Deputy Chairman of the Yabloko association, Sergei Ivanenko, said that the Declaration of Yabloko on ceasing the military attack in Chechnya and beginning negotiations with Aslan Maskhadov constitutes an "ultimatum to the Chechnian authorities.

He said this in an interview with the press. According to Sergei Ivanenko, this declaration is one of the versions of a "clear-cut political plan that has not been published by the federal government to date". Sergei Ivanenko said that "they talked about a political resolution of the conflict in Chechnya at a meeting of the leaders of Duma factions and former Prime Ministers of the RF with Vladimir Putin on Friday, November 5,1999."

Sergei Ivanenko, one of Yabloko's leaders, explained that Yabloko advocates negotiations from a position of force: "In our declaration we proposed a temporary cessation to the bombing and the initiation of negotiations with the officialauthorities", stressed Sergei Ivanenko.

He said: "The terms for negotiations are as follows: all hostages should be freed; the slave trade should be curbed; terrorists announced under international investigation should be extradited to the authorities of the Russian or deported from Chechnya."

Sergei Ivanenko stressed that the military forces have completed their task for the first time in the past five years and created convincing pre-requisites for political solutions: "If the Chechnian authorities fail to do anything within the time they are given, we will grateful if the federal forces can independently resolve their tasks."