2000 Zhani-Vedeno ambush

Infobox Military Conflict
conflict=Battle of Zhani-Vedeno


caption=
partof=Second Chechen War
place=Near Zhani-Vedeno, Chechnya
date=March 29 2000
result=Chechen victory
combatant1=
combatant2=
commander1=Valentin Simonov † and others
commander2=Ibn al-Khattab
strength1=More than 70
strength2=Unknown
casualties1=At least 43 killed [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/699223.stm Chechen ambush blamed on commanders] , BBC News, 2 April, 2000] and 15 wounded
9 taken prisoner/executed [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/702787.stm Chechens 'execute Russian police'] , BBC News, 7 April, 2000]
casualties2=Unknown
campaign=The Battle of Zhani-Vedeno was a March 29 2000, engagement in southern Vedensky District of Chechnya. It resulted in deaths of at least 52 Russian troops, mostly members of OMON paramilitary police.

Battle

A Russian column of 49 men, according to the Russian account consisting of one or two armoured personnel carriers (APC) and two trucks and led by Major Valentin Simonov, was on its way to conduct a mopping-up operation in Tsentoroi, near Vedeno. It was attacked after accidentally discovering a small group of Islamic fighters hiding in a half-destroyed sheepfold. The column commander was the first to be killed, shot by the fighters as he entered the door.

Once the fighting started, rebels who were hiding in nearby forests joined in and encircled the column. A rocket propelled grenade blew-up a truck carrying the unit's grenade launchers, leaving the Russian troops under heavy fire from the unseen enemy and armed with a small arms only. When the shooting ceased most of the Russians were dead or dying, and nine shell-shocked and captured alive. Only six troops succeeded in escaping into the forest.

A second convoy, including two APCs, was then sent to the rescue but was ambushed on the way. At least six of its soldiers were killed and 15 were wounded before the relief mission was forced to retreat, as the attacks of the helicopter gunships (apparently unaware their own men were hiding in the forest) also failed to dislodge the guerillas.

Majority of the dead were from Perm, members of OMON special forces as well a few members of regular police and military units of the MVD. The rebels claimed destruction of one BMP and three BTR armoured vehicles, and four military lorries.

Aftermath

The ambush, one of several in few weeks, was a serious embarrassment for the Kremlin. At first, press spokesmen claimed that one soldier had been killed, four wounded and the rest were missing. For at least two days afterwards Russia insisted that only three men had been killed. Later, despite the fact only six troops got away, the Kremlin spokesman for Chechnya, 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." [ [http://www.rferl.org/features/2000/03/F.RU.000330165845.asp Chechnya: Russians Suffer Casualties After Ambush] ] Earlier reports had put the death toll at 7, with about 30 missing. [ [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C0DE4DB1E3CF931A35757C0A9669C8B63 Rebel Ambush In Chechnya One of Worst For Russians] , "The New York Times", April 2, 2000] On the same day, Russia's Interior Minister Vladimir Rushailo that the situation in Chechnya "is being fully controlled" by the Russian forces.

The Russian Defence Minister, Igor Sergeyev, has blamed poor command and indiscipline for the ambush. General Gennady Troshev said a mistake was a reason. Major Simonov's widow Nadya shocked the generals by refusing to receive the medal her husband had been awarded posthumously for his role in the battle, protesting the war in Chechnya. [ [http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0206/22/cp.00.html Deadlocked: Russia's Forgotten War] ]

The rebels executed the nine prisoners on the morning of April 4, 2000. The men were shot and killed, they said, because the Russians had refused to hand over a tank unit commander, Yuri Budanov, accused of raping and killing an 18-year-old Chechen woman. [ [http://paksearch.com/br2000/Apr/6/CHECHENR.htm Chechen rebels executed Russian police] ] Meanwhile, three officers of the elite Alpha Group leading the search for missing troops were killed by a land mine blast.

OMON member Sergei Udachin used a small camera to take snapshots of his group, and had used about half of the film before he was killed alongside the commander in the initial shooting, his camera still running. A Chechen fighter picked up the camera, and documented the Chechen side of the conflict including killed and captured Russians. Eventually, the images became public. In 2002 CNN discovered a video footage and broadcasted foir the first time it in its program " [http://edition.cnn.com/CNN/Programs/presents/index.chechnya.new.html Deadlock: Russia's Forgotten War] ".

References

External links

* [http://partners.nytimes.com/library/world/europe/040300russia-chechnya.html Chechen Ambush Deaths Led to Russian Military Confusion] , "The New York Times", April 3, 2000
* [http://iwpr.net/?p=crs&s=f&o=161280&apc_state=henicrs2000 Chechens Rub Salt in Old Wounds] , Institute for War and Peace Reporting, April 5, 2000
* [http://www.cdi.org/russia/johnson/4236.html##10 Chechens wipe out Russia's top troops] , "The Sunday Times", 9 April 2000