Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!americast-post Newsgroups: americast.twt.news From: americast-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: americast-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: Yeltsin aide takes role of mediator in Ossetia Date: Thu, 12 Nov 92 14:51:51 EST Message-ID: \SE A;WORLD \HD Yeltsin aide takes role of mediator in Ossetia \BY Gerald Nadler \CR THE WASHINGTON TIMES \DT MOSCOW MOSCOW - Acting Prime Minister Yegor Gaidar, the Russian economic czar, stepped out of his normal role yesterday in an effort to prevent a bloody clash between Russian troops and the forces of a maverick warlord in southern Russia. Mr. Gaidar's mediating role in the North Ossetian capital of Vladikavkaz may be a prelude to taking him out of the direct line of fire as the chief of economic reforms in a looming Cabinet reshuffle. The regional Caucasus conflict that Mr. Gaidar, 36, stepped into as mediator may be almost as complex as coaxing Russia's militarized state-run economy onto the rails of free-market enterprise. After fighting broke out between the two autonomous regions of North Ossetia and Ingushetia in the Russian Federation on Oct. 31, President Boris Yeltsin declared a state of emergency in both areas and rushed 3,000 Spetznaz paratroops and Interior Ministry forces into Vladikavkaz. On Tuesday, the Russian forces pushed into Ingushetia to try to pacify that region and then occupied three regions of the neighboring Muslim Chechen republic, whose president is a former Soviet air force general, Dzhokhar Dudayev. Mr. Dudayev last year humiliated Russian forces sent in to overturn the self-declared independence of the Chechen republic, a part of the Russian Federation, when he used buses to block the arriving forces at Grozny Airport. The soldiers, who were blockaded on the airfield, were then bused out, as Mr. Dudayev's Muslim mountain fighters fired volleys into the air and taunted the evacuees. On Tuesday, Mr. Dudayev, who commands a compact, well-armed military force, warned he would wage a complete war if the Russian forces did not withdraw from Chechenia. "If this does not happen, the Chechen republic will rise up to a man," the maverick warlord said. "Russia should not forget where the borders of the Chechenia republic are," he warned. Otherwise he said he would make sure that the Ingush capital of Narvan and Vladikavkaz, the North Ossetian main city, "will be blown sky high." Yesterday, the Russian troops began leaving Chechenia, the Itar-Tass news agency said in a dispatch from the Chechen capital of Grozny. Mr. Dudayev, who sports a bemedaled gray marshal's tunic when at home and dons a pin-striped suit and a homburg hat when visiting foreign countries, has become a force not to be trifled with. On Nov. 10, he sent a telegram to President-elect Bill Clinton asking that he bring the influence of the "great power" he will lead to prevent a war in the Russian Caucasus region. Mr. Dudayev's republic of 1.3 million people is rich in oil, and the mustachioed, pencil-thin Mr. Dudayev hopes to use the petroleum to make his region economically independent. He has been making visits to foreign capitals, among them Riyadh in Saudi Arabia, to win support. In Moscow, Vice President Alexander Rutskoi, who advocates a forceful response to Mr. Dudayev's actions, told Central Television that there never was any question of getting into an armed clash in Chechenia. The drama in Russia's south was played out as Mr. Yeltsin was ending a trip abroad, speaking in Hungary's parliament after a two-day trip to Great Britain. In the British Parliament, Mr. Yeltsin warned that he might have to use emergency powers to save democracy and reforms in Russia. Responding wildly to Mr. Yeltsin's hints that he could curb the Supreme Soviet's power, or even shut it down, the deputies yesterday began voting on a bill that would take away Mr. Yeltsin's right to name his Cabinet. Because they lacked a quorum, the few deputies in attendance hopped from seat to seat pressing the voting buttons of the absent legislators. Commonwealth Television focused in on one portly deputy voting four times as he wildly pressed the buttons. Vladimir Shumeiko, now a deputy vice prime minister and a former deputy parliament speaker, said the government would contest any such votes by absentee deputies in the Constitutional Court. The TV commentary said that the practice of voting by missing deputies is well known to Russian reporters and that many times stand-ins for the deputies do the voting. The scene did little to enhance the image of the Supreme Soviet, already perceived as grasping and self-serving. In a wild speech, conservative Deputy Mikhail Chelnokov said Mr. Yeltsin was preparing to declare a state of emergency and all the members of the Congress of People's Deputies, the larger parent parliamentary body, should be summoned to Moscow to begin their 10-day session now and not wait until Dec. 1. He said the Ministry of Defense should take the parliament under guard to protect it from Mr. Yeltsin's plans to disperse it. After trying for weeks to force a postponement of the Congress of People's Deputies, the arbiter of constitutional changes, Mr. Yeltsin apparently relented on Sunday and said the session would likely be held. Last spring's Congress decision empowering Mr. Yeltsin to name his Cabinet runs out on Dec. 1, and the leaders of the conservative Congress factions say they will not renew the special powers. They also plan to strip Mr. Yeltsin of his power to issue decrees with the force of law, although in the present chaotic conditions the decrees are rarely obeyed by regional chiefs. The Civic Union has not demanded the resignation of Mr. Gaidar but wants almost all his key aides. This article is copyright 1992 The Washington Times. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. For more information, send-email to usa@AmeriCast.COM