YELTSIN AIDES ACCUSE COMUNIST PARTY OF PLANNING "DUAL POWER."

Publication: Monitor Volume: 2 Issue: 110

Speaking to journalists yesterday, Yeltsin’s political aide Georgy Satarov repeated his earlier allegations that the Russian Communist party plans to monitor the elections so as to compile its own, alternative" election results. If the official authorities declare a Yeltsin victory, Satarov alleged, the Communists will challenge the result, produce their own figures and declare Zyuganov the true president. Satarov painted a lurid picture of the "dual power" and civil strife that would result. He claimed to have evidence that the Communist party has in the past six weeks recruited retired army officers in 26 regions of Russia in order to prepare for a violent seizure of power. He said the "secret report" published by Nezavisimaya gazeta on June 8, which alleged that the Communists are planning to seize power by unconstitutional means, was quite credible. It has been strongly denounced by the Communist party as a forgery.

Meanwhile, Yeltsin’s legal aide, Mikhail Krasnov, said yesterday that Yeltsin will refuse to sign into law the bill, adopted last month by parliament, on the transfer of power from one president to another, because it might be used by the Communists to create a "dual power." (Itar-Tass, Interfax, June 10) The statements of the two aides suggest that a fortress mentality is taking shape within the Yeltsin administration and that the presidential team may be planning to take steps after the election to outlaw the Communist party.

Harsher Talk on NATO Enlargement.