2000 Zhani-Vedeno ambush
Encyclopedia
The Battle of Zhani-Vedeno took place on March 29, 2000, when a column of Russia
n troops, was ambush
ed in southern Vedensky District of Chechnya
by the mostly Dagestan
i mujahideen
under Arab commander Ibn al-Khattab
.
paramilitary police from Perm Krai
, mostly from the city of Berezniki
), was on its way in one armoured personnel carrier
(APC) and two military trucks to conduct a mopping-up operation in the villages of Tsentoroi
or Dargo, near Vedeno
. Russian airborne forces stationed nearby actually intercepted a rebel communication regarding the preparations for the ambush, but failed to warn the convoy (possibly on purpose, given the widespread hatred of OMON in Russia and especially in regard to the Chechen conflict).
At 8 am, the column stopped after one of the trucks ran out of fuel. The Russian commander decided to check a bombed-out house nearby and accidentally discovered a small group of rebel fighters hiding there; he was the first to be killed, shot dead as he entered the door. Once the firing started, more rebels, who were hiding in the undergrowth and trees, encircled the column, blowing up the truck with the unit's grenade launcher and ammunition, before pinning down the rest of the convoy in a hail of gunfire from all sides with grenade launchers, machine guns, and sniper rifles. Some of the Russians hid in the nearby forest.
Rocket strafing attacks by Russian attack helicopter
s, apparently unaware that some of their own men were hiding in the forest, failed to dislodge the guerrillas. A second Perm OMON convoy, including two APCs and 107 troops, was then sent to the rescue from the headquarters of the Interior Ministry in Vedeno, but was itself attacked on Height 817, just 500 metres (1,640.4 ft) from the ambush site. At least three or six men in the second convoy were killed and 15 or 16 wounded before the relief mission was called off. Radio contact with the trapped unit was lost at 2:30 pm. When the shooting ceased, most of the men in the first column were dead or dying. Some injured Russians killed themselves with their own grenades. Nine to eleven were captured, while six managed to reach friendly lines.
claimed that the situation in Chechnya "is being fully controlled" by Russian forces. Despite the fact only six troops got away, the Kremlin's Chechnya spokesman, Sergei Yastrzhembsky, told reporters that "of the 49 troops who were in the column yesterday, 16 are alive and doing well. They are absolutely safe now." Russian units managed to secure the former battlefield two days later, in the afternoon of March 31. They spent the next two days collecting the booby-trapped corpses, many of them reportedly mutilated. A badly wounded OMON officer was also found alive three days after the battle.
The rebels said they executed nine of their prisoners on the morning of April 4, 2000. According to the statement, the prisoners were shot because the Russians had refused to exchange them for a tank unit commander, Yuri Budanov
, accused of raping and killing an 18-year-old Chechen woman, Elza Kungayeva. Meanwhile, three officers from the elite Alpha Group
leading the search for the missing policemen were killed by a land mine. On April 30, the corpses were reportedly found beheaded.
Mikhail Labunets, commander of the North Caucasus Internal Troops
District, accused an airborne regiment stationed in Vedeno of failing to come to the rescue and said it was almost impossible for OMON units to secure proper air and fire support because of the long-standing enmity between the federal army and the police. Interior Minister Rushailo flew to Chechnya on April 4 to check out the allegations and ordered a full investigation. However, Russian Defence Minister Igor Sergeyev
blamed "a lack of firm, centralised command", while the commander of the airborne troops, General Gennady Troshev
, said a mistake was the reason. In another controversy, Major Simonov's widow Nadya shocked the generals by refusing to accept the medal her husband had been awarded posthumously for his role in the battle, protesting the war in Chechnya.
OMON officer Sergei Udachin had used about half of the film in his camera to take snapshots of his group. A rebel fighter picked up the camera and used it to document the Chechen side of the conflict, including the captured Russians. Eventually, the images became public. In 2002, CNN
also discovered video footage of the ambush shot by OMON officer Sergei Sobyanin (killed alongside his commander during the initial shooting) and broadcast it for the first time in its documentary, Deadlock: Russia's Forgotten War.
