Chechnya toll could be 160 000

MOSCOW – Up to 160 000 civilians and troops have died or gone missing in the two wars Russia has launched in rebel Chechnya, but only a quarter of them were ethnic Chechens, a top pro-Moscow official said yesterday.

“Between 150 000 and 160 000 dead – this is the death toll of the two campaigns,” Interfax news agency quoted Taus Dzhabrailov, head of Chechnya’s interim parliament, as saying. “Rough estimates show that between 30 000 and 40 000 ethnic Chechens have died in the republic in both campaigns,” he said, according to Itar-Tass news agency.Dzhabrailov did not explain why he believed ethnic Chechens made up such a small proportion of the death toll, but in the absence of reliable Kremlin figures, his remarks came as a rare official assessment of the price of Moscow’s drive to reinstate its grip on the North Caucasus province.Russia suffered a humiliating defeat in its first military campaign in Chechnya in 1994-96.Troops sent to the region in 1999 ended its short-lived independence, but have yet to defeat separatist fighters.The government has never published conclusive figures of military losses in the second Chechnya campaign, whose widely advertised success is among the key factors of President Vladimir Putin’s popularity.It has been even more reticent about the death toll in the botched first war, described by current Kremlin leaders as a “national shame.”Civilian losses in the Chechen wars have never been calculated and official statistics seem to be targeted at hiding the truth rather than revealing it.- Nampa-Reuters”Rough estimates show that between 30 000 and 40 000 ethnic Chechens have died in the republic in both campaigns,” he said, according to Itar-Tass news agency.Dzhabrailov did not explain why he believed ethnic Chechens made up such a small proportion of the death toll, but in the absence of reliable Kremlin figures, his remarks came as a rare official assessment of the price of Moscow’s drive to reinstate its grip on the North Caucasus province.Russia suffered a humiliating defeat in its first military campaign in Chechnya in 1994-96.Troops sent to the region in 1999 ended its short-lived independence, but have yet to defeat separatist fighters.The government has never published conclusive figures of military losses in the second Chechnya campaign, whose widely advertised success is among the key factors of President Vladimir Putin’s popularity.It has been even more reticent about the death toll in the botched first war, described by current Kremlin leaders as a “national shame.”Civilian losses in the Chechen wars have never been calculated and official statistics seem to be targeted at hiding the truth rather than revealing it.- Nampa-Reuters