In February 1997, "a remote-controlled bomb blast damaged two cars" in Arsanov's motorcade in central Grozny; his press spokesman claimed the attack was "'a carefully planned operation by the Russian secret services,' designed to destabilize Chechnya by provoking conflict between supporters of [Maskhadov] and Zelimkhan Yandarbiev, the outgoing acting president." In April, Russian Interior Minister Anatoly Kulikov announced the arrests of two Chechen women suspected of involvement in the 1995 Budyonnovsk hospital hostage crisis and the April 28 bombing of Pyatigorsk that killed two. Arsanov denied a Chechen connection to the bombings in Pyatigorsk and Armavir, instead accusing the Russian secret services of organizing the Pyatigorsk bombing in order to "sabotage the peace process. He also suggested "that ongoing peace talks with Russia should be suspended until Kulikov apologized." However, Chechen First Deputy Prime Minister Movladi Udugov stated that peace talks would continue. In May, Russian leaders formally apologized for the incident in which Russian fighter aircraft intercepted Arsanov's plane shortly after it took off from Grozny to the Netherlands. In September, Arsanov threatened to "execute" Russian Cabinet leaders for their "genocide" during the war and said to "spit" on Russia; the Russian government demanded that Arsanov retract his "insulting statements" and apologize, but he did not. In November, Arsanov served as the acting president while Maskhadov was on vacation.