Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, March 29, 1993 TAG: 9303290098
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: From The Baltimore Sun and the Los Angeles Times
DATELINE: MOSCOW LENGTH: Medium
In Yeltsin's case, they came close. But in the end, both men survived to resume their Kremlin confrontation today.
Conservative deputies - who for several hours Sunday broke free of their leadership and took control of the Congress - fell 72 votes short of carrying in the 1,033-member Congress a resurrected motion to impeach the president.
Their attempt to dismiss Khasbulatov, the chairman of the legislature, failed by a larger number.
Although the votes left nothing resolved in the continuing struggle between Yeltsin and the legislature, the president rushed out Sunday night to Red Square as soon as he heard the news. There he told thousands of his supporters who had been waiting and demonstrating for half the day, "The Communist coup d'etat did not take place."
To cheers, he said, "This is a victory for the people, for reform, for democracy. Young Russia has won, and will continue progressing."
In the chilly night air, under the brilliantly illuminated dome of St. Basil's Cathedral, the crowd began chanting, "Russia! Russia!"
It wasn't just the diehards demonstrating this time, but crowds and crowds of ordinary people, of all walks of life and from a remarkably broad spread of ages - the sort of people who answered Yeltsin's call in 1991 to oppose the coup.
And, just as he did then, Yeltsin seemed to draw strength from the noisy, flag-waving outpouring of support. "Moscow has awakened at last," he declared.
When deputies convened at 10 a.m., Yeltsin had promised to drop the referendum he had planned for April 25 if they approved a surprise compromise plan that he and Khasbulatov cobbled together overnight, calling for early presidential and parliamentary elections Nov. 21 and the replacement of the Congress by a two-house legislature.
The Congress was incensed by much in the deal, including its planned elimination and Khasbulatov's blessing for it.
Before the results of the impeachment vote became known, Yeltsin vowed to resist any attempt to dismiss him: "I will not obey. I obey only the will of the people."
Out on the street, it seemed, Yeltsin had won a great moral victory by not being impeached. Within the Congress, on the other hand, he had suffered a political defeat because so many voted against him.
And Khasbulatov, the consummate inside politician, had struck a deal with Yeltsin only to see it hooted out of the Congress, and then had to watch as his own job was put on the line.
Yet by the end of the day Khasbulatov was taking satisfaction in having only 339 deputies vote for his ouster. He suggested Yeltsin take note of who was the less unpopular figure with Congress.
And, finally, a day that saw such swings of fortune drew to a close with nothing decided. The Congress meets again today to debate further the referendum proposal, early elections next fall, and whatever else anyone puts before it.
"What decisions we'll make tomorrow I can't say," Khasbulatov said. "But the tragedy of the situation is evident, because the president was on the verge of being removed."
In other action, Congress voted 537-263 to take control of state-owned broadcast media and news agencies. A Yeltsin aide said the action would be appealed to the Constitutional Court today.
by CNB