… CONTINUES TO COURT THE ARMED FORCES.

In other actions aimed both at ensuring support among senior commanders and at framing himself on election eve as a defender of Russian national interests, Boris Yeltsin yesterday announced a series of military promotions and issued a document on Russian national security. In the first case, a Yeltsin decree promoted the commander-in-chief of Russia’s navy to Admiral of the Fleet and his counterparts in the other four service branches to Army General. (Itar-Tass, June 13)

Yeltsin’s "presidential message on national security" was sent to the chairmen of the upper and lower houses of the Russian parliament. According to a presidential staffer, the message constitutes the initial segment — on Russia’s immediate security concerns — of what presumably is a longer document defining the main boundaries of Russian national security policy through the end of the century. A working group under Yeltsin’s national security advisor, Yuri Baturin, drafted the document. Two of its main themes were reported to be the maintenance of Russia’s status as a great power and the ensuring of its role as a "bridge" between Europe, America, and Asia. (Interfax, June 13) In fact, some sources have suggested that elites in Russia’s national security establishment have dismissed the Baturin document. But only days before the election Yeltsin may have been looking merely to appear active in the area of defense policy. Communists and nationalists have in the past accused the Yeltsin government of failing to articulate a broad vision of Russian national security.

Opposition to Russian Scheme for "Rebuilding the Federation from the Ground Up."