Russia (Chechnya, Dagestan, Caucasus, Crimea)
Russia's two wars in Chechnya killed tens of thousands of civilians: an estimated 30,000–100,000 in 1994–96 and 14,800–25,000 in 1999–2009, with massacres at Samashki and Novye Aldi, missile strikes on Grozny's market and a mosque, at least 200,000 people passed through filtration camps such as Chernokozovo, and 3,000–5,000 forcibly disappeared. Under Ramzan Kadyrov, homes of insurgents' relatives were burned and in January 2017 27 detainees were reportedly executed in one night. Across the North Caucasus, counter-insurgency brought torture in Kabardino-Balkaria, executions in Ingushetia, and watch lists, disappearances and destroyed homes in Dagestan. Elsewhere in Russia and occupied Crimea Muslims are jailed for alleged Hizb ut-Tahrir ties (289 recognised political prisoners) and for reading Said Nursi, and independent mosques are raided. Since 2022 men from Muslim republics have been mobilised to the war in Ukraine; protests in Dagestan and Grozny were broken up.
Key numbers
Who is responsible
The Russian state: armed forces, Interior Ministry troops and OMON, the FSB and courts; in Chechnya the authorities and police under Ramzan Kadyrov; police and security services in Dagestan, Ingushetia, Kabardino-Balkaria and occupied Crimea.
Timeline
- 1994 Russia invades Chechnya; Grozny bombarded
- 1995 Samashki massacre
- 1999 Second war; missiles hit Grozny market and Kalinina mosque; filtration camps
- 2000 Novye Aldi massacre; Chernokozovo
- 2005 Torture of detainees after Nalchik raid
- 2007 Extrajudicial executions in Ingushetia
- 2008 Punitive house-burnings in Chechnya; Nursi works banned
- 2013 Gimry, Dagestan, looted and destroyed
- 2014 Kadyrov orders insurgents' family homes razed
- 2017 27 detainees reportedly executed in Grozny
- 2019 23 Crimean Tatars arrested in Hizb ut-Tahrir case
- 2022 Mobilisation; protests in Dagestan and Grozny broken up
- 2023 Nursi readers jailed in Moscow and Tatarstan; Alushta mosque raided
- 2025 372 Chechen war dead verified by name
Records (26)
Bombardment of Grozny
In the assault on Grozny from December 1994, Russian bombing killed about 27,000 civilians in the first five weeks according to human rights commissioner Sergei Kovalev; historian Dmitri Volkogonov put it at about 35,000, including 5,000 children.
27,000–35,000 killed
Source: Wikipedia: First Chechen War · HRW: Russia: Partisan war in Chechnya (1995)
First Chechen War: civilian dead
Russia's war in Chechnya from 11 December 1994 to the Khasavyurt accord of 31 August 1996 killed an estimated 30,000–100,000 Chechen civilians and displaced more than 500,000 people.
30,000–100,000 killed500,000 displaced
Source: Wikipedia: First Chechen War
Samashki massacre
On 7–8 April 1995 Russian Interior Ministry forces stormed Samashki, burned houses with flamethrowers, threw grenades into cellars and shot civilians. Memorial named 103 dead; HRW, Amnesty and elders said up to 300. About 375 houses were destroyed.
103–300 killed375 mosques & sacred places destroyed
Source: Wikipedia: Samashki massacre · HRW: Russia: Partisan war in Chechnya (1995)
Filtration camps
Memorial estimates that at least 200,000 people, out of a population under one million, passed through Russian filtration points in Chechnya, where practically all were beaten or tortured and some summarily executed.
200,000 detained
Chernokozovo detention centre
Chernokozovo, set up in a former prison in 1999, was the main filtration camp of the second war. HRW's report "Welcome to Hell" (October 2000) found detainees were systematically beaten and most freed only after families paid bribes.
Source: Wikipedia: Filtration camp system in Chechnya · Wikipedia: Chernokozovo
Enforced disappearances in Chechnya
Human rights groups led by Memorial estimated in 2005 that 3,000–5,000 people had been forcibly disappeared in Chechnya since 1999.
3,000–5,000 detained
Second Chechen War: civilian dead
In the second war (August 1999 – April 2009) Memorial's Alexander Cherkasov estimated 14,800–24,100 civilians killed including the disappeared; Amnesty said up to 25,000 civilians killed and up to 5,000 missing.
14,800–25,000 killed
Source: Wikipedia: Casualties of the Second Chechen War · Wikipedia: Second Chechen War
Missile strikes on Grozny market
Russian ballistic missiles struck central Grozny on 21 October 1999, hitting the central market, the street outside the only working maternity hospital and the post office; at least 118–137 died at once, over 280 per Chechen officials. Russia denied responsibility.
118–280 killed
Missile hits Kalinina mosque
In the same 21 October 1999 strikes a missile hit the mosque in Kalinina, a Grozny suburb; about 41 people gathered for evening prayer were reported killed.
41 killed1 mosques & sacred places destroyed
Novye Aldi massacre
On 5 February 2000, during a "cleansing operation", Russian OMON riot police and contract soldiers killed 60–82 civilians in Novye Aldi, a Grozny suburb. The European Court of Human Rights later held Russia responsible.
