Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, July 12, 1990 TAG: 9007120570
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A/2 EDITION: EVENING
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: MOSCOW LENGTH: Medium
Yeltsin said he had intended to wait until the end of the 28th Congress of the Soviet Communist Party but decided to announce his decision now to devote his full attention to his new position as president of the Russian Federation.
Yeltsin, a career Communist official, was brought to Moscow by President Mikhail Gorbachev to become party chief of the capital city and a member of the national ruling Politburo.
But Yeltsin's populist style, demands for faster and more radical economic reforms and more local power for the republics caused a dispute with Gorbachev that led to his ouster from the job in 1987.
However, his popularity allowed Yeltsin to make a comeback. He won a seat in the Congress of People's Deputies in 1988, a seat in the Russian republic Parliament last year, and the republic's presidency this summer.
Yeltsin is by far the most prominent member of the Communist Party to quit.
It was not clear how many delegates to the congress would follow his lead.
The 100 or so delegates from the reformist Democratic Platform had announced that they planned to leave the party during the congress, but they had refrained in an effort to secure access to party assets.
The burly, white-haired Siberian strode to the podium in the Kremlin Palace of Congress, was recognized by Gorbachev and announced he was submitting his resignation, which technically must be accepted by his primary party organization or cell.
His announcement was met by applause and shouting among the nearly 4,700 mostly hard-line delegates.
by CNB