During the late 80s, together with the separatist tendencies across the Soviet Union, the Second Congress of the Ingush People was held in Grozny on September 9–10, 1989. The gathering was directed at the top leadership of the Soviet Union, and included a request to "restore the Ingush people’s autonomy within their historical borders, the Ingush Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic with a capital in the right-bank part of the city of Ordzhonikidze".The Ingush Republic was to be organized out of six traditional Ingush districts (including the contested Prigorodny District). The rise of the Russian Federation gave the Ingushetians the independence they vowed for. During the 1990s, Ingushetia was ruled by its elected president Ruslan Aushev, a former Soviet general and hero of the war in Afghanistan.