in the campaign “First Russian-Chechen War (1994–1996)”
In the autumn of 1994, Russia attacked the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria under the name of a puppet opposition, and on 11 December 1994 the Russian army openly invaded the republic. Russia expelled human rights defenders from Ichkeria and squeezed out of the republic the international missions that were recording the crimes of the occupiers.
On 9 December 1994, two days before the open invasion, Russian prime minister Chernomyrdin, by resolution No. 1360, ordered officers of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and of the FSK (the predecessor of today's FSB) to expel from Ichkeria visitors whom they deemed a threat to security[1]. Under this resolution, the occupiers expelled human rights defenders from the republic more than once[2].
The Russian military at checkpoints did not let human rights defenders, deputies of the Russian parliament or the Red Cross into the villages they were storming. When deputies and human rights defenders came to inspect the filtration camps, officers of the occupation forces did not let them talk to the detained Chechens[3][2].
Russian politicians and commanders demanded many times the recall of Tim Guldimann, head of the mission of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), which had been working in Grozny since 24 April 1995[4][5].
On 27 January 1995, the Russian Ministry of Defense did not allow Sergei Kovalyov, then Russia's human rights commissioner, to travel with an OSCE delegation to the filtration camp in Mozdok, a town in Russian-controlled North Ossetia. The members of the delegation saw Chechens there with marks of beatings (see: "Torture and Abuse")[2][6][7]. On 26 March 1995, men of the Russian police special forces detained near Samashki, a village in the west of Ichkeria, participants of the anti-war "Peace March" from Russian civic and religious organizations, took them to Nazran, a town in Russian-controlled Ingushetia, to Assinovskaya, a stanitsa in the west of Ichkeria, and some to Moscow. On 11 April, the Russian military at the checkpoint did not let the marchers into Samashki[3][8].
On 7 and 8 April 1995, the Internal Troops of Russia's Ministry of Internal Affairs (predecessors of today's Rosgvardia) stormed Samashki and killed 103 Chechen civilians (see: "Mass Killings of Civilians")[3]. From 8 April, the Russian military at the checkpoint near the village did not let into Samashki the observers of the human rights mission of Sergei Kovalyov, Russia's former human rights commissioner[8][2]. On 11 April, Boris Titenko and Anatoly Shabad, deputies of the Russian parliament, spent an hour persuading the commanders of the post to let them through. Andrei Blinushov, an observer of Memorial, recorded the answer in his diary: "entry into Samashki requires the written permission of the commander of the grouping of MVD troops, Colonel General Kulikov"[8]. On 12 April, the Russian military let the observers with the deputies into the village. On 13 April, Kulikov, commander of the occupation forces in Ichkeria, forbade letting into Samashki anyone not registered as a resident of the village, including human rights defenders[3][2].
The occupiers took the Chechen men detained in Samashki to the filtration camp in Mozdok (see: "Filtration Camp System"). On 19 April 1995, Andrei Blinushov and Yuly Rybakov, a deputy of the Russian parliament, came there for an inspection. The report of the human rights defenders' mission says: "all the main documentation was unexpectedly removed from the point [the filtration camp] and the individual questioning of the detainees was cut short". General Yegorov, who in April had replaced Kulikov at the head of the occupation forces, announced to both of them that the inspection was over[3].
On 19-20 April 1995, Lebedev and Kharchenko, colonels of the occupation forces, denied that there were pits near Assinovskaya where people were being put, and did not let Valery Borshchev, a deputy of the Russian parliament, Sergei Kovalyov, head of the human rights mission, or Memorial staff see the Chechens detained there (see: "Filtration Camp System")[3][8][2]. On 26 May 1995, the occupiers, under resolution No. 1360, forcibly took two observers of the human rights mission, Alexander Lavut and Boris Smushkevich, from near Assinovskaya to Mozdok. In June, both observers were working in Grozny again[2]. On 2 June, Kulikov, by this time again in command of the occupation forces, ordered Médecins Sans Frontières to withdraw its teams from Shatoy and Makhkety, villages in the south of Ichkeria, by six in the evening, and announced that for two months no charitable organization could appear in the south of the republic. The same day, both teams left these villages[9][2].
On 7 October 1995, unknown persons fired rockets at the building of the OSCE mission in Grozny, and the mayor of the city appointed by Russia demanded that the mission leave. The puppet government overturned the mayor's decision, but on 12 October the OSCE, because of the threat to its staff, temporarily reduced the mission from six people to two[10][11][2]. In late October 1995, the occupiers at a checkpoint did not let two members of a British Christian community that opposes wars into Sernovodsk, a village in the west of Ichkeria. The members of the community drove into the village across a field[12].
From 3 to 9 March 1996, while the occupiers were storming Sernovodsk, Russian soldiers at the checkpoints did not let Alexander Guryanov, an observer of Memorial, come closer than 400 meters to the village[12]. On 8 March, the Russian military at the checkpoint at the entrance to Sernovodsk fired on two deputies of the Russian parliament, and the commander of the checkpoint threatened to shoot them next time[12]. On 10 March, the Russian military commandant of Sernovodsk forbade letting journalists, human rights defenders, foreigners and the Red Cross into the village, and the occupiers threatened to fire on the vehicles of the Red Cross and other humanitarian organizations if they were not moved away from the village[2]. From 4 to 9 April, the occupiers did not let a delegation of the British Christian community into Sernovodsk and Samashki, although on 5 April Russian president Yeltsin had announced that international observers could travel freely around the republic[12].
On 9 June 1996, the puppet government declared that Tim Guldimann had exceeded his authority when he held direct negotiations with the delegation of Ichkeria, and called the presence of the OSCE mission in the republic undesirable[13][2]. On 24 June, Tikhomirov, commander of the occupation forces, accused the head of the mission at a press conference of taking the side of Ichkeria and of being capable of wrecking the ceasefire negotiations[14]. In early August 1996, when the Armed Forces of Ichkeria attacked the occupiers in Grozny, Russian pilots hit the mission building with two rockets from helicopters. Four of its staff hid in the cellar for eight days and were unharmed[4].
A Human Rights Watch report of January 1997 says that Russian agencies repeatedly obstructed the International Committee of the Red Cross from visiting people detained on criminal charges in connection with the war, and demanded that the committee first obtain a judge's permission[15].
In August 1996, the Armed Forces of Ichkeria liberated Grozny from the occupiers, forcing Russia to the negotiating table[16]. On 31 August 1996, peace agreements were signed in Khasavyurt (see: "Sham Treaties")[17]. On 31 December 1996, the last Russian troops left the republic[2].