>>63905828
Let’s return to the main topic. The year 2000 was the bloodiest of the Second Chechen Campaign. Though Grozny was captured, many insurgents survived and linked up with stronger units in the mountainous south. The republic was not fully under Russian control. The high command mistakenly believed the insurgency had been crushed. Mechanized units began advancing into the mountains. But vehicles bogged down in mud, weather limited air support (Russia’s 1990s-era air force had no capability for low-visibility ops), and soldiers faced brutal conditions.