Battle for Height 776 The Battle for Height 776 , part of the larger Battle of Ulus - Kert , was an engagement in the Second Chechen War that took place during fighting for control of the Argun River gorge in the highland Shatoysky District of central Chechnya , between the villages of Ulus - Kert and Selmentausen . In late February 2000 , the Russian military attempted to surround and destroy a large Chechen separatist force ( including many foreign fighters ) withdrawing from the Chechen capital Grozny to Shatoy and Vedeno in the southern mountains of Chechnya following the 1999 – 2000 siege and capture of Grozny and the rebel main force ' s breakout from the city earlier that month . On 29 February 2000 , just hours after Russian Defense Minister Igor Sergeyev had assured his government that the Chechen War was over , an isolated Russian force based around a company of paratrooper s of the 76th Airborne Division from the city of Pskov found itself cut off by a retreating Chechen column led by Ibn Al - Khattab , commander of foreign fighters in Chechnya . After heavy close - quarters overnight fighting , Russian positions on the hill were overrun and most of the soldiers were killed . Uncertainty continues to surround many aspects of the engagement , including the number of combatants , casualties , how much artillery support and close air support was provided , and even how long the battle lasted . Battle . The goal of a regimental combat group task force of the Russian Airborne Troops ( VDV ) tactical group in the area , based on the 104th Guards Airborne Regiment of the 76th Division and including also teams from the Spetsnaz , GRU , and the elite Vympel group of FSB , was to block an exit from a gorge , while other Russian forces attempted to encircle a large Chechen force departing the village of Ulus Kert . The 6th Company , part of the regiment ' s 2nd Battalion , was part of this blocking force . The company ' s nominal commander was Major Sergey Molodov ; however , it was actually led personally by Lieutenant Colonel Mark Yevtyukhin , commander of the entire battalion . With him were a reconnaissance platoon and an artillery forward observer team led by Captain Viktor Romanov . At dawn of 29 February , in dense fog , the Russians were surprised by a large - scale Chechen breakthrough and were attacked from their rear by a reconnaissance group of about 20 rebel fighters , soon joined by many more who then had them surrounded . After suffering heavy losses ( including the death of Major Molodov ) from the initial ambush , the rest of the Russians retreated to a hilltop designated Height 776 , where they hastily dug defensive positions . They received fire support , including from the regimental artillery battalion ' s 2S9 Nona self - propelled 120 mm mortars ; however , a pair of Mil Mi - 24 attack helicopters reportedly turned back after being shot at en route . The only Russian reinforcement that made it to Height 776 were 14 men of the 4th Company ' s third platoon , personally led by the battalion ' s deputy commander , Major Alexander Dostavalov . Attempts by the 1st and 3rd Companies , as well as the rest of the 4th Company , to rescue their surrounded comrades or to stop the breakthrough were largely unsuccessful . Eventually , badly wounded Captain Romanov allegedly called for fire support on his own position before being overrun in the final Chechen attack . According to the Russians , 84 of their soldiers were killed in combat at Height 776 , including all of the officers . Only seven rank - and - file soldiers survived the battle , four of them injured ( some Russian sources acknowledge only six survivors , not counting the seventh who had answered a call for surrender and was then beaten , stripped out of his uniform and abandoned by the rebels ) . Controversies . The battle embarrassed Russian military officials , who attempted to conceal the casualties they had suffered . Russia ' s top military leaders ( including Marshal of the Russian Federation Sergeyev , VDV commander General Georgy Shpak , and the commander of federal forces in Chechnya , General Gennady Troshev ) initially insisted that only 31 of their men were killed in the battle and denied the unofficial rumours of 86 dead . Sergey Yastrzhembsky , Russian President Vladimir Putin ' s spokesman on Chechnya , also claimed 31 fatalities were " the total losses of that company for several days " . After days of denials , Russian officials eventually admitted the losses , some of them apparently caused by friendly fire from their own artillery . Russian newspapers reported that Marshal Sergeyev had ordered the losses to be covered up , as the loss came just a week after 25 men from the 76th Airborne Division were killed in another battle in Chechnya . Even after the figure of " at least 85 " killed has been confirmed by Sergeyev , VDV deputy commander Nikolai Staskov said they were killed