Luxurious wedding of Kadyrov's 17-year-old son

Russian troops, which had withdrawn from Chechnya after the agreements of the mid-1990s, returned in late 1999 after Prime Minister Vladimir Putin blamed Chechen secessionists for bombings that killed scores of civilians in Russia. (Evidence never proved Chechen involvement in the bombings.) Heavy fighting resumed. As Russian forces gained control of the republic, Chechen fighters, forced into the mountains and hills, continued to employ guerrilla tactics. In October 2002 a group of Chechen militants seized a Moscow theatre and took nearly 700 spectators and performers hostage.