Aldy, Chechnya
February 5, 2000
On this eventful date, Russian special forces based in St. Petersburg massacred more than sixty civilians and r***d six women in the city of Aldy, a suburb of Grozny and the seat of the separatist government. Civilian houses were burned and looted. The atrocity, which Putin’s government has never admitted was a war crime, became known as the Novye Aldi m******e. During this campaign, Russians recaptured the city of Grozny, and the Chechen separatist Ichkerian regime fell.
The Russians’ tactical decision to storm Aldy was largely symbolic, a message of brutality and oppression to come. Fleeing the destruction that had taken place during the Second Chechen War, most of the town’s population of 27,000 had abandoned their homes. The remaining citizens numbere
