Casualties of the Second Chechen War
Encyclopedia
Estimates of casualties in the Second Chechen War
vary wildly, from 25,000 to 200,000 civilian dead plus 8,000 to 40,000 Russian military. (Separate figures for Chechen military fatalities from the second war only are not yet referenced in this article.)
Note: Some of these figures include the First Chechen War
of 1994-1996. They usually don't include the death toll in Dagestan
, Ingushetia
, and other neighbouring regions of North Caucasus
, where the violence spilled-off from Chechnya
.
April 28, 2000-August 3, 2000 (mopping up operations) - During the mopping up operations 226 Russian soldiers and 178 Interior Ministry troops were killed.
August 4, 2000-December 31, 2000 (insurgency phase) - During the Chechen Insurgency in 2000, 415 Russian soldiers were killed.
August 4, 2000-October 10, 2001 - During this period, 444 Interior Ministry troops were killed.
January 1, 2001-December 31, 2001 - During the Chechen insurgency in 2001, 504 Russian soldiers were killed.
October 10, 2001-December 23, 2002 - During this period, 418 Interior Ministry troops were killed.
January 1, 2002-December 31, 2002 - During the Chechen insurgency in 2002, 485 Russian soldiers were killed.
January 1, 2003-December 31, 2003 - During the Chechen insurgency in 2003, 300 Russian soldiers were killed.
January 1, 2004-December 31, 2004 - During the Chechen insurgency in 2004, 162 Russian soldiers were killed.
January 1, 2005-December 31, 2005 - During the Chechen insurgency in 2005, 157 Russian soldiers were killed.
January 1, 2004-December 30, 2005 - During the Chechen insurgency in 2004 and 2005, 515 Interior Ministry troops were killed.
July 1, 2005 - 10 Russian soldiers were killed this day by a bomb in Dagestan.
August 20, 2002-August 20, 2006 - During this period, 200 Interior Ministry troops were killed in Dagestan.
January 1, 2006-December 31, 2006 - During the Chechen insurgency in 2006, 57 Russian soldiers were killed.
January 1, 2007-December 31, 2007 - During the Chechen insurgency in 2007, 54 Russian soldiers were killed.
January 1, 2007-June 21, 2007 - During this period, 45 Interior Ministry troops were killed in both Chechnya and Dagestan.
January 1, 2001-December 31, 2007 - During the Chechen insurgency, 1,072 Chechen police officers were killed.
January 1, 2008-October 20, 2008 - During this period, 27 Russian soldiers were killed.
January 1, 2008-December 31, 2008 - During 2008, 226 Interior Ministry troops were killed in the whole of the North Caucasus.
Total: 3,725 Russian soldiers, 2,600 Interior Ministry troops and 1,072 Chechen police officers killed.
In September 2000, the Prague Watchdog
compiled the widely conflicting list of casualties and enemy losses officially announced by both sides in the first year of the conflict.
By December 2002, 14,113 Chechen fighters were reported to have been killed.
Between 2003 and 2009, 2,186 militants were reported to have been killed in the whole of the North Caucasus and 6,295 were captured.
Total: 16,299 killed
In November 2004, the chairman of Chechnya's pro-Moscow State Council, Taus Djabrailov, said over 200,000 people have been killed in the Chechen Republic since 1994, including over 20,000 children. In August 2005, Djabrailov gave a conflicting figure of 160,000 killed, mostly Russians.
In June 2005, Dukvakha Abdurakhmanov, a deputy prime minister in the Kremlin-controlled Chechen administration, said about 300,000 people have been killed during two wars in Chechnya over the past decade; he also said that more than 200,000 people have gone missing. Every resident of Chechnya has scores of relatives who have been killed or gone missing, he said.
In September 2006, Anatoly Kulikov
, deputy chairman of the Russian State Duma committee on security said that In the 12 years of our Russian antiterrorist war in the Chechen Republic, aggregate losses among the federal forces, illegal armed groups and civilians are estimated at about 45,000 people.
In November 2006, self-exiled separatist leader Akhmed Zakayev
said that "Putin
has already killed more than 250,000 innocent Chechens".
For the period from 1994 to 2003, estimates ranged from 50,000 to 250,000 civilians and 10,000 to 50,000 Russian servicemen killed. Given that almost certainly both sides have tended to exaggerate enemy military casualties while minimizing their own and grossly underestimating its responsibility for civilian losses, the Russian-Chechen Friendship Society
set the conservative estimate of death toll in this time period at about 150,000 - 200,000 civilians, 20,000 to 40,000 Russian soldiers, and possibly the same amount of Chechen rebels.
