DISINFO: Putin has never waged war on Chechnya and Chechens
SUMMARY
Putin has never waged war on Chechnya and Chechens. Putin was fighting Western-funded international terrorists and was freeing Chechen people from their destructive influence and violence.
RESPONSE
There is no evidence presented that the Russians were fighting Western-funded international terrorists.
The second Chechen war is considered to have started in 1999, when Putin was Prime Minister. According to the 2001 report of Amnesty International, during the year 2000, Russia committed war crimes such as killing innocent civilians, shelling villages, destroying medical facilities, torturing war prisoners, looting, sexual violence etc.
According to Russian human rights organisation Memorial, the number of Chechen civilians killed and disappeared in the Second Chechen War exceeds 25,000. Hundreds of lawsuits have been submitted by Chechens against Russia to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). In 2005, the court defined for the first time the violation of the right to life, torture and inhumane treatment of Chechens by Russia.