Download Grozny Grozny is the capital of the Chechen Republic in Russia. The

Grozny
Grozny is the capital of the Chechen Republic in Russia. The city lies on
the Sunzha River. According to the 2002 All-Russia population census, the city
had a population of 210,720 people (a little more than half of the population a
decade before).
In Russian "Grozny" means "fearsome" or "terrible" (for example, the figure
known in English as "Ivan the Terrible" is called "Ivan Grozny" (Иван
Грозный) in Russian). Chechen separatists sometimes refer to the city as
Dzhokhar or Djohar (Chechen: Djovkhar Ghaala); it was named so after
Dzhokhar Dudaev, the first president of the separatist Chechen Republic of
Ichkeria. As of December 2005, the Chechen parliament voted to rename the
city Akhmadkala after Akhmad Kadyrov, a proposition which was rejected by
his son Ramzan Kadyrov, the prime minister of the republic.
The city is divided into four administrative city districts: Leninsky,
Zavodskoy, Staropromyslovsky, and Oktyabrsky. All of the districts are
residential, but Staropromyslovsky district is also the city's main illegal oil
drilling area, and Oktyabrsky district hosts most of the city's industry.
However, nearly all of Grozny was destroyed or seriously damaged during the
Chechen Wars. Grozny was also known for its modern architecture and as a
spa town. It has a university and is home to FC Terek Grozny.
The Groznaya fortress was founded in 1818 as a Russian military outpost
on the Sunzha River by Terek Cossacks and was a prominent defence centre
during the Caucasian War. After the pacification of the region, the military use
of the old fortress was obsolete and in December 1869 it was renamed to
Grozny. (The change of the name ending follows the rules for adjectives when
the modified noun was changed from the feminine gender ("threatening
fortress") to masculine ("threatening town"). As most of the residents there
were Terek Cossacks, the town grew slowly until the development of Oil
reserves in the early 20th century. This spiralled development of industry and
petrochemical production. In addition to the oil drilled in the city itself, the city
became a geographical centre of Russia's network of oil fields, and also in 1893
became part of the Transcaucasia - Russia Proper railway. The result was the
population almost doubled from 15.6 thousand in 1897 to 30.4 in 1913.
The next day after the October Revolution (November 8, 1917), the
Bolsheviks headed by N.Anisimov seized Grozny and established a Proletariat
control. As the Russian Civil War escalated, the Proletariat formed the 12th
Red Army, and the garrison held out numerous attacks by Terek Cossacks from
August 11, 1918 until November 12. However with the arrival of Denikin's
armies, the Bolsheviks were forced to withdraw and Grozny was captured on
February 4, 1919 by the White Army. Underground operations were carried
out, but only the arrival of the Caucasus front of the Red Army in 1920 allowed
the town to permanently end up with the RSFSR on 17 March. Simultaneously
it became part of the Soviet Mountain Republic, which was formed on 20
January 1921, and was the capital of the Chechen National District inside it.
On 30 November 1922, the mountain republic was dissolved, and the
national district became the Chechen Autonomous Oblast (Chechen AO) with
Grozny as capital. At this time most of the population was still Russian, but of
Cossack descent. As Cossacks were viewed a potential threat to the Soviet
nation, Moscow actively encouraged the migration of Chechens into the city
from the mountains. In 1934 the Chechen-Ingush AO was formed which then
grew into the Chechen-Ingush ASSR in 1936.
However in 1944 the whole population of Chechens and Ingush was
deported after accusations of collaboration with Nazi Germany and about
10,000 died. All traces of them in the city, including books and graveyards,
were destroyed by the NKVD troops. Grozny became capital of the Grozny
Oblast of RSFSR, and the city at the time was again wholly Russian. In 1957
Chechen-Ingush ASSR was restored, and the Chechens were allowed to return.
Once again migration of non-Russians into Grozny continued whilst the ethnic
Russian population, in turn, moved to other parts of the USSR, notably the
Baltic states. By the late 1960s, Chechens and Ingush outnumbered ethnic
Russians.
At the same time much development was fueled into the city. Architecture
spiralled and like in many Soviet Cities was marked in periods beginning with
the Stalinist apartments in the centre as well as administrative buildings
including the massive Council of Ministers and the Grozny University
buildings. Late construction includes the high rise apartment blocks prominent
in all Socialist cities and a city airport. In 1989 the population of the city was
almost 400,000 people.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Grozny became the seat of a
separatist government led by Dzhokhar Dudaev. At this time of chaos, many of
the remaining Russian minority were expelled by groups of militants, adding to
a harassment and discrimination from the new authorities. These events are
perceived by some as an act of an ethnic cleansing, although this was never
confirmed by the Russian government or the international community.