In February 2003, the Union of the Committees of Soldiers' Mothers of Russia
, estimated that some 11,000 servicemen have been killed, with another 25,000 wounded, since 1999. It also estimated the civilian death toll at about 20,000 people. Their estimate for the earlier Chechen war was 14,000 dead troops as compared with the official figure of 5,500.
According to 2003 Military Balance, the annual report International Institute for Strategic Studies
, the British
-based think-tank, Russian forces suffered 4,749 dead in Chechnya between August 2002 and August 2003.
In 2004, the British strategic-research centre Jane's Information Group
estimated that the federal forces in Chechnya suffered some 9,000 to 11,000 combat deaths during the second war's most intense phase, from its beginning in late summer 1999 to early 2002. In 2003, they lost roughly 3,000 dead.
In 2004, the human rights group Memorial
estimated the amount of civilian casualties of both wars at "more than 200,000" and the amount of Russian soldiers killed at 20,000 to 40,000
In 2006, Alexander Cherkasov of the human rights group Memorial
pointed out that the Russian government did not make any attempt to count civilian casualties in the war of 1994-96, nor after 1999. Many figures have been quoted, some greatly exaggerated; a figure of 250,000 [civilian] dead in the two wars is sometimes repeated, but without there being adequate substantiation of such a number, Cherkasov said, and concluded: The total number of peaceful residents of the Chechen Republic who perished during the two wars may have reached 70,000. (...) [In the second war] the total number of civilians killed, including those who disappeared, adds up to between 14,800 to 24,100. However, he admitted that the accuracy of his estimates was not high.
In 2007, Memorial estimated about 15,000 Russian soldiers have died in total, while others estimated up to 40,000.
According to Amnesty International
in 2007 the second war has killed up to 25,000 civilians since 1999 (many in the first months of the conflict), while up to another 5,000 people are missing. "Many thousands" of people are believed to be buried in unmarked grave
s.
The Society for Threatened Peoples
estimated the civilians casualties of the first war at 80,000 and the second war at 50,000, but it's unsure when this report was made.
Second Chechen War
The Second Chechen War, in a later phase better known as the War in the North Caucasus, was launched by the Russian Federation starting 26 August 1999, in response to the Invasion of Dagestan by the Islamic International Peacekeeping Brigade ....
vary wildly, from 25,000 to 200,000 civilian dead plus 8,000 to 40,000 Russian military. (Separate figures for Chechen military fatalities from the second war only are not yet referenced in this article.)
Note: Some of these figures include the First Chechen War
First Chechen War
The First Chechen War, also known as the War in Chechnya, was a conflict between the Russian Federation and the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria, fought from December 1994 to August 1996...
of 1994-1996. They usually don't include the death toll in Dagestan
Dagestan
The Republic of Dagestan is a federal subject of Russia, located in the North Caucasus region. Its capital and the largest city is Makhachkala, located at the center of Dagestan on the Caspian Sea...
, Ingushetia
Ingushetia
The Republic of Ingushetia is a federal subject of Russia , located in the North Caucasus region with its capital at Magas. In terms of area, the republic is the smallest of Russia's federal subjects except for the two federal cities, Moscow and Saint Petersburg...
, and other neighbouring regions of North Caucasus
North Caucasus
The North Caucasus is the northern part of the Caucasus region between the Black and Caspian Seas and within European Russia. The term is also used as a synonym for the North Caucasus economic region of Russia....
, where the violence spilled-off from Chechnya
Chechnya
The Chechen Republic , commonly referred to as Chechnya , also spelled Chechnia or Chechenia, sometimes referred to as Ichkeria , is a federal subject of Russia . It is located in the southeastern part of Europe in the Northern Caucasus mountains. The capital of the republic is the city of Grozny...
.
Official figures
The following figures are not confirmed by serious academic sources or researchers, and are difficult to verify.Russian losses by year
October 1, 1999-April 27, 2000 (invasion period) - During the initial invasion 1,328 Russian soldiers and 574 Interior Ministry troops were killed.April 28, 2000-August 3, 2000 (mopping up operations) - During the mopping up operations 226 Russian soldiers and 178 Interior Ministry troops were killed.
August 4, 2000-December 31, 2000 (insurgency phase) - During the Chechen Insurgency in 2000, 415 Russian soldiers were killed.
August 4, 2000-October 10, 2001 - During this period, 444 Interior Ministry troops were killed.
January 1, 2001-December 31, 2001 - During the Chechen insurgency in 2001, 504 Russian soldiers were killed.
October 10, 2001-December 23, 2002 - During this period, 418 Interior Ministry troops were killed.
