Introduction by The Saker: the owner of the DTA YouTube channel has subtitled in English the full documentary of Alexandr Sladkov “Real War – the 2nd Chechen War” which I consider to be one of the best out there and which is a “must see” for all those interested in Russia, the horrors of “the triumph of democracy” 1990s and the conditions which gave birth to what I call the “New Russia” under Putin.  I strongly believe that it was the events in Chechnia which literally forced the Russian people to wake up for the slumber, delusions and lies of the 1990s.  Furthermore, by the time Russia had to enter the 2nd Chechen war the country was truly at the edge of a total and final collapse.  The actions of the Russian military in Chechnia, and especially the heroic stance of the 6th Airborne company in Ulus-Kert,  served a a kind of shame-inducing electroshock to the entire nation which finally realized “enough is enough!”.

The 2018 Russian military is absolutely and totally different from the military you will see in this documentary.  However, it is this suffering but also absolutely determined Russian military of the 2nd Chechen war which gave birth to the modern 2018 Russian military.  Thus while, on one hand, everything has changed between 1999 and 2018, on the other hand, there is a direct link between the war in Chechnia and the war in Syria.

Finally, as an illustration of my point, those of you who are especially attentive will find footage of Valery Vasilyevich Gerasimov who is currently Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Russia.  Will you recognize him?  Look next to whom he stands and connect the dots for yourself :-)

A big THANK YOU to owner of the DTA YT channel for making this very important translation!  Please make sure to visit his channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-0uB4CYO447V6oetKuBoxQ

The Saker