Maskhadov nominated himself for President of Ichkeria on 3 December 1996, for the January 1997 free democratic presidential and parliamentary elections held in Chechnya under the aegis of the OSCE, running primarily against Shamil Basayev and Zelimkhan Yandarbiyev.
Relations became strained after Zelimkhan Yandarbiyev was assassinated in Qatar on 13 February 2004.