Grozny Falls: Chechnya's Separatists Exiled by Russia
Russia took Grozny on February 6, 2000, after four months of bombardment. The city that had survived the first war barely existed anymore. Ninety percent of the buildings were damaged or destroyed. The separatist government fled to the mountains and kept fighting for another nine years. Putin, who'd been prime minister for five months, built his presidency on this victory. He promised order after the chaos of the '90s. The war gave it to him. Chechnya stayed part of Russia, but the insurgency never really ended — it just spread across the North Caucasus and eventually transformed into something else entirely.
February 6, 2000
26 years ago
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