Commander of the Western Grouping of the Federal troops in Chechnya General Vladimir Shamanov gesturing at the forward Russian positions near the settlement of Bamut, Western Chechnya, in 1999. Danilyushin / TassphotoFrom Time Magazine:
On the morning of February 4, 2000, four months into the Second Chechen War, Russian troops hoping to flush out a group of retreating Chechen rebel fighters began pounding the village of Katyr-Yurt with 550-lb (250-kg) and 1,100-lb (500-kg) unguided bombs. No prior warning was given to the village's sleeping residents. "The main Chkalov St. was totally destroyed," reported the independent Novaya Gazeta from the scene. "Not a single house remains standing." The destruction of Katyr-Yurt, 25 miles (40 km) from the Chechen capital of Grozny, continued even as villagers tried to flee through a corridor they had been told was safe. Accounts differ, but scores, if not hundreds, were killed and wounded.
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My Comment: Chechnya General Vladimir Shamanov only did what his superiors told him to do. The focus may be on him in this Time magazine article .... but the real focus should be on the Chechnyan Islamic radicals who started this war, and the leaders in Moscow who crushed them.