The covert Russian attempts of overthrowing Dudayev by a means of an
armed Chechen opposition forces resulted in a repeated failed assaults on the
city. The last one on 26 November 1994 ended with capture of 21 Russian
Army tank crew members, secretly hired as a mercenaries by the FSK (former
KGB, soon renamed FSB); their capture was sometimes cited as one of the
reasons of Boris Yeltsin's decision to launch the open intervention. In
meantime, Grozny airport and other targets were bombed by unmarked Russian
aircraft.
During the First Chechen War, Grozny was the site of an intense battle
lasting from December 1994 to February 1995 and ultimately ending with the
capture of the city by the Russian military. Intense fighting and carpet bombing
carried out by the Russian Air Force destroyed much of the city. Thousands of
combatants on both sides died in the fighting, alongside civilians, many of
which were reportedly ethnic Russians; unclaimed bodies were later collected
and buried in mass graves on the city outskirts. The main federal military base
in Chechnya was located in the area of Grozny air base, and the Leninsky
district was location of the notorious PAP-1 "filtration camp" where Chechen
suspects were imprisoned without trial and tortured. [3]
Chechen guerrilla units operating from nearby mountains managed to harass
and demoralize the Russian Army by means of guerilla tactics and raids, such
as the attack on Grozny in March 1996, which aided to political and public
pressure for a withdrawal of Russian troops. In August 1996, a raiding force of
1,500 to 3,000 militants recaptured the city in a surprise attack. They
surrounded and routed its entire garrison of 10,000 MVD troops, while fighting
off the Russian Army units from the Khankala base. The battle ended with a
final ceasefire and Grozny was once again in the hands of Chechen separatists.
The name was changed to Djohar in 1997 by the President of the separatist
Ichkeria republic, Aslan Maskhadov. By this time most of the remaining
Russian minority fled.
Grozny was once again the epicenter of fighting after the outbreak of the
Second Chechen War, which further caused thousands of fatalities. During the
early phase of the Russian siege on Grozny in October 25, 1999, Russian
forces launched five SS-21 ballistic missiles at the crowded central bazaar and
a maternity ward, killing more than 140 people and injuring hundreds. During
the massive shelling of the city that followed, most of the Russian artillery
were directed toward the upper floors of the buildings; although this caused
massive destruction of infrastructure, civilian casualties were much less than in
the first battles. The enormous scale of the devastation prompted numerous
comparisons with Hiroshima and other cities leveled during World War II.
The final seizure of the city was set in early February 2000, when the
Russian military lured the besieged militants to a promised safe passage.
Seeing that there was no build-up of forces outside, the militants agreed.
During one day prior to the planned evacuation, the Russian Army mined the
path between the city and the open the village of Alkhan-Kala and concentrated
most firepower on that point. As the result, both the city mayor and military
commander both were killed; a number of other prominent separatist leaders
were also killed or wounded, including Shamil Basayev and several hundred
rank-and-file militants. Afterwards, the Russians slowly entered the empty city
and on February 6 raised the Russian flag in the centre. The seizure was
accompanied by civilian killings, most notably the Novye Aldi massacre, and
many buildings and even whole areas of the city were systematically
dynamited. A month later, it was declared safe to allow the residents to return
to their homes, although demolishing continued for some time.
In 2003 the United Nations called Grozny the most destroyed city on earth.
As of 2006, the federal government representatives of Chechnya are based
in Grozny. Even though the war is officially over, political murders, bombings
and clashes between the Russian forces and the separatists continue but are
becoming increasingly sporadic. The city's central Leninsky district has
acquired a sinister reputation in 2001 as the police regularly came across
bodies of civilians, many ethnic Russians, killed for no apparent reason. In
August 2002, an entire residential area near Khankala was demolished by the
military in response to the Khankala Mi-26 disaster. On December 27, 2002,
insurgent suicide bombers destroyed the republican government complex,
killing about 80 people. On May 9, 2004, the Chechen president Akhmad
Kadyrov and several other top officials were killed by a bomb blast in Grozny.
In August 2004 at least 77 people were killed in the night-time rebel raid on the
city center.
Meanwhile, reconstruction is underway. By June 2006, out of more than
60,000 apartment buildings and private homes destroyed, 900 have been
rebuilt. Out of several dozens of industrial enterprises, three have been partially
rebuilt - the Grozny Machine-Building Factory, the Krasny Molot (Red
Hammer) and Transmash factories. The railway communication was restored
in 2005, and Grozny's Severny airport was reopened in 2007 with three weekly
flights to Moscow. Most of the city's infrastructure was destroyed and many
continue to live in ruined buildings without heating and running water.