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

DATE: FRIDAY, June 1, 1990                   TAG: 9006010059
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-10   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: MOSCOW                                LENGTH: Short

YELTSIN OFFERS TO END GORBACHEV FEUD

Boris Yeltsin, the new president of the Russian Federation and a leading critic of Mikhail Gorbachev, said Thursday he will try to make peace in his personal feud with the Soviet president.

Yeltsin, a radical reformer, was quoted by the official Tass news agency as saying he would put aside personal differences with Gorbachev when the president returns from the Washington summit.

Yeltsin was seeking to calm the fears of the deputies of the republic's Congress about his stormy relationship with Gorbachev, his former mentor.

In his new position as president of Russia, the largest Soviet republic, Yeltsin has a formidable platform from which to challenge and criticize Gorbachev, who opposed his election.

Deputies speaking Thursday at the Russian Congress "expressed concern over the exchange of statements about each other" by Yeltsin and Gorbachev, Tass reported.

Yeltsin answered that after Gorbachev returns June 4 from the summit in Washington, "I think we'll have an appropriate conversation, and we'll resolve most issues without damaging the sovereignty and aims of Russia," Tass said.

At a news conference Wednesday, Yeltsin called for achieving Russian "sovereignty" within 100 days. The term is used here to mean not independence, but autonomy in most internal decisions.

Yeltsin also urged the Kremlin to allow the other 14 republics to enjoy the same autonomy, making the country a federation of states that could overrule the central government on most matters.

by CNB