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MAXIM MARMUR/AP
Bleak horizon: In the 1990s a drawn-out Russian campaign against the breakaway republic of Chechnya left Moscow with a searing defeat and Chechnya with
de facto independence. But the war was not over. Vowing to "wipe out" all "terrorists," Prime Minister Vladimir Putin launched a fierce autumn 1999 assault on the Chechen capital, Grozny, and by year's end 200,000 refugees had fled the region. When New Year's Day 2000 dawned, Putin was Russia's new president. Chechnya was in trouble.
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