Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, February 24, 1994 TAG: 9402240226
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Newsday
DATELINE: MOSCOW LENGTH: Medium
The 252-67 vote in favor of the amnesty in the State Duma came one day before Yeltsin was scheduled to deliver a long-awaited speech to a joint session of Parliament outlining his government's programs for the year. The measure was promoted by its Communist and ultranationalist sponsors as an act of national reconciliation but was immediately denounced by Yeltsin supporters as a prelude to renewed civil strife.
"The sentiments of millions of Russians who defended democracy in August of 1991 and October of 1993 have been violated," said Yeltsin's press secretary, Vyacheslav Kostikov. "The Communists and the supporters of [ultranationalist Vladimir] Zhirinovsky showed that they have a common goal - to gain power through destabilization of the situation."
Zhirinovsky, however, praised the move as "a historic moment." A leading Communist deputy, Anatoly Lukyanov, who would personally benefit from the amnesty because he faces criminal charges stemming from his role in the 1991 coup, called it "a logical step on the way to internal stability."
In a development that typified the confused state of Russian politics, a new controversy immediately erupted in the wake of the vote over what practical impact, if any, it would have.
The amnesty resolution called for it to take effect immediately, and many legislators argued that the president had no right to block it because Russia's new constitution contains language empowering the Duma to grant amnesties. That view was supported by at least one prominent pro-Yeltsin lawmaker, Yegor Gaidar, even as he denounced the measure as a step toward renewed instability.
But several Yeltsin aides challenged the amnesty as legally invalid because the courts have not yet determined the guilt or innocence of those accused of participation in the 1991 and 1993 events.
The Interfax news agency quoted sources close to former Vice President Alexander Rutskoi, who is in prison awaiting trial for his role in October's revolt, as acknowledging the uncertain legality of the amnesty and that no immediate release was forthcoming.
Nevertheless, the Duma vote represented at the least a powerful symbolic challenge to Yeltsin, who spearheaded resistance to the 1991 coup and crushed the 1993 revolt with tanks and army commandos.
It showed that his various opponents, who outpolled Yeltsin supporters in parliamentary elections in December, can control the Duma and hand the president an embarrassing defeat when they unite.
The amnesty vote also is likely to embolden the hard-line Communists, ultranationalists and outright fascists who provided the shock troops for the unsuccessful revolt against Yeltsin in the fall. Several thousand of them gathered at a rally in central Moscow near the Kremlin on Wednesday.
by CNB