Comparatively with the First Chechen, the Second ChechenThe media coverage of the war was much worse. This was facilitated by the ideological control of journalistic materials devoted to Chechen events. Simply put, Russian citizens only learned about the most large-scale Chechen events, which could not be hidden.
Only in the autumn of 2001 the representative of the authorities calleddata of losses of Russian soldiers during the period of two years of the Chechen conflict: irrevocable - 3,438; 11 661 - the wounded. However, there were other data on what was worth the Second Chechen War of Russia. They said that the real losses were 2-2.5 times more than the losses announced in the official version. The 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, wounded - 15,549.
In addition to active military operations, the Second Chechen War, whose years were marked by a series of terrorist attacks, caused serious losses to the federal forces. Below are examples of the largest of them.
Four helicopters were lost by the "feds" during the periodend of January - beginning of February 2002. The most significant loss is the Mi-8 helicopter carrying two generals - deputy. Minister of the Interior Ministry M. Rudchenko, as well as the commander of the Interior Ministry 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 military men.
Years of the Second Chechen Warechoes to Moscow on October 23, 2002. During the demonstration of the musical "Nord-Ost" the building of the House of Culture on Dubrovka captured a detachment of Chechen fighters numbering about 50 people. The main demand of militants led by Movsar Barayev was the withdrawal of troops from Chechnya. Two days later, after the meeting, the authorities made a statement that they are ready to save the lives of terrorists, subject to the release of the hostages. However, the terrorists put forward an ultimatum: either their demand is met or they begin to kill the hostages. If the government made concessions, the Second Chechen War would finally end in the fall of 2002. But that did not happen. Because of fears that the militants would blow up the building, the authorities decided to put sour gas into the auditorium. This happened on the night of October 26, after which a special forces unit penetrated the building and liquidated the terrorists. The result of this special operation was the destruction of militants and the avoidance of a possible explosion. But because of the gas from the hostages, 129 people died, and another 40 died in the next six months.
Later, the government blamed theinternational terrorism. A deputy. Director of the FSB - V. Pronichev and an unknown chemist who let the gas into the "Nord-Ost" hall, received awards - the star of the Hero of Russia. However, for the penetration of the grouping of militants into the capital, no one has been punished. Probably, that's why the Second Chechen War then again often reminded of itself in the form of terrorist attacks throughout the country.
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