The entire world has focused their attention on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The slightest perceived human rights violations by the U.S. are broadcast around the world and met with international condemnation. However, what the world has failed to notice or condemn are the very real war crimes taking place in Chechnya.

Russia has been slaughtering civilians there for years with impunity. Russian aircraft routinely carpet bomb villages killing hundreds of men, women, and children. Russia also uses Chechnya as a testing ground for new weapon systems.

Russia’s poorly trained, poorly equipped, and poorly led Army, commits every atrocity imaginable on a daily basis. Robbery, murder, rape, looting, torture, and kidnapping, are just a few of the things Russia’s Army is known for. Civilians there claim that Russian soldiers often kidnap Chechen citizens and hold them for ransom. If the family is unable to pay, the soldiers simply murder the person and dump their body. Soldiers in Chechnya are usually extremely intoxicated which leads to frequent suicides and accidental deaths as well.

The atrocities taking place in Chechnya are almost beyond belief, yet rarely does the international community even acknowledge that a war is even taking place there.

If human rights organizations are really serious about human rights then they should stop worrying about detainees in Gitmo and start worrying about the wholesale slaughter of civilians in Chechnya.

The extent to which Russia has devastated Chechnya can best be summed up in two photographs.

Photos of Chechnya’s capital Grozny:

Before the war

After the war

You can also watch an excellent documentary about Russian atrocities in Chechnya HERE.