Russia and Chechen commanders sign an accord ending the first war: Russian forces withdraw and the question of Chechnya's status is deferred to 2001. De facto independent Chechnya descends into kidnapping, factionalism and jihadist penetration.
Why it mattersA ceasefire that settled nothing — the deferred status question was never answered, and the interwar collapse gave Moscow both the pretext and the domestic support for the far harsher war of 1999.
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