Russia: January 12, 2000

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  The rebel counterattack gave the Russians a taste of the kind of guerilla war they would face once they had taken Grozny. Operating in small groups, the rebels sniped and ambushed Russian troops. The rebels still cannot take on the Russians head to head, for there are too few rebes (a few thousand rebels versus some 100,000 Russian troops, plus attack helicopters and bombers flying in from southern Russia.) But the Chechens know their way around better and can pick and choose when and where they will attack. The rebels will take, proportionately, more losses. The rebels have fewer medical services, so their wounded are more likely to die. The Russians have a lot of electronic warfare equipment that can jam rebel cell phones and CB walkie-talkies. Russian EW troops can also use rebel communications to pinpoint rebels and call in artillery. In the past (this rebellion has been going on, and off, for over two centuries), the Russians would wear the rebels down eventually. A generation or two later, there would be another rebellion in Chechnya. Today, the Russians started stopping and searching all Chechen males between the age of 10 and 60. This will get worse.

 

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