According to the investigation, the attack was conducted by a unit of "Wahhabis" led by an Arab commander named Abu Quteib and composed mostly of men from the Dagestani village of Karamakhi
. Seven of them, arrested in Dagestan, were convicted by the republic's Supreme Court in 2001.
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n troops, was ambush
Ambush
An ambush is a long-established military tactic, in which the aggressors take advantage of concealment and the element of surprise to attack an unsuspecting enemy from concealed positions, such as among dense underbrush or behind hilltops...
ed in southern Vedensky District of 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...
by the mostly 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...
i mujahideen
Mujahideen
Mujahideen are Muslims who struggle in the path of God. The word is from the same Arabic triliteral as jihad .Mujahideen is also transliterated from Arabic as mujahedin, mujahedeen, mudžahedin, mudžahidin, mujahidīn, mujaheddīn and more.-Origin of the concept:The beginnings of Jihad are traced...
under Arab commander Ibn al-Khattab
Ibn al-Khattab
Samir Saleh Abdullah Al-Suwailem , more commonly known as Emir Khattab meaning Commander Khattab, or Leader Khattab, and also known as Habib Abdul Rahman, was a Muslim guerilla fighter and financier working with Chechen Mujahideen in the First Chechen War...
.
Battle
A Russian Interior Ministry force led by Major Valentin Simonov, consisting of 49 men according to the Russian account (41 of them members of the OMONOMON
OMOH is a generic name for the system of special units of militsiya within the Russian and earlier the Soviet MVD...
paramilitary police from Perm Krai
Perm Krai
Perm Krai is a federal subject of Russia that came into existence on December 1, 2005 as a result of the 2004 referendum on the merger of Perm Oblast and Komi-Permyak Autonomous Okrug. The city of Perm became the administrative center of the new federal subject...
, mostly from the city of Berezniki
Berezniki
Berezniki is a city in Perm Krai, Russia, situated on the banks of the Kama River, in the Ural mountains. Population: The name Berezniki is derived from a birch forest originally situated on the city's location....
), was on its way in one armoured personnel carrier
Armoured personnel carrier
An armoured personnel carrier is an armoured fighting vehicle designed to transport infantry to the battlefield.APCs are usually armed with only a machine gun although variants carry recoilless rifles, anti-tank guided missiles , or mortars...
(APC) and two military trucks to conduct a mopping-up operation in the villages of Tsentoroi
Tsentoroi
Tsentoroy is a rural locality in Shalinsky District of the Chechen Republic, Russia, located east-southeast of Grozny, the republic's capital, at the foot of the Caucasus Mountains....
or Dargo, near Vedeno
Vedeno
Vedeno is a rural locality in the Chechen Republic, Russia, located some southeast of Grozny. It is the administrative center of Vedensky District. Population: 11,512 ;...
. Russian airborne forces stationed nearby actually intercepted a rebel communication regarding the preparations for the ambush, but failed to warn the convoy (possibly on purpose, given the widespread hatred of OMON in Russia and especially in regard to the Chechen conflict).
At 8 am, the column stopped after one of the trucks ran out of fuel. The Russian commander decided to check a bombed-out house nearby and accidentally discovered a small group of rebel fighters hiding there; he was the first to be killed, shot dead as he entered the door. Once the firing started, more rebels, who were hiding in the undergrowth and trees, encircled the column, blowing up the truck with the unit's grenade launcher and ammunition, before pinning down the rest of the convoy in a hail of gunfire from all sides with grenade launchers, machine guns, and sniper rifles. Some of the Russians hid in the nearby forest.
Rocket strafing attacks by Russian attack helicopter
Attack helicopter
An attack helicopter is a military helicopter with the primary role of an attack aircraft, with the capability of engaging targets on the ground, such as enemy infantry and armored vehicles...
s, apparently unaware that some of their own men were hiding in the forest, failed to dislodge the guerrillas. A second Perm OMON convoy, including two APCs and 107 troops, was then sent to the rescue from the headquarters of the Interior Ministry in Vedeno, but was itself attacked on Height 817, just 500 metres (1,640.4 ft) from the ambush site. At least three or six men in the second convoy were killed and 15 or 16 wounded before the relief mission was called off. Radio contact with the trapped unit was lost at 2:30 pm. When the shooting ceased, most of the men in the first column were dead or dying. Some injured Russians killed themselves with their own grenades. Nine to eleven were captured, while six managed to reach friendly lines.
