Imposition of Its Own Picture of Reality: Occupation as Salvation

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. Throughout the war, Moscow declared the invasion and occupation a blessing for the Chechens.

On 30 November 1994, Russian president Yeltsin signed secret decree No. 2137 "On Measures to Restore Constitutional Legality and Law and Order on the Territory of the Chechen Republic" (that is what the colonizer called the preparation of the attack on Ichkeria)^[1]. On 9 December, by decree No. 2166 the president instructed the Russian government to use all means "to ensure… the rights and freedoms of citizens"^[2].

On 27 January 1995, Yeltsin signed decree No. 79 "On Ensuring the Conditions for the Re-creation of Constitutional Organs of Power in the Chechen Republic" (see: "Installation of a New System of Governance")^[1][3]. On 12 July 1996, the fourth day of the occupation troops' offensive, the president, by decree No. 1028, named as constitutional organs the government that Moscow had installed in Grozny (see: "Puppet Government")^[1][3][4].

On 11 December 1994, the day of the open invasion, Yeltsin addressed the citizens of Russia: "Our goal is to find a political solution to the problems of one of the subjects of the Russian Federation — the Chechen Republic, and to protect its citizens from armed extremism." The president of Russia promised: "I oblige all officials responsible for carrying out the measures to restore constitutional order in the Chechen Republic [that is what Russia called its war against independent Ichkeria] not to use violence against the civilian population and to take it under protection"^[1]. A week later, from 18 December, Russian pilots bombed Grozny, and from 19 December until the storming on 31 December they bombed it every day. Human rights defenders of the Russian organization Memorial write: "The bombs and missiles fell mainly on neighborhoods where residential buildings stood and where there were knowingly no military objects" (see: "Indiscriminate Attacks")^[1]. By the estimate of the Observer Mission of Russian human rights organizations, from December 1994 to March 1995 the occupiers killed 25-29 thousand civilian townspeople in Grozny (see: "Mass Killings of Civilians")^[1].

On 11 January 1996, the Russian government replied to the UN Secretary-General's inquiry about human rights in Ichkeria that an extremely complex situation had forced Moscow to use armed force. The reply says that on 29 August 1995 Yeltsin appointed Lobov, secretary of the Russian Security Council, as his representative in Ichkeria to guarantee human rights and prepare free elections (see: "Sham Expression of Popular Will")^[5].

On 23 April 1996, Chernomyrdin, chairman of the Russian government, stated at a meeting of the government commission on settling the war: "The UN Charter also contains the concept of 'peace enforcement', and in this case it can be applied"^[1]. Two days later, on 25 April, Russian pilots bombed Shali, a town southeast of Grozny that the occupation troops had surrounded six days earlier (see: "Indiscriminate Attacks"). The occupiers killed Chechen civilians and, according to the report of the head of the Shali district to the Interfax agency, wounded 29 people^[1]. Eleven days later, on 6 May, Russian troops seized Shali without a fight and found no defenders there (see: "Collective Punishment")^[1].

On 17 July 1996, Chernomyrdin, chairman of the Russian government, stated at a meeting of the government commission on settling the war that in six months Russia had liquidated the "anti-constitutional regime" (that is what Russia called the government of Ichkeria) that had threatened its territorial integrity^[1].