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

DATE: THURSDAY, September 30, 1993                   TAG: 9309300162
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A1   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: MOSCOW                                LENGTH: Medium

YELTSIN FOES MAY DEAL

The government gave increasingly isolated lawmakers five days to leave the parliament building or face "serious consequences," and the besieged hard-liners reportedly said Wednesday they were willing to negotiate.

The offer marked a possible softening in the hard-liners' defiance. It came as the government kept up a cordon of razor wire, guns and thousands of armed riot police and troops around the building.

In the offer, drafted by parliament Speaker Ruslan Khasbulatov, the lawmakers offered to start negotiations mediated by Russia's top religious leader, Orthodox Patriarch Alexy II, ITAR-Tass reported.

In a sign of a possible split within the hard-line camp, another top rebel leader, Vice President Alexander Rutskoi, told reporters inside parliament that he would not accept any compromise with the government.

There was no immediate government response to the lawmakers' offer. President Boris Yeltsin has previously said he would not compromise with the rebels, who have repeatedly tried to sabotage his reforms.

The government didn't spell out what it meant by "serious consequences" if the lawmakers didn't surrender, and Foreign Minister Andrei Kozyrev offered fresh assurances Wednesday that force would not be used.

For a second straight night, police with rubber batons clashed with hundreds of people who tried to demonstrate in support of parliament. Protesters threw bottles at police. A hard-line lawmaker suffered a concussion and a fractured collarbone during the clash, Russian television reported.

A traffic policeman died of injuries suffered when he was pushed in front of a car by anti-government protesters during a clash Tuesday.

After Yeltsin met in the Kremlin with his top advisers, the government bluntly warned the rebels' leaders - Rutskoi and Khasbulatov - that they would bear all responsibility if the building were not evacuated and all weapons surrendered by Monday.

The threat of armed conflict has caused concern among world leaders who have voiced strong support for Yeltsin, but the ongoing standoff also poses risks for the president at home by making him appear weak and indecisive.

Police on Tuesday had given lawmakers until Wednesday to surrender, but the deadline passed without incident.

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by CNB