President Boris Yeltsin, in a telephone conversation with Security Council Secretary Aleksandr Lebed on 23 August, approved Lebed's negotiations with the Chechen separatist fighters and backed his search for a political solution to the conflict, but insisted that any agreement must ensure that Chechnya remains within the Russian Federation, NTV reported. A day earlier, Yeltsin had said that he was not satisfied with Lebed's work since he had not achieved any clear results. The Yeltsin-Lebed conversation took place at 10 p.m., following a day of confusion over whether the two men would meet. Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin suggested in an interview with Russian TV that the Chechens hold a referendum on independence in five years after normal living conditions had been restored in the republic, ITAR-TASS reported on 25 August. He stressed that the issue of Chechnya's secession from Russia should not be part of the current peace negotiations.
Secession is one of the rebel's main demands.
Tuleev said that he does not intend to engage in confrontation with the government or the prime minister, NTV reported on 23 August. In an interview with Rossiiiskaya gazeta published on 24 August, Tuleev said he might resign his post within the opposition movement, even though the NPSR leadership council advised him to join the government. Nezavisimaya gazeta reported the same day that while most opposition leaders had not criticized Tuleev's appointment, they had not praised it enthusiastically either. Two other NPSR co-chairmen, Aleksandr Rutskoi and Agrarian Party leader Mikhail Lapshin, described Tuleev's move as proof of the constructive nature of the main opposition movement. In a report submitted to the U.S. Congress, the Defense Intelligence Agency depicts the Russian military as a dilapidated force that will not be capable of mounting effective offensive operations against China or deep into Europe for at least 10 years, AFP reported on 23 August.