August 31, 1996
Russian general Alexander Lebed, freshly appointed National Security Advisor, traveled to Khasavyurt in Dagestan to negotiate an end to the humiliating war. The agreement granted Chechnya de facto independence, deferred the question of formal sovereignty for five years, and required Russian forces to withdraw entirely. Lebed publicly called the First Chechen War a 'national shame.' Russia signed a peace treaty knowing it had been militarily defeated by a republic smaller than Connecticut.
Commanders