in the campaign “First Russian-Chechen War (1994–1996)”
In the autumn of 1994, Russia attacked the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria under the name of a puppet opposition, and on 11 December 1994 the Russian army openly invaded the republic. Russia installed governments under its control in Ichkeria.
On 23 November 1994 the Provisional Council, a puppet opposition, announced the creation of a "Government of National Revival" headed by Khadzhiyev[1]. The Russian army handed the Provisional Council armored vehicles and helicopters with crews for the storming of Grozny, the capital of Ichkeria, but on 26 November the Armed Forces of Ichkeria routed the attackers' troops (see: "Staging a Coup")[1].
On 17 December 1994, six days after the open invasion, Russian President Yeltsin, by Decree No. 2200, created an occupation administration in Ichkeria headed by Yegorov, the Russian minister for nationalities (see: "Installation of a New System of Governance")[1][2]. On 26 December the puppet opposition announced Khadzhiyev's "government" for the second time. The "government" declared that it was ready for talks with Russia and did not demand the withdrawal of Russian troops[1].
On 24 October 1995, two weeks after Moscow halted the talks with the leadership of Ichkeria, Russia replaced Khadzhiyev as head of the puppet government with Zavgayev, the last leader of the Soviet regime in Chechen-Ingushetia. On 14-17 December Russia held a "vote" under occupation and declared its protégé the "elected" head of the republic (see: "Sham Expression of Popular Will")[1].
At the end of January 1996 Chernomyrdin, the chairman of the Russian government, wrote to the deputies of the Russian parliament that the results of the "vote" showed support for Zavgayev in the republic, and proposed to resolve the war as a dispute among Chechens themselves[1].
On 27 May 1996 Russian President Yeltsin received in the Kremlin a delegation of Ichkeria headed by Zelimkhan Yandarbiyev, the acting president. Russia included Zavgayev in its delegation. The Chechen negotiators demanded that Moscow's protégé leave the table, but the Russian side refused. Russia insisted that the head of the puppet government sign the ceasefire agreement, and the delegation of Ichkeria objected again. All members of the Russian delegation, including Zavgayev, signed the document, as did the representatives of Ichkeria. A report by the NTV correspondents Cherkasov, Rebrov and Melikhov for the program "Itogi" says that the Russian protégé did not want to sign any agreements with Zelimkhan Yandarbiyev: "However, the center [Moscow] gave the order and the region [the puppet government] answered 'yes, sir'"[3].
On 14 July 1996 Russian President Yeltsin, by the decree "On Measures to Stabilize the Activities of the Bodies of State Power of the Chechen Republic", declared that the puppet Committee of National Accord and the "Government of National Revival" were no longer needed[4][1]. In their place Moscow recognized the "elected" Zavgayev, his government, the puppet parliament and the heads of districts as the leadership of the republic[1][4].
The human rights defenders of Memorial write that the Russian occupation administration in fact controlled the puppet government[1]. They write about Decree No. 435, by which Russian President Yeltsin on 31 March 1996 promised to halt the offensive, begin talks with Ichkeria and declare an amnesty: "all these measures were regarded as auxiliary in the process of legitimizing [recognizing as lawful] the puppet regime"[1]. Tim Guldimann, the head of the mission of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe in Grozny from January 1996, wrote in 1998 that Moscow pushed the Armed Forces of Ichkeria southward with its troops and used Zavgayev's government to strengthen Russia's influence in the Chechen Republic[5].
On 31 July 1996, at a meeting with Chechens living in Moscow, Zavgayev, the head of the puppet government, said that the Armed Forces of Ichkeria did not control most of the districts of the republic[6]. On 6 August the army of Ichkeria attacked the occupiers in Grozny[1]. On 7 August Zavgayev fled to the base of the occupation troops in Khankala, on the eastern outskirts of the city[7], and then left the Chechen Republic[8]. At the end of August the police officers of the puppet government moved from their buildings to the Russian military at the Severny airport to the north of the capital[7]. The defenders liberated Grozny from the occupiers and forced Russia to the negotiating table. On 31 August 1996 Moscow signed peace agreements with the leadership of Ichkeria in Khasavyurt, a town in Russian-controlled Dagestan (see: "Sham Treaties")[9]. Until November 1996 the colonizer called the departed Zavgayev the "head of the republic"[1][10]. On 31 December 1996, the last Russian troops left Ichkeria. On 27 January 1997 the Chechens elected Aslan Maskhadov president of Ichkeria[1].