January 1, 2002-December 31, 2002 - During the Chechen insurgency in 2002, 485 Russian soldiers were killed.
January 1, 2003-December 31, 2003 - During the Chechen insurgency in 2003, 300 Russian soldiers were killed.
January 1, 2004-December 31, 2004 - During the Chechen insurgency in 2004, 162 Russian soldiers were killed.
January 1, 2005-December 31, 2005 - During the Chechen insurgency in 2005, 157 Russian soldiers were killed.
January 1, 2004-December 30, 2005 - During the Chechen insurgency in 2004 and 2005, 515 Interior Ministry troops were killed.
July 1, 2005 - 10 Russian soldiers were killed this day by a bomb in Dagestan.
August 20, 2002-August 20, 2006 - During this period, 200 Interior Ministry troops were killed in Dagestan.
January 1, 2006-December 31, 2006 - During the Chechen insurgency in 2006, 57 Russian soldiers were killed.
January 1, 2007-December 31, 2007 - During the Chechen insurgency in 2007, 54 Russian soldiers were killed.
January 1, 2007-June 21, 2007 - During this period, 45 Interior Ministry troops were killed in both Chechnya and Dagestan.
January 1, 2001-December 31, 2007 - During the Chechen insurgency, 1,072 Chechen police officers were killed.
January 1, 2008-October 20, 2008 - During this period, 27 Russian soldiers were killed.
January 1, 2008-December 31, 2008 - During 2008, 226 Interior Ministry troops were killed in the whole of the North Caucasus.
Total: 3,725 Russian soldiers, 2,600 Interior Ministry troops and 1,072 Chechen police officers killed.
Chechen militant losses
In May 2000, Chechen rebels reported on their website that they have lost 1,380 men since fighting started with Russia in the breakaway republic. On the Russian side, military officials said they had lost 2,004 soldiers.In September 2000, the Prague Watchdog
Prague Watchdog
Prague Watchdog was an English, Czech and Russian-language Prague-based on-line service that collected and disseminated information on the crisis in Chechnya and reporting on the conflict in the North Caucasus, focusing on human rights, humanitarian situation, media access and coverage, and the...
compiled the widely conflicting list of casualties and enemy losses officially announced by both sides in the first year of the conflict.
By December 2002, 14,113 Chechen fighters were reported to have been killed.
Between 2003 and 2009, 2,186 militants were reported to have been killed in the whole of the North Caucasus and 6,295 were captured.
Total: 16,299 killed
Civilian casualties
The Chechen separatist sources in 2003 cited figures of some 250,000 civilians, and up to 50,000 Russian servicemen, killed during the 1994-2003 period. The rebel side also acknowledged about 5,000 separatist combatants killed as of 1999-2004, mostly in the initial phases of the war.In November 2004, the chairman of Chechnya's pro-Moscow State Council, Taus Djabrailov, said over 200,000 people have been killed in the Chechen Republic since 1994, including over 20,000 children. In August 2005, Djabrailov gave a conflicting figure of 160,000 killed, mostly Russians.
In June 2005, Dukvakha Abdurakhmanov, a deputy prime minister in the Kremlin-controlled Chechen administration, said about 300,000 people have been killed during two wars in Chechnya over the past decade; he also said that more than 200,000 people have gone missing. Every resident of Chechnya has scores of relatives who have been killed or gone missing, he said.
In September 2006, Anatoly Kulikov
Anatoly Kulikov
Anatoly Kulikov is a Russian General of the Army, former Interior Minister of Russia .In 1992 Kulikov became Commander of the Interior Troops. Hence he was one of the commanders of pro-government forces during the 1993 Constitutional Crisis in Moscow and the First Chechen War...
, deputy chairman of the Russian State Duma committee on security said that In the 12 years of our Russian antiterrorist war in the Chechen Republic, aggregate losses among the federal forces, illegal armed groups and civilians are estimated at about 45,000 people.
In November 2006, self-exiled separatist leader Akhmed Zakayev
Akhmed Zakayev
Akhmed Khalidovich Zakayev is the former Deputy Prime Minister and the current Prime Minister of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria , which is unrecognised by other countries...
said that "Putin
Vladimir Putin
Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin served as the second President of the Russian Federation and is the current Prime Minister of Russia, as well as chairman of United Russia and Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Union of Russia and Belarus. He became acting President on 31 December 1999, when...
has already killed more than 250,000 innocent Chechens".
