Yeltsin praises Tatarstan as talks with Grozny begin
Yeltsin praises Tatarstan as talks with Grozny begin
KAZAN, Russia (Reuter): Russian President Boris Yeltsin began the last week of his election campaign yesterday with a visit to independence-minded Tatarstan, holding it up to Chechnya as an example of harmony with Moscow.
"You took as much autonomy as was needed for Tatarstan's prosperity and Russia's integrity," Yeltsin told local leaders in the regional capital Kazan, 800 kilometers east of Moscow. Kazan was conquered by Russia's Ivan the Terrible in the mid-16th century.
Yeltsin, 65, was referring to a power-sharing treaty negotiated in 1994 in which Tatarstan compromised over its demands for independence from Moscow. But he had one eye on Chechnya, where an 18-month war has hurt his chances of winning re-election next Sunday.
Russian officials and Chechen rebels met in the neighboring republic of Ingushetia yesterday to try to bolster a fragile truce. But big obstacles remained to a quick deal to end conflict which has killed more than 30,000 people.
Chechen rebel spokesman Movladi Udugov dismissed Yeltsin's efforts to reach a peace agreement as electioneering.
"This is just a pre-election stunt. The only thing we feel from their side is an attempt to make it look as though there are talks going on everywhere so they can have their elections," he told reporters.
Yeltsin, on the final stage of his election battle against communist leader Gennady Zyuganov, regards Tatarstan's relationship with Moscow as a model for Chechnya to follow.
Like Chechnya, Tatarstan sought a form of independence. But its President Mintimer Shaimiyev finally agreed to accept its status as part of Russia in a deal which gave it more autonomy than any other region.
Yeltsin was accused of contributing to the break-up of the Soviet Union by saying in 1990 that ethnic regions should take as much autonomy as they needed.
But Yeltsin, who leads opinion polls and is confident of victory despite their poor track record in Russia, is expected to reap some reward by getting many votes from Tatarstan next week.
"It was here that the word autonomy was understood correctly and I can tell you frankly this was successful," Yeltsin told about 1,000 local officials.
Outside, he was received warmly by about 2,000 people gathered in the rain. He looked fit and healthy as he talked to the crowd and visited a site where a cathedral and a mosque are being built side by side.
"This mosque and this cathedral will forever be a symbol of the equal co-existence of Orthodox Christianity and Islam on the land of Tatarstan and in all Russia," he said.
Yeltsin was due to head for Novosibirsk in Siberia later yesterday and will then go to the southern city of Rostov-on-Don. Zyuganov had no major meetings scheduled for yesterday.
Yeltsin's attempt to limit the political damage of the conflict in Chechnya hit another snag on Saturday, when masked gunmen killed a senior Chechen official in the latest cease-fire violation.
Chechnya's pro-Moscow government accused an international mediatory mission, and particularly its chief representative Tim Guldimann, of exceeding its authority in Chechnya.
The criticism raised questions about Guldimann's future heading the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) mission based in the Chechen capital Grozny.
"We welcome the OSCE as a peacekeeping organization but its representative Guldimann has taken an obviously one-sided stand regarding Chechen developments," Interfax news agency quoted Moscow-backed Chechen Prime Minister Nikolai Koshman as saying.