The First Chechen war. Thirty years later. Part one

In January 2025, thirty years will have passed since the infamous New Year’s storming of Grozny. From a tactical perspective, the battles in the capital of rebellious Chechnya turned into one of the Kremlin’s greatest failures in modern military history. In human terms, it resulted in tens of thousands of deaths, primarily among civilians who were ostensibly the ones being "liberated."

It was during those days that it became clear: the blitzkrieg launched by Moscow had devolved into a protracted war—the First Chechen War. The first of the major wars waged by modern Russia. The parallels between that "special operation" and the current one are obvious to anyone. But are they mere coincidences or part of a broader pattern? Can it be argued that today’s Russia and the war in Ukraine have their roots in that Chechen war? And why did the attempt to forcefully reshape a tiny republic ultimately end up reshaping the Russians themselves?

Key figures of the era share their insights into the decisions that led to the war.