After the ceasefire of August 1966 and subsequent treaties between the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria and Russia which had ended the First Chechen War, the Chechen government was unable to rebuild the country.
As the country fell under the control of various warlords, an extremist Islamist group called for the union of Chechnya and Dagestan under Islamic rule and for the expulsion of Russians from the Caucasus. Their invasion of Dagestan in 1999 was one of the triggers for the Second Chechen War.
Russian forces helped Dagestan to repel the invasion, and entered Chechnya in October 1999. By February 2000, Russia had restored Russian federal control over the territory.
However, Chechen resistance continued, increasingly sporadic, until April 2009, when Russia declared it had ended its "counter-terrorism operation" against the separatists.
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