over four days , from 29 February to 3 March . According to one source , " unofficially the losses sustained by Russian paratroopers on 1 March are blamed [ by the Russian command ] on the decision of the Eastern group ' s commander Gen . Sergey Makarov and the VDV tactical group ' s commander Aleksandr Lentsov . " The final figure ultimately stood at 84 . However the total Russian strength and the losses among the other Russian units operating in the area of Ulus - Kert were never officially disclosed . In the first days after the battle , Gen . Troshev said 1 , 000 rebel fighters were involved . This figure was subsequently raised to 1 , 500 – 2 , 000 by Yastrzhembsky and eventually to 2 , 500 by Troshev . However , according to a statement by Colonel General Valery Manilov , first deputy chief of the Russian General Staff , there were only 2 , 500 to 3 , 500 separatist fighters left in all of Chechnya at this time . According to Yastrzhembsky on 6 March , some 70 rebels had laid down their arms at what he called a " pocket " at Selmentausen , while " up to 1 , 000 might have succeeded in escaping " . The very first Russian official statements mentioned the death of 100 Chechen fighters at the price of 31 Russian soldiers . According to the article in " Krasnaya Zvezda " ( " Red Star " ) , the official newspaper of the Russian Ministry of Defense , separatist casualties in the Argun Gorge area totaled approximately 400 dead , including 200 bodies allegedly found at Height 776 . However , the official federal estimate was later raised to about 500 enemy dead , according to the Russian government website , and in 2008 the state - controlled English - language TV station Russia Today spoke even of over 700 fighters killed there . On 10 March , Chechen President Aslan Maskhadov announced a general order to begin " an all - out partisan war " and the separatist forces remaining in the still unoccupied territories scattered to launch a long guerrilla war . The Russian command thus lost one of their last chances to defeat a large number of the pro - independence fighters in a concentrated position , although in March the federal forces managed to inflict devastating losses against a different column of some 1 , 000 – 1 , 500 fighters ( trapping the group under Ruslan Gelayev in the village of Komsomolskoye on 6 March and then killing hundreds of them in the following siege ) . While there were no civilians in the immediate proximity of the clashes at the uninhabited Height 776 , there were severe civilian casualties during the struggle for the broader Argun Gorge area , in particular from the artillery and air attacks on Ulus - Kert , Yaryshmardy and other villages , where thousands of locals and refugees from Grozny were trapped . Furthermore , there were many credible reports of direct atrocities against the population . For example , on 6 March , a group of civilians was detained by soldiers at the notorious Russian checkpoint on the road between Ulus - Kert and Duba - Yurt ; 12 men from the group " disappeared " and the bodies of three of them were unearthed at the nearby village of Tangi - Chu two months later . In an infamous incident later in March , a local girl , Elza Kungayeva , was abducted from her home in Tangi - Chu , then raped and strangled to death by Russian Ground Forces Colonel Yuri Budanov . Aftermath . Later , it was seen as a glorious last stand by the paratroopers , confirming the VDV ' s reputation in the same way that the Battle of Camarón did for the French Foreign Legion , and the events have been quickly enshrined in heroic myth . Even though some in the Russian army view it as a defeat that could have been avoided , it is officially seen in Russia as an example of bravery and sacrifice . In 2001 , Putin flew to Chechnya to visit the former battlefield . In 2008 , a day before Russia ' s Defender of the Fatherland Day , a street in Grozny was officially renamed as " 84 Pskov Paratroopers Street " , a move that sparked further controversy in Chechnya . Awards . On 12 March 2000 , President Putin signed an " ukaz " conferring Russian state awards upon participants of the battle . 63 soldiers received the Order of Courage and 22 ( all 13 officers and nine enlisted men ) were awarded the country ' s highest medal and title of the Hero of the Russian Federation . In comparison , only 65 medals of the Hero of the Soviet Union medal were awarded for the entire duration of the 10 - year Soviet intervention in Afghanistan . Hero of the Russian Federation recipients for this incident are : In popular culture . A series of Russian productions loosely based on these events were produced in the years after the battle , including a 2004 theatrical musical show , the 2004 television series " Chest imeyu " ( " I Have the Honour " ) , the 2006 four - part television film " Grozovye vorota " ( " The Storm Gate " ) and the 2006 movie " Proriv " ( " Breakthrough " ) .