MASKHADOV APPROVES DRAFT PEACE PLAN.

On January 17, a State Duma deputy and leading “democrat,” Sergei Yushenkov, announced to members of the press in Moscow that Aslan Maskhadov had expressed approval of a peace plan for Chechnya drafted by the Russian Public Antiwar Committee, of which Yushenkov is a member. According to the plan, a unified commission including Maskhadov’s emissaries and representatives from international organizations should be formed “to draw up terms for a peace settlement.” The final provision of the plan, which is designed for a three-to-five year period, provides for “the organization of a referendum on the future arrangement of Chechnya,” which will be held under the control of international organizations and which will include former refugees from Chechnya. When asked how Maskhadov, who is in hiding, could have familiarized himself with the plan, Yushenkov replied: “[That] is not a problem [given] the current level of information communications, including the Internet” (Interfax, January 17).