The Russian Army's Slow Action in Dagestan Mountain War

In response to the Russian counterattack, terrorists dug strong trenches around every village they occupied and built strong fortresses ar

The Russian Army's Slow Action in Dagestan Mountain War

In response to the Russian counterattack, terrorists dug strong trenches around every village they occupied and built strong fortresses around every house in the village with stones. They also controlled all the strategic commanding heights, built hidden shooting points, and transported a large number of ammunition to the mountains and stored them in caves. These strategic highlands control all the mountain passes and traffic arteries entering the village. From here, we can not only prevent Russian troops from entering the village, but also shell neighboring villages.

In the face of the arrogance of terrorists, the Russian army seems at a loss. After the Chechen war, Russia withdrew a large number of troops deployed there and only stationed a small number of border guards and armed police in the North Caucasus. In Dagestan, which is adjacent to Chechnya, there is only one brigade under the Ministry of Internal Affairs and one motorized infantry brigade in the Caucasus Military Region, which makes the border area connected with Chechnya an undefended area and allows Chechen militants to enter and leave. The garrison in this area is backward in equipment and cannot cope with large-scale regional conflicts and wars. According to a source of the Russian General Staff, the troops in the Caucasus Military Region don't even have T-80 tanks, and more than half of the armored personnel carriers that played a powerful role in the Chechen war are now overdue.

Compared with the quick action of terrorists, the action of Russian military is very slow. After the conflict began, the generals of the Ministry of Internal Affairs thought that the militants were well equipped, and the internal affairs forces had neither cruise missiles nor heavy weapons, so the war should be fought by the Ministry of National Defense. The Ministry of National Defense said that the main task of the army is to deal with foreign aggression, not internal conflicts. It was not until the third day that the militants entered Dagestan that the Russian army hastily set up emergency headquarters led by Ovchinnikov, commander of the internal security forces, to take charge of the military operation. A week later, Kazanchev, commander of the North Caucasus Military Region, suddenly replaced Ovchinnikov and began to exercise command. The battle for command affected the deployment of troops, bought time for terrorists and encouraged their arrogance. When terrorists consolidated the occupied territory and began to attack the surrounding areas, and some policemen were killed by terrorists' guns, Russian generals were still worried about another problem that did not seem to be a problem: President Yeltsin issued a secret instruction that terrorists must be eliminated within two weeks, but the generals did not know whether to destroy the terrorists on the spot or drive them out of Dagestan. After a long debate, the generals finally decided on the fourth day after the terrorists entered Dagestan that the task of the federal army was to drive the rebels out of Dagestan to avoid a large number of civilian casualties.

Russia has long claimed that it can deal with any crisis in the Caucasus. However, when the war came, it was discovered that the army could not cope with the situation at all. A whole week after the war, only one battalion of the internal security forces, a motorized infantry battalion and a few special police, special forces and airborne troops were sent to the front. Compared with the number of terrorists, there is no advantage at all. The government had to recruit volunteers from the local reservists, form a militia team and send them to the front to fight. Due to the limited weapons, local officials were forced to order that shotguns and hunting knives sold in shops must be turned over to the internal affairs department to equip the temporary militia.

These militias are very tenacious in the fight against terrorists. On August 15, an armed force under the command of basaev tried to forcibly advance to Mahachikara, the capital of Dagestan, through Gagateri village, but was stopped by the police and militia. The fighting was fierce. When the bullets were finished, the militia stoned them. They detonated the cliff hanging over the enemy's head. As a result, the stone rolled down and rained down on the enemy. Terrorists fled one after another and more than 60 people were killed. Basaev's younger brother Silvagni was seriously injured and died in a hospital in Chechnya soon.