Editing First Chechen War (section)

===Dissolution of the Soviet Union and the Russian Federation Treaty===
{{unreferenced section|date=December 2023}}
[[Russia]] became an independent state after the [[dissolution of the Soviet Union]] in December 1991. The Russian Federation was widely accepted as the [[Succession of states#Soviet Union|successor state to the USSR]], but it lost a significant amount of its military and [[economic power]]. Ethnic [[Russians]] made up more than 80% of the population of the [[Russian SFSR|Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic]], but significant ethnic and religious differences posed a threat of political [[Societal collapse|disintegration]] in some regions. In the Soviet period, some of Russia's approximately 100 [[nationality|nationalities]] were granted ethnic [[enclaves]] that had various formal federal rights attached. Relations of these entities with the [[Government of Russia|federal government]] and demands for [[autonomy]] erupted into a major political issue in the early 1990s. [[Boris Yeltsin]] incorporated these demands into his 1990 election campaign by claiming that their resolution was a high priority.

There was an urgent need for a law to clearly define the powers of each federal subject. Such a law was passed on 31 March 1992, when Yeltsin and [[Ruslan Khasbulatov]], then chairman of the [[Russian Supreme Soviet]] and an ethnic [[Chechens|Chechen]] himself, signed the [[Federation Treaty]] bilaterally with 86 out of 88 federal subjects. In almost all cases, demands for greater autonomy or independence were satisfied by concessions of regional autonomy and tax privileges. The treaty outlined three basic types of federal subjects and the powers that were reserved for local and federal government. The only federal subjects that did not sign the treaty were Chechnya and [[Tatarstan]]. Eventually, in early 1994, Yeltsin signed a special political accord with [[Mintimer Shaeymiev]], the president of Tatarstan, granting many of its demands for greater autonomy for the republic within Russia. Thus, Chechnya remained the only federal subject that did not sign the treaty. Neither Yeltsin nor the Chechen government attempted any serious negotiations and the situation deteriorated into a full-scale conflict.