
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, May 17, 1990                   TAG: 9005170024
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-12   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: MOSCOW                                LENGTH: Medium

REPRESENTATIVES OF RUSSIA PUSH FOR MORE POWER OR INDEPENDENCE

Radical Russian lawmakers began a fight Wednesday to win more power for the Soviet Union's largest republic and said they want to elect Communist maverick Boris Yeltsin as their republic's president.

"Either Russia will be a supporting part of the Soviet empire or the Russian Federation will be independent in economic, political and cultural fields," lawmaker Oleg Rumyanstev said at the opening of the Russian republic's congress.

The Russian reformers seek greater control over their republic's economic and political affairs, which are now almost entirely controlled by the national bureaucracy.

"Either it's allowed to be free, or someone from Moscow will dictate everything," said Rumyanstev, a leader of the newly formed Social Democratic Party. He spoke during a break in the opening session, which was devoted largely to procedural matters.

The official Soviet news agency Tass said some Russian lawmakers are demanding independence, like the three Baltic republics and groups in Azerbaijan, Georgia and the Ukraine.

Russian news media regularly discuss sovereignty, which they say would give the republics greater rights as members of a less centrally controlled Soviet Union.

The Russian republic is the heart of the Soviet Union. It includes Moscow, 52 percent of the nation's population, and three-quarters of its land, from the Baltic Sea to the Pacific Ocean. Russian is the Soviet Union's dominant language.

Russia is by far the largest of the 15 Soviet republics. It embraces 11 time zones and the vast oil, gas, mineral and gold reserves of Siberia. Many Russians feel their wealth supports the other republics.

In the race for the new post of president of Russia, a Yeltsin victory could mean a loss of face for Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev, because Yeltsin is his most popular rival. Yeltsin has advanced his career by criticizing Gorbachev and the privileges of the party elite.

Gorbachev has thrown his support in the race to current Russian Premier Alexander Vlasov.

Gorbachev emphasized the importance of this battle by spending all day Wednesday silently observing the opening session's debate in the Grand Kremlin Palace. Legislators said organizational matters could easily postpone the presidential election until Friday.

If Yeltsin and the radicals win control of the Russian congress, they plan to seek changes in the Russian constitution that would clash with the national charter. Some would follow the Baltic example in demanding that laws of the Russian republic take priority over national ones.

by CNB