Independence is not a whim or an ambition. It is the necessary condition of our survival as an ethnic group.

[citation needed]
On 11 October 1999 Maskhadov outlined a peace plan offering a crackdown on renegade warlords the offer was rejected by the Russian side. Unmarked grave
On 24 April 2006 the General Procurator's Office of Russia officially refused to turn the remains of Aslan Maskhadov over to his relatives for burial. Under such circumstances Maskhadov's political fortunes began to wane.

Maskhadov was elected President of Chechnya in January 1997. Aslan (Khalid) Aliyevich Maskhadov (Chechen: Аслан Али кӏант Масхадан Latin: Aslan Ali kant Masxadaŋ Russian: Аслан Алиевич Масхадов) (21 September 1951 – 8 March 2005) was a leader of the Chechen separatist movement and the third President of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria. He was killed in Tolstoy-Yurt a village in northern Chechnya in March 2005.