For all but three years, Chechen rebels and Russian forces have been at war since December 1994. That first Chechen war, started officially by Moscow's attempt to 'restore constitutional order' and to end lawlessness but in effect also to suppress Chechen separatism, resulted in 1996 in the formation of a semi-independent but still nominally Russian republic. But its president, Aslan Maskhadov, was struggling to establish some form of control and coherent government over the region when violence flared up again. In July 1999, a serving Chechen minister, Shamil Basaev, led a raid into neighboring Daghestan. In September, a number of apartment blocks in Russia were bombed. In October, Russian forces re-entered Chechnya.
In the years since then, the press and aid agencies have found gaining access increasingly difficult. Militarily, the conflict has turned into a war of attrition and, human rights groups say, routine brutality against civilians. Politically, Moscow has adopted a policy of ' Chechenization,' handing more power to pro-Moscow Chechens. But both the military efforts to end the war and the political attempts to establish peace are being undermined by corruption, experts say.
In May 2004, the leader of the pro-Moscow administration, Akhmed Kadyrov, was assassinated. In March 2005, the rebels' figurehead, former President Maskhadov, was killed. A new generation therefore now fronts the war – Kadyrov's son, Deputy Prime Minister Ramzan Kadyrov, and the rebel warlord Shamil Basaev -- but both are noted more for violence than for their interest in peace.
Trace the events leading up to the second Chechen war and follow each new development with RFE/RL on this webpage.
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