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POWER STRUGGLE IN RUSSIA
Parliament
plans to make
armed attack
MOSCOW: Forces from the
Russian Parliament were pre
paring to make an armed as
sault on the buildings of the
Defence Ministry and the gen
eral staff of the armed forces,
Itar-Tass news agency said yes
terday.
The report, quoting the army's
press, service, said "all measures"
had been taken to counter "any
provocation including an armed
provocation".
Military sources and Russian
television reported earlier that all
telephone lines to the buildings of
the ministry and the general staff
had been cut oft.
. Tass said the ministry had in
formationthat Mr Yeltsin's oppo
nents in Parliament's White
House headquarters were prepar
ing an armed attempt to seize the
ministry building' and the neigh
bouring general staff building in
central Moscow.
"In view of this, all necessary
measures, including armed mea
sures, have been taken to head off
any provocation," Tass quoted the
ministry as saying,
A guard at the ministry said all
civilian telephone lines to the
v building had .been cut, but he did
not know why. Repeated calls to
numbers .in the ministry and gen
eral staff buildings produced only
an engaged signal.
The ministry might have cut
the lines itself. It has at its disposal
a separate system of government
telephones and its own communi
cations network. Government and
other telephones at the White
House have been cut by authori
ties loyal to Mr Yeltsin.
The Government began shut
ting down inter-city telephone
lines in the Parliament on Wed
nesday and by yesterday had cut
off all telephone and telegraph
lines from the parliament build
ing.
Defence Minister Pavel Grach
ev saidlata news conference earlier
there had (been numerous appeals
from officials in the Parliament to
summon elite troop units in the
Moscow?region for defence of the
building.
. Mrv Grachev,, quoted by Itar
Tass, said the Defence Ministry
was resolved to put an end to these
appeals from various officials.
A spokesman said the ministry
had disconnected its own tele
phones "for repair work," an in
formed source said.
Since Mr Yeltsin appeared on
Russian television on Tuesday
night to announce the Parlia
ment's disbandment ahead of De
cember elections for a new,
two-tier legislature, his conserva
tive foes have been reduced to in
creasingly impotent displays of
fury.
Keen to strengthen his hand in
the struggle with Parliament, Mr
Yeltsin called presidential elec
tions for next June, two years
ahead of schedule.
A decree made public by his
office said Russians would elect a
new president on June 12, three
years to the day after Mr Yeltsin
was elected for what was due to be
a five-year term.
The President had promised to
put his own job on the line in his
long negotiations with the rival
Parliament over the past few
months.
In practice, power has remained
firmly in Mr Yeltsin's hands.
Not only did key Russian insti
tutions overlook his bending of
the Constitution and pledge alle
giance to him, but messages of
support flowed in from many of
Russia's powerful regions, former
Soviet neighbours and Western al
lies.
But parliament leaders have
one more card to play. They hope
that enough members of the more
conservative supreme legislature,
the Congress of People's Deputies,
will have answered their call to
Moscow to be able to hold a full
session.
Under the present Soviet-era
basic law, one clause of which
automatically deprives Mr Yeltsin
of the presidency if he attempts to
dissolve the legislature, both the
standing Parliament and the Pre
sident must obey the Congress.
A buoyant Mr Yeltsin, chatting
to Muscovites in the street yester
day, did not look worried by the
prospect.
Ranked by loyal Defence and
Interior Ministers, he laughed off
the idea of dialogue with a muti
nous law-making body which, he
said, no longer existed.
"It [the Parliament] does not
exist, therefore, there is not, can
not and must not be any dialogue.
But there will be no blood, I tell
you," he said.
"I think we have had enough of
Parliament making fools of us and
the people. Enough!"
Mr Yeltsin also said a summit
of members of the Common
wealth of Independent States, 11
ex-Soviet states, would go ahead as
planned today to discuss econom
ic union.
. The Defence Minister, Pavel
Grachev, said the army supported
Mr Yeltsin.
Defence Ministry officials said
the command system for firing nu
clear weapons was still in Mr Yelt
sin's hands.
— ReutW, AP, AFP
I he Russian President, Boris Yeltsin, right, and his Defence Minister, Pavel Grachev, talk to Muscovites during an impromptu visit to Pushkin Square in downtown Moscow on Wednesday. Mr Grachev told the crowd that the military "unequivocally supports President Yeltsin as commander in chief." Mr Yeltsin disbanded Parliament on Tuesday and announced a new election for December. Help
I he Russian President, Boris Yeltsin, right, and his Defence Minister, Pavel Grachev, talk to Muscovites during an impromptu visit to
Pushkin Square in downtown Moscow on Wednesday. Mr Grachev told the crowd that the military "unequivocally supports President
Yeltsin as commander in chief." Mr Yeltsin disbanded Parliament on Tuesday and announced a new election for December.
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