Grozny
June 17th, 2022
Protests had seemingly spontaneously broken out as Chechens flooded into central Grozny, flooding the central square and blocking traffic on Vladimir Putin Avenue. They carried flags of the briefly independent Chechnya of the 1990s, and signs with messages in both Russian and Chechen. Unbeknownst to the Russians and their puppet regime installed in the Chechen autonomous republic, this had all be planned months in advance.
The response was, as expected, heavy handed. Riot police arrived on the scene within 15 minutes and began attempting to disperse the crowd with tear gas and rubber bullets. But the crowd did not disperse. They began to throw rocks and bricks at the riot police. Some protestors got into physical confrontations with the riot police, in many cases losing but one protestor was able to rip the KS-23 shotgun from a riot officer's hands before being brutally gunned down. In the distance, some sporadic gunfire could be heard. Were it not for the arrival of reinforcements, the protest would surely be brutally put down.
The sporadic gunfire in the distance was, in fact, the reinforcements needed by the protestors. Armed fighters, pushing into Grozny from the south in a convoy of off-road vehicles, some armed with machine guns. Some vehicles pulled off from the convoy at certain intersections, heading to capture key government facilities around the city. Most, however, continued on to central Grozny. Armed men and women would disembark near the central square and begin firing on the riot police, pushing them back closer and closer to the mayor's office. The riot police had retreated inside, and had now transitioned to using live ammunition against the gunmen now attacking them. But someone had trained the gunmen, or they had battlefield experience from somewhere, and were able to push on the riot police with skillful employment of fire and maneuver tactics. After a 30 minute running gun battle in the center of Grozny, the gunmen and civilian protestors had stormed the mayor's office. Around the city, other groups of armed gunmen were able to complete their objectives as well during the coming hours.
As gun battles continued through the streets of Grozny, a man representing himself as the military leader of the Chechen Independence Front made an address that would be released to news media around the world from what appeared to be a former Russian government office. Viewers would see a man with a neatly trimmed beard and piercing blue eyes, wearing the Western style military equipment common among elite Russian forces with patches of the flag of independent Chechnya on his sleeves and plate carrier, as well as a green armband. On the desk in front of him sat a heavily modified Kalashnikov pattern rifle. The man, identified as Idris Khasanov, had this to say.
I was once Captain Idris Khasanov of the 141st Motor Rifle Regiment of the Russian National Guard. But no longer. I was deployed to an unjust war, I saw boys under my command die to weapons we had no way to fight back against and a deeply motivated opposition who want to maintain their freedom. So I surrendered to an enemy that we as Chechens have no fight against. I couldn't bear to see another 18 year old boy be turned into soup by Turkish drones, to imagine the pain his mother feels to know her son will never grow up, will never marry and have a family, will never even have a proper funeral because all that's left is a red stain on the ground. And for what? What benefit to the Chechen people? We were sent to die so that kids from Moscow and St. Petersburg wouldn't be sent to die.
After my surrender I returned home in secret with those men under my command who still wished to follow me. For several months we have been laying the groundwork, growing our numbers and organizing in secret. And today, it is time to begin a general uprising in Chechnya and Ingushetia. You can already see it on the streets of Grozny, regular Chechen men and women with Kalashnikovs detaining the Muscovite's security forces and laying siege to the government buildings of the Muscovite's puppet regime. Today, inshallah, is the day we regain our freedom or die trying. Freedom from the Muscovite and those Chechens who betrayed their people for political power and money. As the acting military leader of the Chechen Independence Front, I hereby declare the Chechen Republic an independent state, no long part of the Russian Federation. We will win our freedom back whether at the negotiating table or on the battlefield.
Along with the address, the Chechen Independence Front released a list of demands.
1: The Russian Federation will remove all security forces from Chechnya and Ingushetia
2: The Russian Federation will remove all government personnel from Chechnya and Ingushetia
3: The Russian Federation will recognize the independence of Chechnya and Ingushetia as the Chechen Republic, and allow us to practice democracy and equality without interference as was the tradition of our people before the invader conquered us
4: The Russian Federation will cede historically Chechen and Ingush territory that is now within North Ossetia and Dagestan
And so, the fight for Chechnya's freedom had once again begun. On the part of the Chechens, they had hoped the time to strike was right. They had assumed the Russian military would be weakened and distracted by the invasion of Ukraine, hopefully unable to mount a proper response.
