RETRO-CHECHNYA-RUSSIAN TANK-SPECIAL FORCES

Members of the Russian Army "special forces", followed by a tank, enter in May 1996 in the Chechen stronghold of Bamut, a village in western Chehnya, during the battle between Russian commandos and Chechen separatist guerrillas. Federal forces backed by tanks and APC took control of the locality. Bamut, a fortress-like village that once housed a Soviet rocket base, had little strategic value but symbolized Chechen's struggle for independence. Russian troops entered Chechnya 11 December 1994 with the stated aim of introducing constitutional rule in the Caucasus republic. Russian forces fought a brutal war in 1994-1996 to crush separatist rebels in Chechnya that ended in defeat for Moscow and killed 80,000 people. AFP PHOTO ALEXANDER NEMENOV (Photo credit should read ALEXANDER NEMENOV/AFP via Getty Images)