2000 Jan 3, In Beirut, Lebanon, assailants fired rocket-propelled grenades at the Russian Embassy.
Jan 7, Russia announced a suspension of aerial bombardment in Grozny to allow civilians to escape.
Jan 9, In Chechnya rebels attacked Russian positions in Argun, Shali and Gudermes as Russia continued bombing halt for Orthodox Christmas.
Jan 16, In Chechnya Russian warplanes bombarded the area around Grozny and federal forces reported 120 rebels killed.
Jan 17, Russian aircraft and artillery bombed Grozny with a record number of attacks.
Jan 18, In Chechnya Russian troops began moving through the streets of Grozny in the most intense ground attack in 4 months.
Jan 18, In Chechnya Russian Gen. Mikhail Malofeyev went missing in Grozny following an ambush
Jan 23, In Chechnya rebels ambushed Russian troops in Staraya Sunzha village and 8 soldiers were killed.
Feb 4, Russians forces began bombing Katyr Yurt after Chechen rebels arrived from Grozny.
Feb 13, Vladimir Putin signed a decree to re-establish the "special departments" (FSB) to seek out political disloyalty in the military.
Feb 14, In Chechnya Russian commanders ordered Grozny sealed and its population evacuated in order to clear bombs and booby-traps
Feb 17, Russia was accused by human rights groups and refugees of brutality toward Chechens in camps.
Feb 18, In Chechnya rebels shot down a Russian helicopter and 15 men were killed.
Feb 25, Journalist Andrei Babitsky turned up alive in Dagestan. He was held by Russians in a detention center in Makhachkala.
Feb 29, In Chechnya 84 Russian paratroopers were killed after rebels attacked a guard post near Ulus Kert.
Mar 2, In Chechnya rebels ambushed Russian troops outside Grozny and killed at least 20 police commandos.
Mar 6, In Chechnya some 30 rebels held positions at Komsomolskoye's mosque under Russian shelling.
Mar 12, Russian agents captured Salman Raduyev, a Chechen warlord.
March 26 Russian presidential election, 2000: Putin was elected president with 53 percent of the vote.
Mar 26, In Chechnya Russian Col. Yuri Budanov and 3 soldiers seized Elza (Heda) Kungayeva (18) and strangled her to death following a pummeling and sexual assault.
Mar 29, In Chechnya rebels ambushed Russian troops and left 4 dead and 18 wounded. 27 men were missing.
Apr 1, In Chechnya Russian soldiers found 33 of their missing comrades. 32 were dead and booby-trapped from the Mar 30 rebel attack.
Apr 17, In England Russia’s Pres. Putin met with Tony Blair and promised to implement economic reforms and root out corruption.
Apr 22, In Chechnya guerrillas attacked a Russian convoy and killed 15 soldiers near Serzhen-Yurt.
Apr 26, In Chechnya Russian troops were ambushed near Serzhen-Yurt. 17 rebels and 10 Russians were reported killed.
May 3, In Chechnya Russian troops ambushed a rebel band and killed at least 18 men.
May 7, Putin was inaugurated.
May 12, Igor Domnikov (42), a reporter for Russia’s Novaya Gazeta, Murdered.
May 12, In Chechnya Russian forces staged two ambush attacks on rebels and claimed 41 killed.
May 13, Pres. Putin divided Russia’s 89 regions into 7 federal districts headed by a Kremlin representative.
May, Pres. Putin declared direct rule over Chechnya from Moscow.
Jun 3, Pres. Clinton met with Russia’s Pres. Putin in Moscow and began discussions on trade and arms control.
Jun 5, Pres. Putin traveled to Italy and met with Prime Minister Giuliano Amato. Putin then met with Pope John Paul II.
Jun 27, In Chechnya 2 days of fighting left 12 Russians dead and up to 60 rebels killed according to Russian officials.
Jun 30, The lower house voted to give pres. Putin the right to fire any of the nation’s 89 governors for cause.
Jul 2, In Chechnya rebels staged 5 suicide attacks against Russian forces.
Jul 8, Pres. Putin made his first state of the nation address
Jul 9, A bomb attack at a food market in Vladikavkaz in North Ossetia left 5 people dead.
Jul 19, In North Korea Russia’s Pres. Putin met with Kim Jong Il.
Jul 27, In Chechnya 74 bodies, mostly men, were removed from a mass grave near Tangi-Chu. As many as 80 more remained.
Aug 4, Russia reported that Chechen rebels had decapitated 2 Russian colonels, who had been seized earlier in the Vedeno region.
Aug 6, Russian officials reported that scores of rebels were killed in weekend artillery attacks outside Grozny, Chechnya, following warnings of a possible rebel offensive. As many as 160 insurgents were reported killed.
Aug 7, Chechen rebels claimed 11 Russian soldiers in a military convoy were killed by a remote controlled mine.
Aug 8, In Russia a bomb exploded through an underground walkway in Moscow’s Pushkin Square and at least 13 people were killed. Another bomb was found and defused.
Aug 12 Russian submarine Kursk explosion: An explosion disabled the Russian submarine K-141 Kursk.
