Moscow appeared to revive its threat to use force against the rebellious Chechen republic Wednesday, as the Security Council announced that "all constitutional measures" should be used to impose order and a Russian jet bombed targets just outside Grozny.


The Security Council announcement seemed to play bad-cop to General Pavel Grachev's good-cop role Tuesday, when the Russian defense minister met Chechen leader Dzhokhar Dudayev on the breakaway republic's border and agreed that no force would be used to resolve the conflict.


In another sign of reconciliation, seven of the 21 Russian soldiers captured during a failed attempt to storm the Chechen capital Nov. 26 returned to Moscow on Wednesday. Dudayev released them to return home with a parliamentary delegation headed by Yabloko faction leader Grigory Yavlinsky.


A Chechen government spokesman said the last of the Russian captives would be released Thursday on humanitarian grounds, The Associated Press reported.


"We don't need them," said Shiruani Bashayev of the National Information Service.


But a statement from the Russian Security Council, which includes the defense and interior ministers and the head of the Federal Counterintelligence Service, poured some cold water on these recent peaceful stirrings.


"Armed clashes with massive loss of human life must be stopped immediately and all warring armed groups should be outlawed," Reuters reported the statement as saying. "At the same time all constitutional measures must be taken to disarm and liquidate illegal armed groupings."


The statement also said President Boris Yeltsin had appointed the new nationalities minister, Nikolai Yegorov, as deputy prime minister charged with coordinating Chechen operations. He replaces Sergei Shakhrai, who had early been given the same task.


Though vague, the Security Council statement effectively restates Moscow's option to use force in resolving the conflict because disarmament would have to include Dudayev's loyalist forces, which have sworn not to submit without a fight.


The rebel republic's foreign minister, Shamsedin Yusef, responded sharply to the Security Council statement, saying: "We will not take orders from Russia. Only if every Chechen dies can they enter Chechnya," Reuters reported from Grozny, the Chechen capital.


The Security Council reference to the constitution is relevant because the law gives Yeltsin the right to introduce a state of emergency in any region of Russia to stop violence.


Russian forces may soon be in a position to carry through with that threat. Reporters in Mozdok, in neighboring Ingushetia, have described an impressive buildup of Russian troops and military hardware in the region.


Grachev, who returned to Moscow for Wednesday's Security Council meeting, was due to fly back to Mozdok on Thursday, said a spokesman for the government information center set up to handle reporting on the Chechen conflict.


As if to punctuate the renewed tough talk from Moscow, two Russian warplanes flew over the Chechen capital Grozny on Wednesday and a local official said they dropped two bombs outside the town. It was the first such attack in several days.


The Chechen government official said the attack was aimed at a tank base near Grozny airport about 10 kilometers south of the center.


"They seem to have missed and the bombs fell on the nearby forest," the official said.


At least nine civilians have been killed in earlier air attacks on Grozny. After earlier denials by Moscow, Grachev acknowledged last week that Russian planes carried out the attacks, but Moscow has insisted that bombs that hit residential areas went astray.


Dudayev seemed highly pleased with Tuesday's talks with Grachev, which both men stressed were at a purely military, and not a political level.


"The main thing is that we can resolve all questions without war," Dudayev said after the talks.


Asked if the danger of war had been fully removed, he told a later news conference in Grozny: "I can't give guarantees like that, just as the defense minister can't."


In a sign that Dudayev continues to prepare for the worst, his officials on Wednesday banned alcohol sales in the largely Moslem Caucasus region.


"It is very dangerous for Moslems to drink during war," said Dudayev aide Movladi Udugov. "If you die drunk during battle you go to hell."


Udugov said the order by Chechen military commandant Ilias Arsunkayev also allowed thieves and looters to be shot on sight.


Chechnya unilaterally declared independence in 1991, but no country has recognized it as a separate state and Russia has accused the region of being a haven for terrorists.


Moscow attempted once before, in 1991, to reimpose its authority by force, but its troops were ignominiously disarmed and sent home.