…CONTRADICTS YELTSIN BY SUGGESTING COALITION GOVERNMENT.

In his June 29 television interview, Lebed indicated that he favors the idea of a coalition government including other presidential candidates such as Communist party leader Gennady Zyuganov, Yabloko leader Grigory Yavlinsky, and even ultranationalist leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky. The proposal sets him at odds with Yeltsin, who told Samara Television in an interview last week that he was categorically opposed to a coalition. The coalition idea was nonetheless openly bandied about in Kremlin circles while Yeltsin’s mysterious health problems had put him out of public view. During Yeltsin’s absence, there was a noticeable drop in the level of anti-Communist propaganda being generated by his campaign team. Further indication that a coalition was being seriously considered in Kremlin circles came June 30 when Aman Tuleev, the communist leader of the legislature in the coal-mining region of Kemerovo, called a press conference at which he hinted heavily that feelers had been put out to him by the Yeltsin team to join a post-election government. (ORT, June 30)

G-7 Endorses Russian Reform; Rejects "G-8."