Word: yeltsin
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...CONGRESS REFUSED TO LISTEN to the voice of the country." In defiance of a conservative legislature that had steadily diminished his powers, Boris Yeltsin declared a "special order of rule" in a nationwide broadcast Saturday night. He announced that a referendum would be held April 25, in which Russians, weary of endless political infighting, would be asked whether they have confidence in him and whether they approve a new constitution. Yeltsin warned that the meeting of Congress two weeks ago was a rehearsal for "the restoration of power of the communist nomenklatura." Yeltsin's move drew immediate criticism from some...
...Yeltsin did not dissolve the Congress or the Supreme Soviet, but pronounced illegal any legislation they might adopt in contravention of his special-rule decrees. Since his opponents will no doubt fight back, the weeks until April 25 may well decide Russia's fate for years to come. (See related story on page...
JUST A COUPLE OF HOURS BEFORE Boris Yeltsin was scheduled to address the Russian people last Saturday, Mikhail Gorbachev, the last President of the Soviet Union, attended a reception at the Moscow Writers' Club. "My wish to the Russian President," he said, "is to take the initiative in his own hands." Few knew better than Gorbachev the fate of those who failed to show courage at the decisive moment: when the August coup of 1991 collapsed after three days, Gorbachev chose to closet himself in the Kremlin instead of rushing out to the barricades and embracing...
This time there were no barricades, no marching troops, no calls for strikes or demonstrations. Nevertheless, another hour of truth had come for Boris Yeltsin. Instead of climbing on top of a tank and shaking his fist, he looked into television cameras and spoke in measured tones for 25 minutes. There was no mistaking the import of his words. He was taking the heady, reckless gamble of plunging Russia into a struggle for power as fateful as the one begun by the earlier coup attempt -- and probably even more chaotic...
...Yeltsin was attempting a coup of his own in the name of democracy. Humiliated by the parliamentary opposition two weeks ago when it voted to strip him of much of his power, the Russian President struck back by announcing that he had signed orders opening a period of "special rule." For the next five weeks he proposed to govern by decree. No more futile attempts to compromise with the country's two legislative bodies, the Supreme Soviet, or parliament, and its parent, the Congress of People's Deputies. Yeltsin said he would not dissolve them -- yet. He would just ignore...