A chronology of key events:
2000 September - Slobodan Milosevic bans international observers from monitoring elections. Opposition claims victory, Vojislav Kostunica declares himself the "people's president".
Federal Election Commission calls for second ballot, saying neither candidate won an outright majority. Hundreds of thousands of opposition supporters take to the streets of Belgrade to demand that Milosevic stand down.
2000 October - General strike begins as Milosevic remains defiant. Constitutional court annuls election results and says Milosevic should serve out his last year in office.
Tens of thousands of opposition supporters capture parliament building and take over state TV station. Kostunica tells half a million supporters at Belgrade rally that Serbia has been liberated.
Russia recognises Kostunica as federation's new president. He rules out immediate cooperation with UN war crimes tribunal, saying reconstruction is top priority. However, he acknowledges that Serbian forces carried out large-scale killings in Kosovo.
2000 November - Yugoslavia rejoins UN, OSCE. Kostunica tells European Parliament that his country wants to join EU "as soon as possible".
2000 December - Serbia's reformist alliance wins landslide victory against Socialist party of former President Milosevic in parliamentary election.
2001 January - Yugoslavia and Albania re-establish diplomatic relations broken off during the Kosovo crisis in 1999.
Former President Milosevic placed under 24-hour police surveillance in Belgrade.
2001 April - Milosevic is arrested in the early hours after a stand-off at his home. He is taken to Belgrade's main prison and charged with misappropriation of state funds and abuse of his official position. Yugoslav prosecutors say other charges will be forthcoming.
2001 May - US President Bush says Yugoslavia must hand Milosevic over to the international war crimes tribunal in The Hague. Bush says US aid to Yugoslavia is dependent on such a move.
2001 June - Serbian PM Zoran Djindjic overrules Constitutional Court and authorises extradition to Hague war crimes tribunal of Slobodan Milosevic.
Political rift opens up between Djindjic and Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica, a supporter of a Belgrade trial for Milosevic, who denies advance knowledge of the extradition.
Federal Prime Minister Zoran Zizic resigns in protest against the extradition of Milosevic.
2001 August - Kostunica's Democratic Party of Serbia pulls out of Serbian government in protest over alleged corruption as the split with Djindjic deepens.
2001 September - UN lifts arms embargo against Yugoslavia, three years after it was imposed over the treatment of ethnic Albanians in Kosovo.
2001 November - Ibrahim Rugova becomes president of Kosovo following success for his moderate Democratic League in the first such election ever held in the region.
2002 February - Trial of Slobodan Milosevic on charges of genocide and war crimes begins in The Hague.
2002 March - Serbian authorities issue arrest warrants for Serbian President Milan Milutinovic and three other top Milosevic aides as international financial pressure for cooperation with Hague war crimes tribunal is stepped up. One of the aides, former Interior Minister Vlajko Stojiljkovic, commits suicide.
Yugoslav, Montenegrin and Serbian leaders sign EU mediated accord to set up new state to be called Serbia and Montenegro in place of Yugoslavia.
2002 April - Montenegrin government collapses over differences on the new union of Serbia and Montenegro.
Road to union
2002 May - Federal parliament ratifies accord on ending federation, clearing the way for the drawing up of a new constitution of Serbia and Montenegro.
2002 June - All 45 deputies belonging to Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica's Democratic Party of Serbia walk out of Serbian parliament. The move comes in protest at decision by Serbian PM Zoran Djindjic to replace 21 of the party's members for absenteeism.
2002 October - Run-off Serbian presidential elections, in which Vojislav Kostunica wins a majority, are declared invalid because not enough people turn out to vote.
Parties allied with President Djukanovic win Montenegro general election, a result seen as a vote of confidence in the new union of Serbia and Montenegro.
2002 November - Djukanovic resigns as president of Montenegro to take on the more powerful job of prime minister.
2002 December - Low turnout again invalidates elections for Serbian president.
Montenegrin presidential election also invalidated by low turnout.
2003 January - His term as Serbian president at an end, Milan Milutinovic surrenders to the Hague tribunal where he pleads not guilty to charges of crimes against humanity.
Serbian and Montenegrin parliaments approve constitutional charter for new union of Serbia and Montengro.
2003 February - Yugoslav parliament consigns Yugoslavia to history by approving constitutional charter for new union of Serbia and Montenegro.
Low turnout again invalidates Montenegrin presidential election.
2003 March - Union parliament elects Svetozvar Marovic as president of Serbia and Montenegro.
Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic assassinated in Belgrade.
2003 May - Filip Vujanovic elected Montenegrin president in third round of voting.
2003 September - Milosevic indicted in Serbia on charges of having ordered murder and attempted murder of two key political opponents, Ivan Stambolic and Vuk Draskovic respectively, in 2000.
2003 November - Third attempt to fill the vacant post of Serbian president fails because of low election turnout.
2003 December - Inconclusive Serbian parliamentary elections mark start of prolonged coalition talks.
2004 March - Former Yugoslav president, Vojislav Kostunica, becomes prime minister of Serbia in centre-right coalition government which relies on support of Socialist Party.
Serbia's first major war crimes trial opens in Belgrade when six Serbs appear in court charged with killing about 200 civilians in the Croatian town of Vukovar in 1991.
Worst clashes between Serbs and ethnic Albanians in Kosovo since 1999 after deadly violence erupts in divided town of Mitrovica. Nato sends reinforcements.
2004 May - Prominent journalist and critic of Montenegrin government, Dusko Jovanovic, shot dead. His paper, Dan, is seen as a mouthpiece for the republic's anti-independence opposition, and had alleged corruption in the Montenegrin leadership.
2004 June - Democratic Party leader Boris Tadic elected Serbian president, defeating nationalist Tomislav Nikolic in run-off. Mr Tadic pledges to steer Serbia towards the EU.
2005 February - Montenegrin leaders write to Serbian counterparts suggesting early end to union with Serbia and establishment of two independent republics. Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica rejects this.
2005 July - Eight former secret police officers jailed for up to 40 years for murder in 2000 of Serbia's former president Ivan Stambolic.
2005 September - Defence Minister of Serbia and Montenegro Prvoslav Davinic resigns amid scandal over his authorisation of purchase of large consignment of military equipment from private contractor.
2005 October - Talks begin on a Stabilisation and Association Agreement with the EU, regarded as a preliminary step on the long road to membership.
2006 January - Kosovo's President Ibrahim Rugova dies. He is succeeded by Fatmir Sejdiu.
At least 44 people die and nearly 200 are injured when a passenger train crashes into a ravine in southern Montenegro.
2006 February - UN sponsored talks on future status of Kosovo begin.
2006 March - Montenegro's parliament agrees to hold a referendum on independence from Serbia on 21 May 2006.
Slobodan Milosevic found dead in his cell in The Hague where his trial by the international war crimes tribunal was continuing. He is buried in his home town of Pozarevac.
2006 April - Severe flooding as Danube bursts banks in number of places, including Belgrade.
2006 May - EU calls off talks on closer ties because of Belgrade's failure to arrest war crimes suspect Ratko Mladic.
2006 May - Montenegro votes in a referendum to separate from Serbia - 55.5% of votes were cast in favour of independence, just 0.5% above the threshhold required.
2006 June - Montenegro declares independence. Serbia responds by declaring itself independent sovereign successor state to Union of Serbia and Montenegro.