Presidential Palace, Grozny
Encyclopedia
Grozny
Grozny is the capital city of the Chechen Republic, Russia. The city lies on the Sunzha River. According to the preliminary results of the 2010 Census, the city had a population of 271,596; up from 210,720 recorded in the 2002 Census. but still only about two-thirds of 399,688 recorded in the 1989...
, capital 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...
, which became a world-famous symbol during the early conflict in Chechnya
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...
, in which it became the key terrain symbolizing victory. The building was ruined by repeated artillery and air strikes. The Russians demolished it more than a year after its capture.
History
The 11-floor building was originally the headquarters of the Communist Party of the Soviet UnionCommunist Party of the Soviet Union
The Communist Party of the Soviet Union was the only legal, ruling political party in the Soviet Union and one of the largest communist organizations in the world...
in the Chechen-Ingush Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic
Chechen-Ingush Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic
The Chechen–Ingush Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, or Chechen–Ingush ASSR ;) was an autonomous republic within the Russian SFSR...
. Eventually General Dzhokhar Dudayev, the first leader of the separatist Chechen Republic of Ichkeria
Chechen Republic of Ichkeria
The Chechen Republic of Ichkeria is the unrecognized secessionist government of Chechnya. The republic was proclaimed in late 1991 by Dzokhar Dudayev, and fought two devastating wars between separatists and the Russian Federation which denounced secession...
, adopted it as his presidential palace
Presidential Palace
A Presidential Palace is the official residence of the president in some countries. However, some countries do not call the official residence of a head of state a presidential palace...
and the main seat of his government (Dudayev's actual office was on the eighth floor of the building).
Chechen War
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-supported Chechen opposition forces through 1994 but was not targeted in the initial Russian bombing campaign. During the early phase of the 1994–1995 battle of Grozny the palace was the primary objective of the disastrous New Year's Eve
New Year's Eve
New Year's Eve is observed annually on December 31, the final day of any given year in the Gregorian calendar. In modern societies, New Year's Eve is often celebrated at social gatherings, during which participants dance, eat, consume alcoholic beverages, and watch or light fireworks to mark the...
assault by the Russian forces, the place where all columns of the Russian armour were supposed to meet after advancing from various directions, as well as the further Russian attacks. The soldier who would raise the flag of Russia
Flag of Russia
The flag of Russia is a tricolour flag of three equal horizontal fields, white on the top, blue in the middle and red on the bottom. The flag was first used as an ensign for Russian merchant and war ships and only became official in 1896...
over the building was promised to have become a Hero of the Russian Federation
Hero of the Russian Federation
Hero of the Russian Federation is a Russian decoration and the highest honorary title that can be bestowed on a citizen by the Russian Federation. The President of the Russian Federation is the main conferring authority of the medal, which is bestowed on those committing actions or deeds that...
and the Russian Defense Minister Pavel Grachov even claimed his forces captured it during the initial storming.
Although Dudayev left Grozny early in the battle, the massive concrete structure of his presidential palace turned into the main Chechen stronghold in the city. It, together with the surrounding buildings, was fiercely defended by several hundred separatist fighters, including some of Dudayev's presidential guards and the battalion of Shamil Basayev
Shamil Basayev
Shamil Salmanovich Basayev was a Chechen militant Islamist and a leader of the Chechen rebel movement.Starting as a field commander in the Transcaucasus, Basayev led guerrilla campaigns against the Russian troops for years, as well as launching mass-hostage takings of civilians, with his goal...
. The basement under the palace became the battle headquarters of Aslan Maskhadov
Aslan Maskhadov
Aslan Aliyevich Maskhadov was a leader of the Chechen separatist movement and the third President of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria.He was credited by many with the Chechen victory in the First Chechen War, which allowed for the...