Independent estimates
In 2000, the Russian weekly Nezavisimoye Voennoye Obozreniye (Independent Military Review) compiled an incomplete list of 1,176 military servicemen fallen in Chechnya during the first year of conflict. If available the list included name, year and place of birth, rank and military unit, place, date and cause of death.For the period from 1994 to 2003, estimates ranged from 50,000 to 250,000 civilians and 10,000 to 50,000 Russian servicemen killed. Given that almost certainly both sides have tended to exaggerate enemy military casualties while minimizing their own and grossly underestimating its responsibility for civilian losses, the Russian-Chechen Friendship Society
Russian-Chechen Friendship Society
The Russian-Chechen Friendship Society was a Russian non-governmental organization monitoring the human rights situation in Chechnya and other parts of the North Caucasus. The society produced daily press releases on serious human rights violations...
set the conservative estimate of death toll in this time period at about 150,000 - 200,000 civilians, 20,000 to 40,000 Russian soldiers, and possibly the same amount of Chechen rebels.
In February 2003, the Union of the Committees of Soldiers' Mothers of Russia
Union of the Committees of Soldiers' Mothers of Russia
The Union of the Committees of Soldiers' Mothers of Russia works to expose human rights violations within the Russian military.The organization was founded in 1989. Before 1998, it was known as the Committee of Soldiers' Mothers of Russia....
, estimated that some 11,000 servicemen have been killed, with another 25,000 wounded, since 1999. It also estimated the civilian death toll at about 20,000 people. Their estimate for the earlier Chechen war was 14,000 dead troops as compared with the official figure of 5,500.
According to 2003 Military Balance, the annual report International Institute for Strategic Studies
International Institute for Strategic Studies
The International Institute for Strategic Studies is a British research institute in the area of international affairs. It describes itself as "the world’s leading authority on political-military conflict"...
, the British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
-based think-tank, Russian forces suffered 4,749 dead in Chechnya between August 2002 and August 2003.
In 2004, the British strategic-research centre Jane's Information Group
Jane's Information Group
Jane's Information Group is a publishing company specializing in transportation and military topics.-History:It was founded by Fred T...
estimated that the federal forces in Chechnya suffered some 9,000 to 11,000 combat deaths during the second war's most intense phase, from its beginning in late summer 1999 to early 2002. In 2003, they lost roughly 3,000 dead.
In 2004, the human rights group Memorial
Memorial (society)
Memorial is an international historical and civil rights society that operates in a number of post-Soviet states. It focuses on recording and publicising the Soviet Union's totalitarian past, but also monitors human rights in post-Soviet states....
estimated the amount of civilian casualties of both wars at "more than 200,000" and the amount of Russian soldiers killed at 20,000 to 40,000
In 2006, Alexander Cherkasov of the human rights group Memorial
Memorial (society)
Memorial is an international historical and civil rights society that operates in a number of post-Soviet states. It focuses on recording and publicising the Soviet Union's totalitarian past, but also monitors human rights in post-Soviet states....
pointed out that the Russian government did not make any attempt to count civilian casualties in the war of 1994-96, nor after 1999. Many figures have been quoted, some greatly exaggerated; a figure of 250,000 [civilian] dead in the two wars is sometimes repeated, but without there being adequate substantiation of such a number, Cherkasov said, and concluded: The total number of peaceful residents of the Chechen Republic who perished during the two wars may have reached 70,000. (...) [In the second war] the total number of civilians killed, including those who disappeared, adds up to between 14,800 to 24,100. However, he admitted that the accuracy of his estimates was not high.
In 2007, Memorial estimated about 15,000 Russian soldiers have died in total, while others estimated up to 40,000.
According to Amnesty International
Amnesty International
Amnesty International is an international non-governmental organisation whose stated mission is "to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights, and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated."Following a publication of Peter Benenson's...
in 2007 the second war has killed up to 25,000 civilians since 1999 (many in the first months of the conflict), while up to another 5,000 people are missing. "Many thousands" of people are believed to be buried in unmarked grave
Unmarked grave
The phrase unmarked grave has metaphorical meaning in the context of cultures that mark burial sites.As a figure of speech, a common meaning of the term "unmarked grave" is consignment to oblivion, i.e., an ignominious end. A grave monument is a sign of respect and fondness, erected with the...
s.
The Society for Threatened Peoples
Society for Threatened Peoples
Society for Threatened Peoples is an international NGO and human rights organization based in Göttingen, Germany. It seeks to create awareness of and protect minority peoples around the world who are threatened by oppressive governments. The group states on its website that it "campaigns against...
estimated the civilians casualties of the first war at 80,000 and the second war at 50,000, but it's unsure when this report was made.
External links
- Casualties officially announced since the beginning of the conflict September 1999-2000