In late 1994 through 1996, Grachev played a key role in initiating and leading the First Chechen War. He was one of authors of the idea to use force to "restore constitutional order" in the breakaway republic of Chechnya and publicly promised to swiftly crush the Chechen separatist forces "in a couple of hours with a single airborne regiment." He was rumoured to have launched the disastrous storming of Grozny while drunk during the celebrations of his 1 January birthday. As "TIME" commented in 1995: "Grachev had remarked recently that only an 'incompetent commander' would order tanks into the streets of central Grozny, where they would be vulnerable (...) Yet at the end of December he did it." Eventually, in July 1996, following his re-election, Yeltsin sacked the disgraced Grachev. The First Chechen War soon ended with more than 100,000 soldiers and civilians having lost their lives.