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

DATE: MONDAY, September 27, 1993                   TAG: 9403100010
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

YELTSIN'S COUP

BORIS YELTSIN'S dangerous gamble in suspending the Russian parliament seems to be paying off, with the nation's military and police leaders remaining loyal and residents of the nation's major cities remaining calm.

As his parliamentary foes met in barricaded headquarters last week to denounce him, impeach him and replace him, most of the rest of Russia seemed to be paying them little mind.

Life goes on pretty much as usual.

It is anything but usual, of course, for a head of state to trample on a nation's constitution and suspend its legislature in order to press ahead with democratization. And it is anything but usual for the leaders of the world's democracies, including the United States, to offer their quick and open support of such an illegal move.

But, since its astounding rejection of Soviet communism, Russia has seen the unusual become usual.

Led by Yeltsin, most of its people have rejected one-party rule and demanded free-market economic reforms. Yet its constitution was drafted under the Soviet regime, and its parliament is dominated by old-line Communists with no interest in seeing reforms take hold.

So while Russian voters have demonstrated their desire for change, Yeltsin, the agent of change, has been stymied, and the government has been at a stalemate for more than a year.

Thus it is that President Clinton and the leaders of Britain, France and Germany are backing Yeltsin's risky move, and taking a gamble of their own. They are giving priority to the substance of democratic reform over the form of democratic procedures.

They are gambling that, in Yeltsin, they are supporting someone truly committed to representative government - whether he ends up at its head or not. They're betting that his call for a December vote to elect a new parliament will yield a government that both reflects the will of a majority of the Russian people and is committed to economic reform.

The West has strong economic, political and military interests in seeing a stable, democratic government take root in Russia. As long as Yeltsin is headed in that direction - and only that long - the United States has little choice but to support the unusual actions he has taken to deal with some unusual political realities.

by CNB