60–82 killed
Source: HRW: February 5: A Day of Slaughter in Novye Aldi · Wikipedia: Novye Aldi massacre
Mass prosecutions over Hizb ut-Tahrir
Memorial has recognised 289 people accused of Hizb ut-Tahrir ties as political prisoners; in early 2025 at least 276 were serving prison terms. Of 16 detained in 2024, 10 were in Crimea and 4 women in Kazan.
289 detained
Source: EUAA Russia country focus: Persons with ties to Hizb ut-Tahrir
Torture of detainees after Nalchik raid
After the armed attack on Nalchik on 13 October 2005, police and security forces detained dozens of suspects; HRW found at least eight ill-treated, in some cases amounting to torture, to force confessions, and lawyers barred.
Source: HRW: Russia: Suspects in Caucasus attack ill-treated
Extrajudicial executions in Ingushetia
HRW documented eight extrajudicial executions in Ingushetia in 2007 and early 2008 during counterinsurgency operations, the youngest victim six-year-old Rakhim Amriev, along with abduction-style detentions and torture.
8 killed
Punitive house-burnings, 2008–2009
From June 2008 to June 2009 HRW learned of 27 punitive burnings of homes of families with relatives among insurgents in Chechnya and documented 13.
13–27 mosques & sacred places destroyed
"Wahhabi" watch lists in Dagestan
HRW found that Dagestan police put Salafi Muslims on "Wahhabi registration" lists, repeatedly detaining, photographing and fingerprinting them and in some cases taking DNA by force, alongside enforced disappearances (2012–2014).
Source: HRW: Invisible War: Russia's abusive response to the Dagestan insurgency
Gimry homes looted and destroyed
During a counterinsurgency operation in Gimry, Dagestan, in 2013 security forces looted and destroyed homes and businesses over 10 days while residents were forced out; in Vremenny in 2014 dozens of houses were destroyed or badly damaged.
Source: HRW: Russia: Abusive counterinsurgency tactics in southern republic
Homes of insurgents' relatives burned
After the 4 December 2014 attack on Grozny, Ramzan Kadyrov said rebels' families would be expelled and their houses razed. HRW had reports of at least six burnings within days; Memorial counted 15 homes destroyed by 23 December.
6–15 mosques & sacred places destroyed
27 detainees executed in one night
Novaya Gazeta reported that 27 men detained in December 2016–January 2017 were killed without trial on the night of 26 January 2017 at the Akhmat Kadyrov police regiment in Grozny, and the toll could reach 56. Chechen authorities deny it.
27–56 killed
Source: Mediazona: Novaya Gazeta reports extrajudicial execution of 27 in Chechnya
23 Crimean Tatars seized in raids
On 27–28 March 2019 Russian authorities arrested 23 Crimean Tatar men, most near Simferopol, accusing them of involvement in Hizb ut-Tahrir, which Russia banned in 2003; they were taken to Rostov-on-Don. Russian rights groups called them political prisoners.
23 detained
Zavetnoye mosque raided and closed
On 20 March 2020 police raided the Zavetnoye mosque in Crimea after Friday prayers and closed it, saying it was a sports complex; Imam Dilyaver Khalilov was fined about a month's wage for leading prayers.
Source: Forum 18: Crimea religious freedom survey, September 2022
Nursi readers jailed in Naberezhnye Chelny
On 13 March 2023 a court in Naberezhnye Chelny, Tatarstan, jailed Khunar Agayev and Aydar Sageyev for 2 years 6 months for reading Said Nursi's works, banned as "extremist" since 2008.
3 detained
Source: Forum 18: Russia religious freedom survey, March 2024
Men from Muslim regions killed in the Ukraine war
BBC Russian and Mediazona had verified by name at least 152,142 Russian military dead by late November 2025, including 7,643 from Bashkortostan, 6,599 from Tatarstan and 372 from Chechnya; Caucasian Knot counted 4,172 officially recognised dead from the North Caucasus by January 2026.
Source: Moscow Times: Verified Russian deaths in Ukraine war surpass 150K · Caucasian Knot: at least 258 Chechen fighters killed
Six Nursi readers jailed in Moscow
On 27 June 2023 Moscow's Kuzminsky District Court jailed six Muslims for 2 years 7 months to 6 years 7 months for studying Said Nursi's works, the largest such trial since 2018.
6 detained
Source: Forum 18: Russia religious freedom survey, March 2024
Women detained for protesting mobilisation in Grozny
On 21 September 2022, the day mobilisation was declared, women protested in Grozny against men being sent to the war; all were detained.
Dagestan protests against mobilisation
Protests against mobilisation spread across Dagestan in late September 2022; police fired into the air in Endirey on 25 September, and OVD-Info listed at least 101 detained in Makhachkala that day and about 110 the next; about 30 criminal cases followed.
101–211 detained
Alushta mosque raided at Friday prayer
On 23 November 2023 Russia's Centre for Countering Extremism raided Alushta's independent Yukhary-Jami mosque and its leaders' homes; Imam Yusuf Ashirov and two leaders were jailed for several days.
3 detained
Source: Forum 18: Crimea: 'They conducted Friday prayers at gunpoint'