Belligerents: Russian Federation-republic of Ichkeria

The Second Chechen War, in a later phase better known as the War in the North Caucasus,
was launched by the Russian Federation starting August 26, 1999, in which Russian
federal forces largely re-took control of the separatist region of Chechnya.
The Second Chechen War was started in response to the Invasion of Dagestan by the
IIPB, and the Russian apartment bombings which Russia blamed on Chechen separatists,
although no evidence linking Chechens with the bombings has been released to the public.
The campaign largely reversed the outcome of the First Chechen War, in which the region
gained de facto independence as the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria. Although it is regarded
by many as an internal conflict within the Russian Federation, the war attracted a large
number of Jihadist foreign fighters.
During the initial campaign, Russian military and pro-Russian Chechen paramilitary faced
Chechen separatists in open combat, and seized the Chechen capital Grozny after a winter
siege that lasted from late 1999 to the following February. Russia established direct rule of
Chechnya in May 2000 and after the full-scale offensive, Chechen guerrilla resistance
throughout the North Caucasus region continued to inflict heavy Russian casualties and
challenge Russian political control over Chechnya for several more years. Some Chechen
rebels also carried out terrorist attacks against civilians in Russia. These terrorist attacks,
as well as widespread human rights violations by Russian and rebel forces, drew
international condemnation.
Russia has severely disabled the Chechen rebel movement, although violence still occurs
throughout the North Caucasus. Large-scale fighting has been replaced by guerrilla
warfare and bombings targeting federal troops and forces of the regional government, with
the violence more often spilling over into adjacent regions since 2005. The exact death toll
from this conflict is unknown. Unofficial estimates range from 25,000 - 50,000 dead or
missing, mostly civilians in Chechnya. No clear figures for Russian losses are known to
the public. Both Chechen wars remain largely unpublicized abroad.