Compared to the First Chechen War, the Second Chechen War was covered by the media much worse. This was facilitated by the ideological control of journalistic materials devoted to Chechen events. Simply put, Russian citizens learned only about the largest Chechen events that could not be hidden.
Where is the truth?
It was not until the fall of 2001 that a representative of the authorities named the data on the losses of Russian soldiers over the period of two years of the Chechen conflict: irrevocable - 3,438; 11 661 - injured. However, there was other evidence of what the Second Chechen War of Russia was worth. They said that real losses were 2-2.5 times greater than losses published in the official version. New official data was published almost a year and a half later. According to them, the total losses of all Russian "siloviks" for the period from October 1, 1999 to December 23, 2002 amounted to 4,572 killed and 15,449 wounded.
Biggest losses
In addition to active hostilities, the Second Chechen War, the years of which were marked by a series of terrorist attacks, inflicted serious losses on the federal forces. The following are examples of the largest of them.
Four helicopters were lost by the “federals” during the period from late January to early February 2002. The most significant loss is the Mi-8 helicopter, on board of which there were two generals - deputy. Minister of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation M. Rudchenko, as well as the commander of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in Chechnya N. Goridov. The “turntable” was shot down on January 27, 2002. On August 19, 2002, Chechen separatists shot down a Mi-26 helicopter with 119 Russian troops.
The attack on Dubrovka
The years of the Second Chechen War reached the echoes of Moscow on October 23, 2002. During the demonstration of the musical "Nord-Ost", the building of the House of Culture on Dubrovka was captured by a detachment of Chechen fighters numbering about 50 people. The main demand of the militants led by Movsar Barayev was the withdrawal of troops from Chechnya. Two days after the meeting, the authorities made a statement according to which they were ready to save the lives of terrorists, subject to the release of hostages. However, the terrorists put forward an ultimatum: either their demand is being fulfilled, or they begin to kill the hostages. If the government made concessions, the Second Chechen War would have ended completely in the fall of 2002. But that did not happen. Due to fears that the militants would blow up the building, the authorities decided to put the sleeping gas into the auditorium. This happened on the night of October 26, after which a special forces detachment that entered the building eliminated the terrorists. The result of this special operation was the destruction of militants and the avoidance of a possible explosion. But due to the action of gas, 129 people died from the hostages, and about 40 died in the next six months.
Who's guilty?
Later, the government blamed international terrorism for the incident. And the deputy. FSB directors - V. Pronichev and an unidentified chemist who let gas into the Nord-Ost hall received awards - the Hero of Russia star. However, no one was punished for the penetration of a militant group into the capital. This is probably why the Second Chechen War then more than once reminded of itself in the form of terrorist attacks throughout the country.