In an attempt to force a stop to the Russian advance , some Chechen forces resorted to a series of terrorist attacks directed against civilian targets outside the area that they claimed . Basayev led the most infamous such attack , the Budyonnovsk hospital hostage crisis on 14 June 1995 , less than two weeks after he lost his family in the air raids . Basayev 's large band seized the Budyonnovsk hospital in southern Russia and the 1,600 people inside for a period of several days . At least 129 civilians died and 415 were wounded during the crisis as the Russian special forces repeatedly attempted to free the hostages by force . Although Basayev failed in his principal demand for the removal of Russian forces from Chechnya , he did successfully negotiate a stop to the Russian advance and an initiation of peace talks with the Russian government , saving the Chechen resistance by giving them time to regroup and recover . Basayev and his fighters then returned to Chechnya under cover of the human shields
Budyonnovsk hospital hostage crisis
Budyonnovsk hospital hostage crisis
Shamil Basayev