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The 20th century saw humanity commit some of the most well recorded atrocities in human history. Post and prior to the Second world war the Soviet Union were no stranger to atrocities committed against minority groups. However, with the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, the atrocities did not end and followed into the Russian Federation. From 1991, to modern day, Eastern Europe has endured disastrous conflicts spanning several countries and generations, from the breakup of Yugoslavia to the modern proxy war in Ukraine.

In this poster, I will be discussing two conflicts that occured in Eastern Europe between 1992 to 1996, how these conflicts begun, the crimes committed by military forces against civilian populations during the conflicts, the global response to the crisis' and the theoretical considerations that are relevant to these crimes. I will also touch on how these conflicts effected the world on an International level, and the consequences that continue to linger 25 years later.

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Chechen men discover a shallow grave belonging to Chechen rebel fighters

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The crimes committed during the conflicts that will be discussed were war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide, all three are core international crimes that have the potential to threaten our security, peace and way of life. Under the embodiment of International law it is the responsibility of national authorities to investigate and prosecute those responsible.

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Differential Association Theory

DAT is a theory developed by Edwin Sutherland in 1939 proposing criminal behaviour is learned in the same manner as the way law abiding values are learned. (Antwi Bosiakoh T.) The theory also proposes the idea that through interaction with others, individuals learn the values, attitudes, techniques and motives that are essential for criminal behaviour. It can be argued that this theory can relate to the Russian and Serbian soldiers that committed atrocities during the conflicts discussed. The humanitarian crimes committed were done by large groups and units of soldiers, it can be argued individuals in these units were influenced by others, possibly their superiors into committing these crimes, as previously stated the Russian command did not warrant any punishments for the condemned acts.

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A Russian Special forces member engaging Chechen Rebels during a patrol, (note the Adidas sneakers, adopted by Special forces members due to their comfort).

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Background
Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, Chechnya along with several other Eastern European countries declared its independence from the former USSR. However, unlike similar countries such as Georgia, Uzbekistan and the Ukraine, Chechnya was not considered as one of the official Soviet Republics and instead regarded as a republic within the newly formed Russian Federation (History.com). Dzhokhar Dudayev, a former Soviet Air Force general and his militant group overthrew Chechnya’s local communist government and created an “anti-Russian autocratic state (History.com). The Russian president at the time, Boris Yeltsin who oversaw and permitted the dissolution of the Soviet Union would not allow a successful declaration of Independence within the territory of Russia, fearing it to cause a domino effect that could potentially spread to other Eastern bloc countries, similar to the United State’s fears over the spread of communism in South East Asia decades prior.

This is a very brief and summarised description of the Chechen conflict, as its origins date back to the 1850s. In this section I will be focusing on the crimes committed against the civilian population and the devastating effects of severing civilian infrastructure during the First Chechen war.

War crimes and atrocities

Russia’s tactics and engagements have been condemned by Human rights organisations since the conflict begun, accusing Russian forces of indiscriminately using unreasonable and excessive use of force whenever they encountered resistance. This resulted in excessive and avoidable civilian deaths. (Russian Federation Human Rights Development) The dominant Russian strategy was to utilise heavy artillery and coordinated airstrikes to level and decimate large areas of possible resistance throughout the invasion, however has been criticised by Western organisations as “deliberate terror bombing” on the civilian population (Blank, Stephen J).

Russian soldiers were reportedly accused of preventing civilians from evacuating from areas of imminent danger and combat zones, as well as refusing humanitarian organisations from providing aid assistance to civilians in need, further unnecessarily endangering the population. Alleged yet never proven, members of the Internal troops of the ministry for Internal affairs (MVD) committed atrocious multiple systemic acts of torture, kidnapping and executions of suspected Chechen separatist loyalists. Often linked back to similar acts of genocide committed during the Bosnian war, acts of ‘cleansing raids’ towns and villages that were suspected of harbouring Chechen rebels were conducted. These raids also included consistent patterns of Russian troops indiscriminately killing, raping and looting civilians at random. (Blank, Stephen J)