Aftermath
At first, Russian officials attempted to hide the losses; on the same day, Russian Interior Minister Vladimir RushailoVladimir Rushailo
Vladimir Borisovich Rushailo is a Russian politician.From 1999 to 2001, he was the Interior Minister of Russia, and Secretary of Security Council from 2001 to 2004. As the Minister of the Interior, he was charged with overseeing the security of sensitive internal sites and materials such as...
claimed that the situation in Chechnya "is being fully controlled" by Russian forces. Despite the fact only six troops got away, the Kremlin's Chechnya spokesman, Sergei Yastrzhembsky, told reporters that "of the 49 troops who were in the column yesterday, 16 are alive and doing well. They are absolutely safe now." Russian units managed to secure the former battlefield two days later, in the afternoon of March 31. They spent the next two days collecting the booby-trapped corpses, many of them reportedly mutilated. A badly wounded OMON officer was also found alive three days after the battle.
The rebels said they executed nine of their prisoners on the morning of April 4, 2000. According to the statement, the prisoners were shot because the Russians had refused to exchange them for a tank unit commander, Yuri Budanov
Yuri Budanov
Yuri Dmitrievich Budanov was the Russian military officer convicted by a Russian court of kidnapping and murder in Chechnya.Budanov was highly controversial in Russia: despite the conviction, Budanov enjoyed widespread support of Russian households, as polled by public opinion. At the same time,...
, accused of raping and killing an 18-year-old Chechen woman, Elza Kungayeva. Meanwhile, three officers from the elite Alpha Group
Alpha Group
The Alpha Group , is an elite component of Russia's Spetsnaz as well as the dedicated counter-terrorism unit of the Federal Security Service...
leading the search for the missing policemen were killed by a land mine. On April 30, the corpses were reportedly found beheaded.
Mikhail Labunets, commander of the North Caucasus Internal Troops
Internal Troops
The Internal Troops, full name Internal Troops of the Ministry for Internal Affairs ; alternatively translated as "Interior " is a paramilitary gendarmerie-like force in the now-defunct Soviet Union and its successor countries, particularly, in Russia, Ukraine, Georgia and Azerbaijan...
District, accused an airborne regiment stationed in Vedeno of failing to come to the rescue and said it was almost impossible for OMON units to secure proper air and fire support because of the long-standing enmity between the federal army and the police. Interior Minister Rushailo flew to Chechnya on April 4 to check out the allegations and ordered a full investigation. However, Russian Defence Minister Igor Sergeyev
Igor Sergeyev
Igor Dmitriyevich Sergeyev was the Defense Minister of the Russian Federation from 22 May 1997 until 28 March 2001...
blamed "a lack of firm, centralised command", while the commander of the airborne troops, General Gennady Troshev
Gennady Troshev
Gennady Nikolayevich Troshev was a Russian Colonel General in the Russian military and formerly the commander of the North Caucasus Military District, including Chechnya, during the Second Chechen War...
, said a mistake was the reason. In another controversy, Major Simonov's widow Nadya shocked the generals by refusing to accept the medal her husband had been awarded posthumously for his role in the battle, protesting the war in Chechnya.
OMON officer Sergei Udachin had used about half of the film in his camera to take snapshots of his group. A rebel fighter picked up the camera and used it to document the Chechen side of the conflict, including the captured Russians. Eventually, the images became public. In 2002, CNN
CNN
Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
also discovered video footage of the ambush shot by OMON officer Sergei Sobyanin (killed alongside his commander during the initial shooting) and broadcast it for the first time in its documentary, Deadlock: Russia's Forgotten War.
According to the investigation, the attack was conducted by a unit of "Wahhabis" led by an Arab commander named Abu Quteib and composed mostly of men from the Dagestani village of Karamakhi
Karamakhi
Karamakhi is a rural locality in Buynaksky District of the Republic of Dagestan, Russia.-Overview:In 1997-1999, Karamakhi became a hotbed of radical islamism...
. Seven of them, arrested in Dagestan, were convicted by the republic's Supreme Court in 2001.