, the Chechen chief of staff, shared with a field hospital and an improvised prisoner-of-war camp
Prisoner-of-war camp
A prisoner-of-war camp is a site for the containment of combatants captured by their enemy in time of war, and is similar to an internment camp which is used for civilian populations. A prisoner of war is generally a soldier, sailor, or airman who is imprisoned by an enemy power during or...
for captured Russian soldiers. Sergei Kovalev
Sergei Kovalev
Sergei Kovalev is a Russian human rights activist and politician and a former Soviet dissident and political prisoner.- Early career and arrest :...
(Boris Yeltsin
Boris Yeltsin
Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin was the first President of the Russian Federation, serving from 1991 to 1999.Originally a supporter of Mikhail Gorbachev, Yeltsin emerged under the perestroika reforms as one of Gorbachev's most powerful political opponents. On 29 May 1990 he was elected the chairman of...
's human rights commissioner), six other state State Duma
State Duma
The State Duma , common abbreviation: Госду́ма ) in the Russian Federation is the lower house of the Federal Assembly of Russia , the upper house being the Federation Council of Russia. The Duma headquarters is located in central Moscow, a few steps from Manege Square. Its members are referred to...
deputies, as well as several journalists and aid workers (including Viktor Popkov
Viktor Popkov
Viktor Alekseyevich Popkov Виктор Алексеевич Попков was a Russian dissident, humanitarian, human rights activist and journalist. He spent the last 15 years of his life in the hot spots of the falling Soviet Union, including the Georgian-Abkhazian conflict, the Nagorno-Karabakh War and the war in...
) were also trapped in the bunker for days following the initial Russian attack.
The Russian forces shelled the building for nearly three weeks, scoring hundreds of direct artillery hits, including with mortars, point-blank tank fire and a particularly devastating salvo of BM-21
BM-21
The BM-21 launch vehicle , a Soviet truck-mounted 122 mm multiple rocket launcher, and a M-21OF rocket were developed in the early 1960s. BM stands for boyevaya mashina, ‘combat vehicle’, and the nickname means ‘hail’. The complete system with the BM-21 launch vehicle and the M-21OF rocket...
rockets. They deployed thousands of troops for some two weeks of fierce fighting that completely destroyed many of the municipal buildings and houses near the palace and reduced it to little more than a gutted shell. Eventually, by January 16 the Russians managed to surround the burning building from three sides (the fourth being the Sunzha River
Sunzha River
The Sunzha is a river in North Ossetia, Ingushetia and Chechnya, Russia, a right tributary of Terek River. It is 278 km long. The Sunzha rises on the Northern slope of the Caucasus Major. Its major tributaries are the Assa River and Argun River. With a turbidity of 3,800 g/m³, it carries 12,2...
), but still failed to dislodge the defenders.
On January 17, 1995, two enormous nine-ton bunker buster
Bunker buster
A bunker buster is a bomb designed to penetrate hardened targets or targets buried deep underground.-Germany:Röchling shells were bunker-busting artillery shells, developed by German engineer August Cönders, based on the theory of increasing sectional density to improve penetration.They were tested...
bombs were dropped in a rare instance of the use of precision-guided munition
Precision-guided munition
A precision-guided munition is a guided munition intended to precisely hit a specific target, and to minimize damage to things other than the target....
s by the Russian Air Force
Russian Air Force
The Russian Air Force is the air force of Russian Military. It is currently under the command of Colonel General Aleksandr Zelin. The Russian Navy has its own air arm, the Russian Naval Aviation, which is the former Soviet Aviatsiya Voyenno Morskogo Flota , or AV-MF).The Air Force was formed from...
in Chechnya. One of them penetrated the building and exploded in the underground hospital, killing at least 50-60 people including many of the prisoners; the second one, which landed just meters from Maskhadov's command post, miraculously failed to explode and Maskhadov escaped unhurt. After midnight on January 18, the ruined building was abandoned by the last defenders, who crossed a bridge to the other side of the river under cover of darkness, and was finally seized by the Russians the next day.
The site was a scene of a massive peace demonstration in February 1996. The rally ended in bloodshed when the Russian government forces fired on the demonstrators, killing several people. The Russians demolished the ruins soon afterwards.