2002 Khankala Mi-26 crash

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (April 2008)

2002 Khankala Mi-26 crash occurred on 19 August 2002 when Chechen rebels with a shoulder-fired surface-to-air missile brought down a Mil Mi-26 helicopter in a minefield and resulted in the death of 127 Russian troops and air crew. This is the greatest loss of life in the history of helicopter aviation.

Mi-26 downing

On 19 August 2002, Chechen rebels with a Russian-made Igla shoulder-fired surface-to-air missile hit an overloaded Mil Mi-26 helicopter, causing it to crash-land in a minefield and burn at the main military base at Khankala near the capital city of Grozny, Chechnya. A total of 127 Russian Army troops and crew from the Russian Air Force base at Mozdok were killed in the crash.

Aftermath

A Day of Mourning was declared by the Russian President Vladimir Putin in connection with the catastrophe, which the media called "the second Kursk".^[1] The separatist news agency Kavkaz Center described the crash as the "greatest act of sabotage by Chechen fighters in two years".^[2] The crash led to the suspension of the Russian army's aviation commander, Vitaly Pavlov.

Reprisals at Khankala

The Russian military responded to the loss of the Mi-26 (as well as two other helicopters that were shot down there in 2002) by destroying an entire residential area near Khankala in the outskirts of Grozny since it was believed that the surface-to-air missiles that destroyed the helicopters were fired from one of the many damaged apartment blocks that dotted the area. Some military officials said the Chechens who were left homeless as a result of the attack were themselves to blame, because they had failed to report that the rebels were preparing attacks from their houses. The Russian Army spokesmen Ilya Shabalkin said that the action was carried out with the goal of preventing rebels from using the area to lay ambushes close to the Khankala military base. It was also announced that five Chechens "suspected of terrorist ties" were killed during the operation.^[3]

Trials

The helicopter was designed to carry about 80 troops, while the one that was destroyed was actually carrying 147; the commander in charge of the helicopter, Lieutenant-Colonel Alexander Kudyakov, was convicted of negligence and violating flight regulations.^[4] A Chechen who reportedly helped to shoot down the helicopter, a 27-year old Grozny resident named Doku Dzhantemirov, was found guilty of planning and carrying out an act of terror and was sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of 127 in April 2004; at his trial, Dzhantemirov maintained that he was not "a terrorist" but "a soldier of the state of Ichkeria."^[5]

References

Coordinates: 43°17′49″N 45°46′12″E / 43.29694°N 45.77°E / 43.29694; 45.77