Aug 12, A Russian nuclear submarine, the Kursk, became trapped on the floor of the Barents Sea during naval exercises.
Aug 18, In Chechnya rebels killed 8 Russian soldiers in several attacks on checkpoints and roadblocks.
Aug 24, Fighting from Chechnya spilled into Ingushetia and 100 rebels were reported killed by Russian forces.
Nov 1, In Chechnya rebels killed 14 Russian soldiers in a series of raids.
Nov 23, In Chechnya 4 Russian soldiers were killed and 18 wounded in a series of rebel attacks.
Dec 3, In Chechnya rebels struck numerous check points and at least 13 Russian soldiers were killed.
Dec 8, The Duma voted 381-51 to bring back the old Soviet anthem with new, yet to be written lyrics.
Dec 13, Russia’s Pres. Putin traveled to Cuba for business and rest. T
Dec 16, In Chechnya a series of rebel attacks killed 16 Russian soldiers.
Dec 18, In Canada Pres. Putin of Russia met with Prime Minister Chretien and together supported existing nuclear arms accords.
Dec 26, Pres. Putin signed laws endorsing the tricolor flag in use since 1991, along with the czarist-era state emblem of a double-headed eagle.
Dec 29, In Chechnya 14 Russian soldiers were killed. Russian troops averaged a loss of 200 men per month.
2001 Jan 7, In Russia Pres. Putin pledged to pay all of its Soviet-era int’l. debts.
Jan 24, In Chechnya 14 Russian soldiers were killed.
Feb 5, A bomb went off in a Moscow subway station and at least 9 people were injured.
Feb 18, Robert Philip Hanssen (56), senior FBI agent, was arrested for spying.
Feb 21, In Chechnya some 50 bodies began to be uncovered across from a Russian military base at Zdorovye.
Mar 18, Chechen rebels killed at least 21 Russian troops.
Mar 21, US State Dept. ordered expulsion of 5 suspected Russian spies
Apr 10, Germany’s PM Schroeder ended 2 days of talks with Pres. Putin of Russia, but no agreement was reached on Russian debt.
Apr 26, In Chechnya rebel fighting killed at least 17 Russian soldiers and wounded 28.
May 7, In Chechnya a 2-day fight around Argun left at least 15 Russian soldiers dead.
Jun 16, Pres. Bush met with Pres. Putin of Russia in Slovenia.
Jun 26, In Chechnya Russian troops claimed to have killed at least 30 rebels near the Georgian border.
Jul 3-2001 Jul 4, A Russian roundup operation sent an estimated 26,000 Chechen refugees fleeing to Ingushetia.
Jul 15, China’s Pres. Zemin arrived in Russia for a state visit.
Aug 3, Kim Jong Il arrived in Moscow following 9-day train ride from North Korea.
Sep 25, Pres. Putin issued a 72-hour ultimatum to Chechen rebels to show up for peace talks.
Oct 3, In Chechnya rebels killed 9 federal troops in a number of clashes that included 4 dead from land mines. 4 militants were also killed.
Oct 24, Chechen leader Akhmed Zakayev called Putin envoy Viktor Kazantsev to meet in Moscow for talks.
Nov 3, Sec. of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld met with Pres. Putin in Moscow for talks that included Russian intelligence support.
Nov 18, Russia dropped all conditions and opened talks with Chechnya.
Nov 22, Talks on Russia-NATO relations began in Moscow.
Dec 30, Russian troops mounted an offensive south of Grozny after 6 Russian soldiers were killed by rebels.
2002 Jan 3, Russian forces fought Chechen rebels for a 6th day in a conflict that left 40 dead.
Jan 10, In Chechnya Russian troops lifted a weeklong blockade of Argun.
Apr 1, The body of journalist Sergei Kalinovsky was found outside Smolensk.
Apr 18, In Chechnya rebel explosives killed 21 police officers in Grozny.
Apr 30, Russia’s military command said the Chechen commander Shamil Basayev had been killed.
May 9, A terrorist bomb killed at least 41 people including 13 children in Kaspiisk, Dagestan.
May 14, NATO agreed with Russia on an new framework that would include Russia on a handful of agreed-on issues.
May 24, Bush and Putin signed the Treaty of Moscow, an agreement to reduce nuclear stockpiles by two-thirds over the next 10 years.
Jun 14, Russia formally withdrew from the START II
Aug 23, Pres. Shevardnadze accused Russia of bombing inside Georgia’s border. One person was reported killed.
Sep 27, Russian troops used artillery overnight to block suspected rebels from crossing into Chechnya
Oct 23, In Moscow 40-50 Chechen separatist guerrillas seized a theater and threatened to shoot or blow up 700 hostages +unless Russia pulled Oct 23 Moscow theater hostage crisis: Chechen rebels seized House of Culture theater in Moscow, taking 700 hostage
Oct 25, Russia pledged not to kill Chechen guerrillas holding some 600 hostages in a Moscow theater if they freed all their captives.
Oct 26 Moscow theater hostage crisis: The police pumped anesthetic into the building, then stormed it from every entrance.
