Alkhan - Yurt massacre The Alkhan - Yurt massacre was the December 1999 incident in the village of Alkhan - Yurt near the Chechen [ [ Capital capital Grozny involving [ [ Russia ] ] n troops under command of [ [ general ] ] [ [ Vladimir Shamanov ] ] . The villagers claimed approximately 41 civilians were killed in the spree , while the human rights groups confirmed and documented 17 incidents of murder and three incidents of rape . According to Human Rights Watch ( HRW ) , it was not an isolated incident , as Russian troops have been systematically looting villages and towns under their control . Rampage . Russian forces took control of Alkhan - Yurt , a village just south of Grozny on December 1 , 1999 , after weeks of heavy fighting . The Chechen fighters , who included many foreign fighters among their ranks , were reportedly led by [ [ Akhmed Zakayev ] ] . Because of their experience of the [ [ First Chechen War ] ] , the people in Alkhan - Yurt were able to take precautions which limited civilian casualties during the heavy [ [ bombardment ] ] . Nearly all of the killings committed by Russian troops in Alkhan - Yurt after they seized the village were reportedly carried out by soldiers who were looting . The soldiers [ [ summary execution | summarily executed ] ] many who had resisted it , and numerous other villagers received death threats or narrowly escaped execution . According to the 2000 HRW report : ( Russian soldiers ) first expelled , temporarily , hundreds of civilians from Alkhan - Yurt , and then began systematically looting and burning the village , killing anyone in their way . Among the dead were : [ [ centenarian ] ] Nabitst Kornukayeva , and her elderly son Arbi , who were found shot to death in the yard of their looted home ; fifty - seven - year - old Khamid Khazuyev , who was shot in the yard of his home when he tried to stop looting soldiers ; Akhanpash Dudayev , sixty - five , who was killed in his basement , and his body burned in his looted home ; and Taus Sultanov , forty - nine , who was shot in a cellar and left to bleed to death while soldiers robbed other civilians with him of their belongings . The killings went on for more than two weeks , without any apparent attempt by Russian authorities to stop it . Aindi Altimirov , the last to die , was killed and [ [ beheading | beheaded ] ] by Russian soldiers on December 18 . ( . . . ) The looting of Alkhan - Yurt was systematic and organized , involving a large number of soldiers who acted with impunity throughout their stay in the village . Looted goods were stored in the homes occupied by Russian commanders as well as the tents of soldiers , and were transported openly in military vehicles out of Alkhan - Yurt . It is simply impossible that such widespread looting could take place in broad daylight without the knowledge and , at a minimum , the tacit consent of Russian commanders . The looting that took place in Alkhan - Yurt was not an isolated incident of such misconduct by Russian forces in Chechnya : since the beginning of the Chechen conflict , Russian troops have been systematically looting villages and towns under their control , and there is no evidence that the Russian command has taken any steps to prevent it . Aftermath . Initially , the Russian [ [ Ministry of Defence ( Russia ) | Defence Ministry ] ] denied that anything happened in the village of Alkhan - Yurt . However , when Russia ' s [ [ Deputy Prime Minister ] ] [ [ Nikolai Koshman ] ] and a committee of Russian generals inspected the village , the officials discovered several caches of goods looted by Russian soldiers , including some splattered with blood . In addition , one drunken soldier reportedly even threatened to " shoot " Koshman . The officials promised an investigation , which was soon closed by the military " for lack of evidence of a crime . " The villagers and [ [ Malik Saidullayev ] ] , one of the most prominent of pro - Moscow Chechen leaders , identified the soldiers responsible for the abuses as the unit under the command of [ [ Major - General ] ] Vladimir Shamanov . Despite his role in presiding over the abuses in Alkhan - Yurt , Shamanov received Russia ' s highest honor , the [ [ Hero of Russia ] ] medal , on December 28 , 1999 , from the hands of then [ [ Russian President ] ] [ [ Boris Yeltsin ] ] who described the army ' s conduct in Chechnya as " faultless . " External links . [ [ Category : Conflicts in 1999 ] ] [ [ Category : 1999 in Russia | Alkhan - Yurt ] ] [ [ Category : Massacres in Russia | Alkhan - Yurt ] ] [ [ Category : War crimes of the Second Chechen War ] ] [ [ Category : Mass murder in Russia ] ] [ [ Category : Mass murder in 1999 ] ]