1994
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On 19 March, the second anniversary of the declaration of Tatarstan's autonomy, fierce riots break out between local Tatars and Cossacks representing the Russian minority, resulting in a number of deaths. OMON troops use force to pacify the situation, but rioting spreads to the rest of Russia's Tatar population. This in turn leads to Cossack organisations going on a rampage, first in the Russian Federation before spreading to the Cossacks in CIS member states. All of this worsens relations in Central Asia between ethnic Russians and Muslims, which were tense to begin with.
The Itar-Tass news agency accuses both Iran and Iraq of supplying arms to guerrilla groups operating in CIS states in Central Asia and the Caucasus and of provoking the local Muslim population against ethnic Russians. The conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh between Armenia and Azerbaijan intensifies into open warfare again, leading Russia to send in the 104th Guards Air Assault Division and the 11th Attack Helicopter Regiment on 23 June to "separate the warring parties," as allowed by the CIS security treaty. In practice, the Russian forces defend the Christian Armenians against the Muslim Azeri and seek to occupy the disputed region. Russian veterans soon find that they are fighting a war that is very similar to the one they fought in Afghanistan a decade earlier.
In July Russia increases its military detachment multifold in the Sary Shagan missile testing range in Kazakhstan in order to protect it from crossfire between Islamic insurgents and Kazakh government forces. In the Duma the nationalist opposition, which has been quietly amassing power, demands greater Russian intervention in the domestic unrest of CIS states in order to protect the local Russian minorities. With the Russian economy finally showing tentative signs of recovery, however, Pres. Yeltsin is reluctant to start large-scale military operations. This in turn raises the ire of certain parties in the Russian military leadership.
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More to follow!
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