In late August and September 1999, Russia mounted a massive air campaign over Chechnya, with the stated aim of wiping out militants who invaded Dagestan the previous month.
Russian Air Force commander Anatoly Kornukov suggested there were similarities between the attacks on Chechnya and the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia.
To help rally political support for the operation, the FSB released a videotape of Chechen militants committing atrocities against Russian soldiers.
Russian command claimed that a total of 150 military bases have been destroyed, along with 30 bridges, 80 vehicles and six radio transmitters, while 250 kilometers of mountain roads were mined.
[5] On October 2, 1999 Russia's Ministry of Emergency Situations admitted that 78,000 people have fled the air strikes in Chechnya; most of them were heading for Ingushetia, where they are arriving at a rate of 5,000 to 6,000 a day.