In modern times, NATO-countries had difficulties defeating insurgency around the globe. Russia on the other hand, succeeded in winning the second Chechen war against insurgents. How could this be? The purpose of this study is to investigate whether Russia’s victory in the second Chechen war can be explained by population-centric theories of counterinsurgency, thus understanding the outcome of the conflict. The result of this study show that Russia followed much of both Galula’s and Trinquier’s theories, but none of the theories could explain the victory. Russia did not share the theories view of the civilians being the key to victory. The conclusion is that if counterinsurgency is carried out without any regards to the civilians, operations can be carried out in a way that makes the situation unsustainable to the insurgents. If artillery and air-bombings are made against the insurgents without caring for the consequences for civilians, victory can be achieved. This could explain why NATO-countries have had difficulties with counterinsurgency due to their population-centric doctrines.