Samashki Massacre

The Samashki massacre is one of the most notorious war crimes committed by soldiers of the Russian Federation. It took place in the village of Samashki on the border of Chechnya and Ingushetia, and involved the deaths of at least 100 civilians. The United Nations Commission on Human Rights (UNCHR) report detailed the massacre taking place between the 7th and 8th of April 1995 of Federal soldiers consciously and deliberately firing upon innocent, unarmed civilians including the destruction of family homes. (UNCHR Report)

Eyewitness accounts were able to back up and solidify the UN report, Khassan Baiev, a surgeon that treated wounded civilians immediately after the attack described, “Dozens of charred corpses of women and children lay in the courtyard of the mosque, which had been destroyed. The first thing my eye fell on was the burned body of a baby, lying in fetal position... A wild-eyed woman emerged from a burned-out house holding a dead baby. Trucks with bodies piled in the back rolled through the streets on the way to the cemetery.” ( Baiev, Khassan)

Global Response

A fact worth noting was the newspaper articles and televised reports of the conflict were largely uncensored to the public and as a result, a general loss of confidence and support for the conflict was raised by the Russian public. This mirrored Soviet Russia’s previous military operation with the invasion of Afghanistan, and America’s invasion of Vietnam, with both conflicts failing to gain the confidence nor support from the general public, and both failing as military operations as a result.

One of the most worrying aspects to come out of this conflict was Russia’s inability to act upon or stop human rights abuses committed by their own troops. The violations perpetuated by Russian troops were generally known and even tolerated at times by their superiors with no punishments even after completed investigations.

The response from the West was largely absent, instead of using diplomatic relations with the newly formed ‘democratic’ Russian Federation, the Clinton administration focused their efforts on solidifying their relationship with the at the time, Acting President Vladimir Putin, who eventually oversaw the 2nd invasion of Chechnya in 1999. (Human Rights Watch) The Western administration at the time severely understated the severity of the abuses committed in Chechnya, by looking at the facts, this could be seen as deliberate, as the United States wanted to mend their relationship with Russia after the NATO bombing of the former Yugoslavia.

To this present day, the International community has not given the Russian Federation any reason to fear any possible punishments nor repercussions for its violations committed.

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Russian troops move through the war-torn streets of Grozny, Chechnya's capital, 1995

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An idea of the level of destruction the Chechen people had to endure

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An idea of the level of destruction the Chechen people had to endure

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 A British soldier of 1st Battalion, Cheshire Regiment, protecting a UN aid convey in Travnik, Bosnia. 

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Background

In 1991, The dissolution of the Yugoslavian Federation saw a series of ethnic conflicts, Independence conflicts and insurgency operations in countries of the former Yugoslavia. One specific conflict was fought in the Republic of Bosnia. The conflict officially begun with full scale hostilities on 6th April 1992 following separate violent incidents between Muslims, Croats, and Serbs as well as the United States officially recognising Bosnia and Herzegovina as an official state on the same day. With full scale hostilities against the Belligerents, official military casualties reached as high as 57,000 deaths, however with any other war, the civilians were not spared. The conflict was initially fought between Yugoslav army units which transferred into the Army of Republika Srpska (VRS) and the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina (ARBiH).

War crimes and atrocities

Along with every other conflict during this era, several war crimes and crimes against Humanity were committed. According to the official United Nations (UN) report on the conflict, war crimes and atrocities were committed by all sides. Official statistics conducted by a Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) briefing found the Serbians committed a staggering 90% of the reported war crimes, with Croatian forces responsible for 6%, and Bosnian forces responsible for 4% (Kennedy, Michael D).Atrocities against the civilian population were extremely common, with Ethnic cleansing being the most common atrocity. Ethnic cleansing involved the forced expulsion, and the killing of members of the undesired Ethnic group including the destruction of worship and historical buildings. The most notorious act of creating an ethnically pure territory was the ‘Srebrenica genocide’ committed by the Bosnian Serb forces nearing the end of the war (Klemenčič, Matjaž; Žagar, Mitja).

