[PEN-L:1415] Re- The Countdown to Armageddon

["Frank Durgin" <fdurgin1@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Taken from  RUSSIA TODAY <russiatoday.com>


Wednesday, September 02, 1998 at: NY 7:33 a.m. Lon 12:33 p.m. Pra 1:33 p.m.
Mos 3:33 p.m.

Lebed: Popular Uprising Against Yeltsin Possible

<Picture: lebed17.gif>MOSCOW -- (Agence France Presse) Kremlin hopeful
Aleksander Lebed (pictured) warned Wednesday that President Boris Yeltsin
could trigger a popular uprising if he moved to dissolve the Duma, Interfax
news agency reported.

Yeltsin, who is at loggerheads with the Duma over his choice of prime
minister, has vowed to stand by Victor Chernomyrdin despite his
overwhelming rejection by deputies at a confirmation hearing on Monday.

"If Yeltsin takes any radical decision, everyone will rush to defend the
parliament," the former paratroop general told the news agency from his
fiefdom in the mineral rich Siberian region of Krasnoyarsk.

"We could see a repeat of 1991," he said, referring to the dramatic defense
of parliament by Yeltsin and thousands of ordinary Russians against a
Communist putsch against then Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev.

"Hatred for the current regime runs deep in the Russian provinces," said
Lebed, adding that "the president would be committing political hara-kiri
if he dissolved the Duma," which is dominated by the opposition.

Several Yeltsin aides and advisors have recently warned of a possible
dissolution of the Duma, which on Monday overwhelmingly rejected his choice
of premier.

Under the 1993 constitution, Yeltsin must dissolve the lower chamber and
call early legislative elections if the Duma throws out his nominee as
premier three times.

Earlier, Lebed told the commercial NTV television station that "the army
could get aggressive" if the current tussle between the Kremlin and the
legislature degenerated into open conflict.

A leading contender to replace Yeltsin in the Kremlin in presidential
elections set for 2000, Lebed will be among Russian politicians invited to
meet visiting U.S. President Bill Clinton on Wednesday. ( (c) 1998 Agence
France Presse)


++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
++++++++++++



Russian Business Daily Warns of "Civil War"

MOSCOW -- (Reuters) Russia's main business newspaper, Kommersant Daily,
said on Wednesday that conflict between President Boris Yeltsin and the
Communist-led parliament could lead to a constitutional crisis and possible
"civil war."

"Zyuganov Ready for War," the paper ran across its front page above a
half-page portrait of Communist leader Gennady Zyuganov, who accused
Yeltsin on Tuesday of being a "crazy drunk" who was pushing Russia "toward
civil war."

The normally sober Kommersant said in its front-page editorial that the
Communists, who dominate the Duma with their allies, were ready to reject
Yeltsin's candidate for prime minister three times -- a move that would
trigger the chamber's dissolution under the Constitution.

It said the Kremlin staff could avoid a showdown by urging Yeltsin to drop
Victor Chernomyrdin and nominate a more acceptable candidate for premier --
either upper-house speaker Yegor Stroyev or Moscow Mayor Yury Luzhkov.

"After yesterday's Duma council meeting it has become clear -- the country
has reached the stage where there is a threat of civil war. The Duma,
headed by Gennady Zyuganov, is ready to start it," Kommersant said.

The Duma overwhelmingly rejected Victor Chernomyrdin on Monday and Zyuganov
said it would do so a second time in a vote due next Monday and would do so
a third time, too, if Yeltsin renominated the man who was previously
premier for five years.

Yeltsin has already noted that that would leave him no choice but to
dissolve the Duma.

If that happened, Kommersant said, the Communists had broad support to go
ahead with impeachment proceedings against the 67-year-old president,
creating a constitutional crisis, since the constitution also forbids the
dissolution of the Duma by a president who is under investigation for
possible impeachment.

"This clinch could lead to consequences we know from autumn 1993,"
Kommersant said, recalling Yeltsin's bloody October 1993 battle with
supporters of the Soviet-era parliament.

"Today the Left is capable of bringing out many more people on to the
streets...and among them will be many more ringleaders ready to set up a
fiercer stir than in October."

The Kremlin had made a mistake in its negotiations with the Communists by
admitting Yeltsin's weakness in recent days, the paper said. The president
had proved that he reacts defiantly to any threats from parliament. But his
aides might yet persuade Yeltsin to back down and name a different prime
minister. ( (c) 1998 Reuters)