Chronology of two conflicts

Le Monde diplomatique, April 2002

1 November 1991. Chechnya declares independence.

11 December 1994. Intervention of Russian troops and first war.

31 August 1996. Khasavyurt peace accords signed by Alexander Lebed, then Russian national security adviser, and Aslan Maskhadov, commander-in-chief of the Chechen separatist forces.

27 January 1997. Maskhadov elected Chechen president.

12 May 1997. Maskhadov meets his Russian opposite number Boris Yeltsin for the first time. They sign an agreement ruling out the use of force “for ever”.

7 August 1999. Raid on Dagestan led by Chechen Islamist leader Shamil Basayev.

25 August 1999. Russian air force bombs Islamist positions in Dagestan and Chechen villages near the border.

1 October 1999. Russian soldiers and tanks enter northern Chechnya.

April 2000. Moscow announces the end of military operations in Chechnya, but attacks on the Russian army increase.

June 2000. Russia's new president Vladimir Putin places Chechnya “under direct presidential rule”.

18 November 2001. First meeting between Ahmed Zakayev, representing the Chechen president, and Viktor Kazantsev, representing the Russian president.

27 January 2002. Chechen president Aslan Maskhadov's mandate expires; Moscow no longer recognises him. Two Russian generals and 12 soldiers killed when a helicopter explodes over Chechnya.