Taking place during the Bosnian war, the Srebrenica massacre was a crime against humanity campaign conducted throughout the territories controlled by the Army of Republika Srpska (VRS). This atrocity included the systemic murder of at least 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys, and the expulsion of more than 30,000 Bosnian Muslim civilians by VRS army units. The genocide committed by the VRS units included the extermination, unlawful confinement and mass rape against the population of Bosnian Muslims and Bosnian Croats.
Between 12,000 and 50,000 women were reportedly raped during the Srebrenica massacre, committed by mainly the Serbian army and police forces. This was one of the few times the term “Mass Rape” had been used before, as the Serbian forces used rape as a coordinated weapon of war.

Global Response

During the conflict, a variety of nations sent units from their military to take part in peacekeeping operations as United Nations Peacekeepers. The British armed forces deployed 2,400 troops to Bosnia in October 1992 under ‘Operation Grapple.’ These troops were tasked with providing armed escorts for UN humanitarian aid conveys.(Imperial War Museum) The photo provided depicts a British soldier of 1st Battalion, Cheshire Regiment in Travnik, Bosnia

An International Court of Justice trial took place in 2007 discussing Serbia's responsibility of alleged genocide. The court determined the war’s stature to be international, meaning the conflict had consequences on a global scale. The court cleared Serbia from direct responsibility for the committed genocide, however the court also concluded that Serbia had ultimately failed to prevent the genocide by failing to enact any sort of punishments for those responsible.  In 2005 the United States Congress declared the policies of aggression and ethnic cleansing that had taken place during the Bosnian war met the terms defining an act of Genocide.

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(Imperial war museum) Imperial war museum, 25 photos from the Bosnian war of 1992-1995, IWM,

viewed 20th August 2021 https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/25-photos-from-the-bosnian-war-of-1992-1995

(History.com 1994) History.com 1994, ‘Russian forces enter Chechnya’, History.com, viewed 19th August 2021 https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/yeltsin-orders-russian-forces-into-chechnya

(Human Rights Watch report on Russian Federation 1996) Human Rights Watch report on Russian Federation 1996, Human Rights Watch, viewed 22nd August 2021 https://www.hrw.org/reports/1996/WR96/Helsinki-16.htm

(J. Blank 1995) Stephan J. Blank, ‘Russia’s invasion of Chechnya: A preliminary assignment’, viewed 23rd August 2021 https://web.archive.org/web/20080308081654/http://www.dtic.mil/doctrine/jel/research_pubs/chechna.pdf

(United Nations Economic and Social Council 1996) ‘The Situation of human rights in the Republic of Chechnya of the Russian Federation’, viewed 24th August 2021 http://hrlibrary.umn.edu/commission/country52/1996_13.htm

(Khassan 2003) Khassan 2003, The Oath: A surgeon under fire, New York: Walker & Co. https://archive.org/details/oathsurgeonunder00baie/page/130/mode/2up

(Human Rights Watch 2000) Human Rights Watch 2000, ‘War Crimes in Chechnya and the Response of the West, viewed 24th August 2021 https://www.hrw.org/news/2000/02/29/war-crimes-chechnya-and-response-west

(Kennedy 2002) Kennedy 2003, Cultural formations of Post communism, University of Minnesota Press

(Klemencic, Klemenčič, Žagar, 2004) Klemencic, Klemenčič, Žagar, 2004, The Former Yugoslavia's Diverse Peoples: A Reference Sourcebook, ABC-CLIO.inc https://books.google.com.au/books?id=ORSMBFwjAKcC&pg=PA311&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false

(Antwi Bosiakoh T. 2012) Antwi Bosiakoh T. 2012, Differential Association Theory. Encyclopedia of the Sciences of Learning. Springer, Boston, MA., viewed 25th August 2021 https://link.springer.com/referenceworkentry/10.1007%2F978-1-4419-1428-6_1869#howtocite