Head of the Political Consultative Council Ivan Rybkin told journalists that the refusal to hold elections in Chechnya was a mistake. He also stated that "all combat operations are followed by negotiations". Therefore, Rybkin believes that the Russian authorities will have to lead negotiations with representatives of Chechen people including the elders in order to finish the conflict. He regrets that Chechen leader Aslan Maskhadov had "actually joined notorious Chechen terrorists". Rybkin drew attention to the fact that 700,000 Chechens out of 1 million, who had lived in their republic at the beginning of 1992, moved to Russia. He also stressed that Chechen refugees were fleeing "to seek protection of the Russian troops, not escaping to the mountainous areas of Chechnya to Shamil Basayev".