Word: yeltsin
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...ever, Russian officers are bitterly questioning what has gone wrong with their army. Trained to fight, many feel only aversion for the slaughter of fellow countrymen, which their government has forced upon them in Chechnya. They say they dream of one thing: to hear the announcement that President Boris Yeltsin has resigned, Defense Minister Pavel Grachev has been fired, and the new head of state has started negotiations to end the war and bring the troops home. But our men continue to follow orders, shooting and dying, and hope the day will come when the military will never again have...
Grachev, whom Yeltsin appointed Defense Minister in 1992 over many generals with more experience, manages to hang on because of his loyalty to his patron. As commander of the Soviet Airborne troops during the attempted coup in 1991, he refused to storm the building where Yeltsin was holed up; in October 1993, when the leaders of Parliament dared to challenge Yeltsin in the streets, he sided with the President. According to people close to the President's office, Grachev even reminded Yeltsin after the October putsch: "Boris Nikolayevich, I have twice saved you." Officers have nicknamed the Defense Minister...
Among soldiers, ultranationalist Vladimir Zhirinovsky jumped from fourth to second place in popularity polls last year. He received strong support from the army in parliamentary elections 13 months ago: according to confidential Defense Ministry data, more than 60% voted for him. The only way for Yeltsin to win back the sympathy of servicemen would be to buy them off with a hefty pay raise, but the government simply does not have that kind of money. Soldiers will vote in the next presidential election for a leader who will protest more vigorously the feeble overall reforms of the present government...
...that the specter of cold war might be coming back? We believe the political and military leadership is to blame for pursuing a line of total camaraderie with the U.S. A strong America promised billions of dollars in support, always dictating its own conditions. They were sometimes humiliating, but Yeltsin, Foreign Minster Andrei Kozyrzev, and Prime Minister Victor Chernomyrdin accepted them without a murmur. Now Yeltsin realizes he has given away too much, too fast. He knows patriotism and a healthy nationalism will be the watchwords in the next election, so he is trying to change horses and has made...
Russian President Boris Yeltsin declared victory in Chechnya today, as a Russian flag was raised over the bombed out presidential palace in Grozny. The palace, long the seat of Chechen resistance, was abandoned by the rebels last night. Still says TIME Moscow correspondent Yuri Zarakhovich, "there's a big difference between declaring victory and actually winning." Indeed Chechen rebels vowed to continue fighting despite the loss of the palace. "They will simply go into the mountains outside Grozny," says Zarakhovich. "This is something that could take years to resolve...