2000 Photo Contest, General News, 3rd prize
Photographer

Yuri Kozyrev

The Associated Press

01 December, 1999

A Russian soldier watches a plume of smoke rising from the town of Urus-Martan, a strategic point in the Chechen conflict. In September 1999, Russian forces began military action against Chechen rebels. Initial operations were confined to air attacks, but on 1 October Russian troops entered Chechnya. By the beginning of December the Russians had surrounded the capital Grozny, which they stormed on the 25th. The Russians held that their casualties during the conflict were minimal.

About the photographer

Yuri Kozyrev

Yuri Kozyrev was born in Russia in 1963 and has worked as a photojournalist for the past 20 years, covering every major conflict in the former Soviet Union, including two Chechen...

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