Forum Klix.ba

uSSian brutality is something that we have become familiar with thanks to Bucha, Izium and Lyman amongst others.

This brutality is nothing knew. It is a signature of the ruSSian armed forces.

Today I’m going to talk about a massacre the ruSSians carried out during the First Chechen War at a village named Samashki.

Fair warning, this will contain descriptions of violence that are extremely upsetting but I believe it is important that people know about events like these.

To allow it to be forgotten is to fail the victims.

The Samashki massacre occurred between 7-8th April 1995 in the village of Samashki, Chechnya.

The ruSSian assault on Samashki was the ruSSians call a Zachistka (clearing or cleansing operation). Aimed at clearing the village of Chechen fighters.

In reality there was no organised resistance left in Samashki. The fighters had left following an ultimatum from the ruSSian forces that if they did not leave, the village would be destroyed. By August 6th there were no Chechen fighters in Samashki.

On 7th April. The ruSSian forces commenced their “cleansing operation”. By the time they were finished more than 300 civilians would be dead and more than 350 buildings would be destroyed.

The dead included men, women, children and the elderly. Some of those who died were Chechen WW2 veterans who had fought for the Red Army. At least 4 of the dead were ethnic ruSSians. Those who could not be ID’d were not counted in the total.

The killing was wanton, indiscriminate and brutal.

Many were shot.

Others were killed when the ruSSians dropped grenades or fired indiscriminately into the basements where they had been taking shelter.

Some died when they were burned by ruSSians soldiers using flamethrowers.

Some burned to death in their houses that had been set alight by flamethrower or attacked by ruSSian tanks and artillery.

When people attempted to flee their burning homes, they were cut down remorselessly by ruSSian gun fire.

One particularly harrowing account comes from Chechen surgeon Khassan Baiev who treated the wounded in Samashki. I will include a longer version of this material in the reply below.

“While treating the wounded, I heard stories of young men - gagged and trussed up - dragged with chains behind personnel carriers. I heard of Russian aviators who threw Chechen prisoners, screaming, out their helicopters. There were rapes, but it was hard to know how many because women were too ashamed to report them. One girl was raped in front of her father. I heard of one case in which the mercenary grabbed a newborn baby, threw it among each other like a ball, then shot it dead in the air.”

The killing was carried out by men from:

Sofrinskaya Brigade of the Internal Troops
Moscow Oblast OMON (special purpose troops)
Orenburg SOBR (special rapid response)
Moscow Police
“Elite counter terror forces”

Eye witnesses describe many of the ruSSian servicemen being drunk or high as they committed their crimes.

In the west we know much of the crimes committed by the Nazis during WW2. But for some reason very few people know about horrors such as Samashki.

Names such as Oradour-sur-Glane in France and Lidice in Czechia stand as monuments to Nazi brutality.

Today, names such as Bucha, Izium, Mariupol and many others stand as monuments to ruSSian brutality.

Samashki should also stand as a monument to ruscist brutality and the value of a ruSSian promise. More people should know it’s name and what happened there.

One final note. At the same time as the international community was condemning ruSSian actions in Chechnya. Then ruSSian President Boris Yeltsin made a speech comparing the Chechens to the “Nazis of WW2”.

Their brutality, their lies and their excuses are not new nor particularly original.

If you learned something here please consider Reposting.

Expanded text from Khassan Baiev below.