Yabloko Wavers on Yeltsin

By Brian Whitmore
SPECIAL TO THE ST PETERSBURG TIMES

A weekend congress of Russia's main democratic opposition party passed a resolution categorically rejecting Communist party candidate Gennady Zyuganov but stopping short of endorsing President Boris Yeltsin for a second term as president.

The move appeared to acknowledge that Yabloko supporters have no place else to turn but to Yeltsin in the July 3 runoff election, but sought answers from the president on his policy in Chechnya, his constitutional powers and replacements for hardliners sacked last week.

"Under no conditions will Yabloko vote for Gennady Zyuganov. But for all Yabloko voters to vote otherwise, it depends on the actions of the president himself," party leader Grigory Yavlinsky told a Moscow news conference on Monday. He estimated that about half his supporters would vote for Yeltsin and half were up for grabs.

Voting against both candidates would in effect support Zyuganov, he warned, saying in a television interview that "a communist victory would be very dangerous."

In a secret ballot at a congress in Golitsino outside Moscow, 57 percent of delegates voted to oppose both candidates and 41 percent supported Yeltsin, according to Yabloko spokesman Andrei Sharomeva.

The proportions were almost identical to the results of a St Petersburg party conference Friday where 60 percent voted against both candidates and 40 percent backed Yeltsin, said Olga Pokrovskaya, press secretary for the Regional Party Center, Yabloko's St Petersburg branch.

"We absolutely do not support the Communists, but we also can not support Yeltsin who is responsible for so much blood," Pokrovskaya said.

Maxim Reznik, a local Yabloko representative, said he was comfortable with the decision to oppose both men.

"I know that the press will brand us reds for this but we need to protect our position as the democratic opposition," he said. "If we were to unconditionally join Yeltsin then the only real opposition to him would be the Communists."

The national Yabloko party's potential support for the president, according to the resolution adopted at the congress, depends on how satisfactorily Yeltsin answers five questions posed to him in an open letter from party leader Grigory Yavlinsky.

It called on the Kremlin leader to explain his measures to end the 18-month Chechnya conflict in which more than 30,000 people have been killed.

Yabloko also wanted to know who would be in Yeltsin's government in the event of his re-election and demanded changes in the government's socio-economic policies. The party also appealed to the president to amend the constitution and dilute some of his sweeping powers.

"If Zyuganov were to win under this constitution, then what sort of legacy would Boris Nikolayevich have left us?" Yavlinsky said Monday.

Yabloko wanted to know who would replace the hardline security chiefs sacked in the past week - Defense Minister Pavel Grachev, Federal Security Service head Mikhail Barsukov and top presidential bodyguard Alexander Korzhakov - and if these services would be placed under civilian control.

Yeltsin, who has not met with Yavlinsky since before the first round of the election, did not have any immediate response to Yabloko's demands. On Saturday, however, he appealed for support to the congress, saying in a message of greetings he shared its "common goals and tasks."

Sergei Belyayev, head of the pro-government Our Home is Russia faction in the State Duma, criticized Yavlinsky on Monday for not making up his mind, accusing him of "detachment from his electorate and political childishness."

Yavlinsky finished fourth in the first round with 5.5 million votes, 7.34 percent of the total. St Petersburg was the only region where he placed second, scoring 15.15 percent of the vote.

In St Petersburg, it was clear that Yeltsin still had some ways to go to win the support of Yabloko members.

"If the president meets the demands of Yavlinsky and our party, which include the firing of (Prime Minister Viktor) Chernomyrdin, if he makes concrete changes in his economic and political course that reflect Yabloko's positions, if he appoints a prime minister whom we believe can bring the country out of the crisis, then we can change our decision," Pokrovskaya said.