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The Samashki massacre ((ロシア語:Резня в Самашки)) was an incident which occurred on April 7–8, 1995, in the village of Samashki, at the border between Chechnya and Ingushetia. Numerous villagers died at the hands of Russian paramilitary troops, many of them reportedly drunk or drugged, under the command of Gen. Anatoly Kulikov.〔(VOA: Samashki Syringes Contained Strong Drugs ), ''The Moscow Times'', April 21, 1995〕 The incident attracted wide attention in Russia and abroad.〔(By All Available Means: The Russian Federation Ministry of Internal Affairs Operation in the village of Samashki: 1. Preface ) Memorial 〕 The March 1996 United Nations Commission on Human Rights (UNCHR) report said:
According to Human Rights Watch (HRW), this was the most notorious civilian massacre of the First Chechen War.〔 The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) announced that approximately 250 civilians were killed.〔(Wounded Bear: The Ongoing Russian Military Operation in Chechnya ), GlobalSecurity.org, August 1996 (Foreign Military Studies Office)〕 According to Amnesty International〔(RUSSIAN FEDERATION Brief summary of concerns about human rights violations in the Chechen Republic ) Amnesty International〕 and HRW more than 250 people were killed, while the elders of Samashki stated that up to 300 residents were killed during the attack.〔 ==Operation== The Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs (MVD) forces (identified as Sofrinskaya Brigade of the Internal Troops, Moscow Oblast OMON and Orenburg SOBR, some Moscow policemen and possibly members of the elite counter-terrorist unit ''Vityaz'') began an operation to "mop up" the village (''zachistka'' - an intense search of the streets, house-by-house) on April 7, in the area around the train station, and then, on April 8, through the entire village. According to Lt. Gen. Anatoly Antonov, deputy commander of MVD forces in Chechnya, it was "the first completely independent military operation by MVD troops," carried out by combined units of more than 3,000 MVD troops, including 350 from the storm detachments. Artillery, a multiple rocket launcher battery, and tanks had also been deployed around Samashki. Interfax reported that Russian forces fired ''Uragan'' (BM-27) and ''Grad'' (BM-21) rockets on the village.〔(Cluster Munitions Use by Russian Federation Forces in Chechnya ), Mennonite Central Committee, 2000 〕 Despite claims by Russian military sources, armed resistance in Samashki was not of an organized nature, as the main Chechen rebel forces left the village following the Russian ultimatum by Generals Antonov, Kulikov and Romanov, ending on April 6, 1995, to hand over the 264 automatic weapons supposedly present in Samashki (the villagers had handed in 11 automatic weapons). Before the ultimatum, Samashki had already been under siege for a prolonged period of time, and several failed storming attempts by the Russian forces had been undertaken since the beginning of the war in December 1994. However, the main force of more than 200〔 fighters left Samashki under the pressure of the village elders who wanted the village spared. The same elders and the village mullah were fired on by the Russians on the morning of April 7 while returning from the negotiations before the federal attack; the military command announced that it was the separatists who had shot at the elders. Nevertheless, a lightly armed village militia of some 40 self-defense fighters, all of them local residents, resisted the MVD and fighting ensued. A group of 12 fighters immediately broke out from the village, while the other groups put a Russian tank and two armoured personnel carriers (APCs) out of action before retreating as well. Both sides took casualties; two Russian troopers and four self-defense fighters have presumably been killed in combat. Several Russian armoured vehicles were lost during their advance due to land mines.〔(This is the account of the attack according to the investigation by the Russian human rights group Memorial, based on the interviews with survivors and the examination of the village by the activists.)〕 The number of casualties among the MVD forces as released by the Russian commanders and spokesmen varies considerably, ranging from none dead and 14 wounded to 16 dead and 44 wounded,〔(By All Available Means: The Russian Federation Ministry of Internal Affairs Operation in the village of Samashki: 7. CASUALTIES AMONG SOLDIERS AND OMON ) Memorial 〕 including Captain Victor Adamishin who was posthumously awarded the Title of Hero of the Russian Federation.〔(Адамишин Виктор Михайлович )〕 According to Stanislav Govorukhin from the Russian parliamentary commission, some 350 Russian troops were wounded and 16 killed out of the total of about 350 who took part in the combat operation (meaning every participant to have sustained wounds), whereas a later report does not mention the number of 350 wounded.〔(By All Available Means: The Russian Federation Ministry of Internal Affairs Operation in the village of Samashki: 6. THE MVD OPERATION TO TAKE SAMASHKI ) Memorial 〕 The federal officials also claimed that 120〔(PR victory fades in fog of Chechen war ), ''The Independent'', April 20, 1995〕 "pro-Dudayev fighters" were killed in the village and that some 150 suspects were detained. The Information Telegraph Agency of Russia quoted Vladimir Vorozhtsov, chief spokesman of the regional Russian command, as denying any large number of civilian casualties. In the same report, however, Gen. Anotonov was quoted as saying "many" civilians had been killed in Samashki but they were supposedly killed by Chechen fighters.〔 In the May 1995 press conference, Gen. Kulikov said: "This is warfare. They fired at us. We did not fire first. It is true that 120 residents died, but they were people who resisted us and fought us."〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Samashki massacre」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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