The declaration was issued on 1 November 1991, by the head of the All-National Congress of the Chechen People, Dzokhar Dudayev.
On 7 September 1991, the NCChP National Guard seized government buildings and the radio and television center of the Checheno-Ingush ASSR.
The storming caused the death of the Grozny Soviet Communist Party chief Vitali Kutsenko, who was either thrown out of a window or fell trying to escape during a supreme soviet session that effectively dissolved the government of the Chechen-Ingush ASSR.
[5][6] Despite claims that the election was unfair or flawed, anthropologist Arutyunov stated that it could nonetheless "be regarded as an expression of Chechen popular will".
[8] President Dudayev issued a decree that expressed the sovereignty of the Chechen Republic.