1996 The beginning of the assault on Grozny

Twenty years ago, on August 6, 1996, Chechen separatists led by Aslan Maskhadov and Shamil Basayev launched an assault on Grozny. Federal troops, despite more than threefold superiority in people and absolute - in armored vehicles and aviation, were defeated, and the militants were able to gain a foothold in the city. On August 31, Maskhadov and Secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation Alexander Lebed signed agreements in Khasavyurt under which federal troops were withdrawn from Chechnya, and the question of the status of the republic was postponed until the end of 2001.