyst.

"Nobody could expect such meanness from the army. Russians suffered the most, having no relatives in villages, where they could move [from Grozny]. Only those who had good friends, neighbours were taken by them to villages, but there were very few of them. Most victims on the New Year night were Russians," Mr Martagov, who in those years was a member of the armed opposition to the leadership of Ichkeria, has stated.

A large number of victims among the Russian-speaking population of the city was also facilitated by the fact that a significant part of them had to stay in the city after the ban on evacuation introduced by Dudaev's administration, Oleg Orlov, a board member of the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial", who was then a participant of the mission of the Russian Ombudsperson, Sergey Kovalyov, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on January 1, 2020 at 04:16 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.