In his press conference on Friday Anatoli Chubais accused Grigory Yavlinsky of betrayal, asserting that "implementation of Yavlinsky's plan would virtually not only stab Russia's army in the back, but also help Maskhadov evacuate the terrorists beyond the borders of Chechnya and hide them from justice".

Commenting on this allegation, one of Yabloko's leaders, deputy of the State Duma Alexei Melnikov, assumes that Anatoly Chubais either failed to read the document proposed by Grigory Yavlinsky or is engaging in malicious libel.

Yavlinsky's plan, remarked Alexei Melnikov, did not envisage any removal of the blockade on Chechnya and harbouring of international terrorists from justice. According to Alexei Melnikov, this plan seeks to "remove the terrorists with minimum losses for Russian troops and ensure a political settlement of the situation from a position of force".

Alexei Melnikov also stressed that Yabloko and his leader Grigory Yavlinsky supported and would support the actions of the Russian army in Chechnya. He also said that another allegation by Anatoli Chubais, to the effect that Grigory Yavlinsky had purportedly attempted to somehow apologise for his plan and declare that it had been misinterpreted, contradicted the facts as well. Alexei Melnikov stressed: "Anybody who has a clear conscience has nothing to apologise for. On the contrary, anybody with a guilty conscience tends to lay the blame on somebody else."

Deputy Melnikov also recalled that Anatoli Chubais was a member of the cabinet, which unleashed the war in Chechnya in 1994-1996 and then "shamefully lost. Therefore Chubais is responsible for the deaths of thousands of Russian soldiers and civilians in that war. This gives us all grounds to characterise Chubais as a 'traitor'. The traitor Chubais has no moral right to issue any assessments on politicians who are trying to support the Russian army in Chechnya and are seeking to remove the terrorists with minimum losses for Russian troops", stressed Alexei Melnikov.