Budyonnovsk hospital hostage crisis

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The Budyonnovsk hospital hostage crisis was an incident from 14 June to 19 June 1995, when Chechen separatists led by Shamil Basayev seized a hospital in the southern Russian city Budyonnovsk and took over 1,500 hostages.

The hostage-takers siezed the town on June 14. They issued an ultimatum threatening to kill the hostages unless their demands, including an end to the Chechen war and the withdrawal of Russian troops from Chechnya, were met. On June 15, Basayev demanded that journalists be let into the hospital building to conduct a press conference, and when those demands went unanswered, executed five hostages.

After several days, Russian forces tried to storm the hospital compound, meeting fierce resistance. After forty eight hours of fighting which cost the lives of over thirty hostages, a ceasefire was agreed on and 227 hostages were released. A second Russian attempt to take control of the hospital failed, resulting in more casualties. On June 18, negotiations between Victor Chernomyrdin and Shamil Basayev led to a compromise which became a turning point for the first Chechen war. In exchange for the hostages, the Russian government agreed to halt military actions in Chechnya and begin a series of negotiations. On June 19, most of the hostages were released, and Basayev's band, under cover of 120 "volunteer" hostages, departed for, and uneventfully reached, the Chechen town of Zandak.

In total, 105 civilians and twenty five police and army were killed.

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