It is a campaign with wider lessons.
Urban warfare is seen as one of the challenges facing armed forces in the coming decades.
And as the Chechen resistance shows, it is a form of combat in which even numerically and technically superior forces do not hold all the aces. The Russian army is much criticised in the West for its poor training and lack of basic military skills - shortfalls which are once again in evidence in Chechnya. But in several important respects, the Russian commanders have learned some of the lessons of their first campaign in Chechnya. And Russia's political leaders have become a little like their Western counterparts in recognising the need to try to avoid massive casualties among their own troops for fear of losing the public relations battle at home. Back in 1994 the Russian army stormed into Grozny poorly prepared - with little or no real intelligence and with heavy armour leading the way.