The Grozny refugee convoy shooting occurred on 3 December 1999, when at least 40 people fleeing the besieged Chechen capital

Grozny Grozny (, ; ) is the capital city of Chechnya, Russia. The city lies on the Sunzha River. According to the 2021 Russian census, 2021 census, it had a population of 328,533 — up from 210,720 recorded in the 2002 Russian Census, 2002 ce ...

were reportedly killed by Russian special police units,

OMON OMON is a system of military special police units within the Armed Forces of Russia. It previously operated within the structures of the Soviet and Russian Ministries of Internal Affairs (MVD). Originating as the special forces unit of the So ...

Incident

According to accounts from survivors, a

refugee A refugee, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), is a person "forced to flee their own country and seek safety in another country. They are unable to return to their own country because of feared persecution as ...

convoy consisting of about 50 people in seven or eight passenger cars and one bus marked with

white flag White flags have had different meanings throughout history and depending on the locale. Contemporary use The white flag is an internationally recognized protective sign of truce or ceasefire and for negotiation. It is also used to symboliz ...

s, was heading towards the border with the Russian republic of

Ingushetia Ingushetia or Ingushetiya, officially the Republic of Ingushetia, is a republic of Russia located in the North Caucasus of Eastern Europe. The republic is part of the North Caucasian Federal District, and shares land borders with the country o ...

, when they approached a federal

roadblock A roadblock is a temporary installation set up to control or block traffic along a road. The reasons for one could be: * Roadworks *Temporary road closure during special events * Police chase *Robbery * Sobriety checkpoint * Protests In peaceful ...

near the village of

Goyty Goyty (, , ''Ġoytha'') is a rural locality (a selo) in Goytinskoye Rural Settlement of Urus-Martanovsky District, in Chechnya, Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list ...

. One survivor described masked OMON troops opening fire with

automatic rifle An automatic rifle is a type of Self-loading rifle, autoloading rifle that is capable of fully automatic firearm, automatic fire. Automatic rifles are generally selective fire, select-fire weapons capable of firing in Semi-automatic firearm, semi ...

s from their position in the nearby forest without warning. The bus exploded as bullets pierced its fuel tank. After the shooting, Russian soldiers gave

first aid First aid is the first and immediate assistance given to any person with a medical emergency, with care provided to preserve life, prevent the condition from worsening, or to promote recovery until medical services arrive. First aid is gener ...

and

painkiller An analgesic drug, also called simply an analgesic, antalgic, pain reliever, or painkiller, is any member of the group of drugs used for pain management. Analgesics are conceptually distinct from anesthetics, which temporarily reduce, and in s ...

s to the handful of survivors and brought them to the hospital in Ordzhonikidzevskaya, Ingushetia, where journalists interviewed them. The incident happened just a few miles from a major battle at the crossroads of

Urus-Martan Urus-Martan (; , ''Ẋalxa-Marta'' or , ''Martanthi'') is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, town and the administrative center of Urus-Martanovsky District of the Chechen Republic, Russia, located on the Martan River. Population: Geogr ...

, which sits astride a road that Chechen militants were using as a supply line. Another battle was under way not far from there, in the village of . The

Russian Ministry of Defence The Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation (; MOD) is the governing body of the Russian Armed Forces. The President of Russia is the Commander-in-Chief of the forces and directs the activity of the ministry. The Minister of Defence exerci ...

stated that the media reports of this incident were

disinformation Disinformation is misleading content deliberately spread to deceive people, or to secure economic or political gain and which may cause public harm. Disinformation is an orchestrated adversarial activity in which actors employ strategic dece ...

. Officials were quoted as saying that 30 vehicles were destroyed on roads leading out of Grozny, but that all the cars contained rebels, not civilians. They also said they had opened a safe passage out of Grozny for the thousands of civilians. A similar incident involving refugees fleeing Grozny was reported in August 1996 during the

First Chechen War The First Chechen War, also referred to as the First Russo-Chechen War, was a struggle for independence waged by the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria against the invading Russia, Russian Federation from 1994 to 1996. After a mutually agreed on treaty ...

References

External links

'Russians fired on refugees'

BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broad ...

, 4 December 1999 {{DEFAULTSORT:Grozny refugee convoy shooting 1999 murders in Russia 20th-century mass murder in Russia Deaths by firearm in Russia December 1999 in Russia Grozny in the Second Chechen War Mass shootings in Russia Massacres in 1999 Massacres in the Chechen–Russian conflict Russian war crimes in Chechnya War crimes of the Second Chechen War

Incident

See also

References

External links