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“Rather than negotiating with the Parliament, Yeltsin habitually ruled by issuing Presidential Decrees."…
July 10, 1993, “Russian Parliament Votes a Claim to Ukrainian Port of Sevastopol [in Crimea],” NY Times, Serge Schmemann
“The Russian Parliament passed a resolution today declaring the Crimean port city of Sevastopol, which [since 1954] is within Ukraine, to be a Russian city.…
The Russian Parliament, which under its Speaker, Ruslan I. Khasbulatov, is a staunch opponent to President Yeltsin, voted 166 to 0, with one abstention to declare Sevastopol a “federal Russian city.” Many supporters of President Yeltsin in the Parliament have ceased taking part in its work.”…
[“Crimea had been part of Russia for 200 years until 1954, when it was gifted to the Soviet Republic of the Ukraine by the then Russian Premier, Nikita Khrushchev. This was to commemorate the 300th anniversary of the historic decision by Ukraine to unify with tsarist Russia. At that time, it would have been impossible to foresee that the Soviet Union would collapse and split into separate republics, that the borders would have to be renegotiated and that Ukraine would again be an independent country.”]
The resolution was not likely to have much impact, since Ukraine has no intention of ceding Sevastopol and President Boris N. Yeltsin, who is in Tokyo attending the Group of Seven meeting, is unlikely to try to enforce it.
But the action was certain to inflame passions among officers and sailors of the 350-ship Black Sea Fleet, who have been in a state of near mutiny in recent weeks demanding that the fleet remain united and Russian. It was equally certain to aggravate relations between Moscow and Kiev, already on edge over the fleet issue and Ukraine’s new claim to ownership of nuclear weapons on its soil.
Initial reactions to the Russian Parliament’s action from Ukraine were predictably angry. President Leonid M. Kravchuk, who only last week agreed with Mr. Yeltsin to divide the fleet by 1995, issued a statement in Kiev criticizing the Russian Parliament and questioning whether it spoke for all Russia.
“It seems to me that the Russian Parliament during the past year has done everything possible to worsen relations between Ukraine and Russia, to sow animosity between our people,” he said. “I do not think this Parliament reflects the interest of the Russian people, of Russian democratic circles, and I hope they will not support the decision of the Russian Parliament.”
The Ukrainian Foreign Minister, Anatoly Zlenko, declared the Russian move as “interference in Ukraine’s internal affairs,” and the head of the Ukrainian parliamentary commission on international affairs, Dmitro Pavlychko, said the Russian action was “tantamount to a declaration of war against Ukraine.””…
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Added 9/21/1993, Yeltsin dissolved parliament:
Of his televised appearance announcing dissolution of parliament, English speaking announcer says @:02, “Yeltsin reached for a cup of tea to show Russians he was not drunk.“
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Added: 10/4/1993, “Democracy” in action: Yeltsin overthrows Parliament, Page One, NY Times, 10/4/1993, Yeltsin sends military to oust foes in Parliament. Image caption: “Part of a column of 40 armored vehicles speeding early this morning into Moscow," AP photo
10/4/1993, “SHOWDOWN IN MOSCOW: The Overview; YELTSIN SENDS TROOPS TO OUST ARMED FOES FROM PARLIAMENT; FIERCE BATTLE RAGES IN CAPITAL,” NY Times, Serge Schmemann
“President Boris N. Yeltsin ordered tanks and armored personnel carriers early today to oust armed rebels from their heavily fortified Parliament center, and heavy gunfire echoed through the city as the final showdown opened between the President and his unyielding Communist and nationalist foes.
The attack followed a day of pitched battles in the Russian capital on Sunday between thousands of Communist and nationalist opponents of the President who broke the 11-day blockade of the Parliament and attempted to seize the Government broadcasting center. Mr. Yeltsin declared a state of emergency in the capital.
The fighting Sunday and this morning was worst civil strife in Moscow since the days of the Bolshevik revolution in 1917.
Starting at 7:00 this morning, camouflage-painted T-72 tanks and other armored vehicles moved into position from all sides of the building, firing to disperse demonstrators and defenders in their way. The roar of their heavy guns quickly mingled with the rattle of automatic fire from inside. Heavy black smoke rose from vehicles set afire by the defenders, and police officers rushed to seal off all streets for about a mile around.
The forces loyal to Mr. Yeltsin were reported to have taken the lower two stories of the Parliament building. Tanks opened fire on the defenders on higher floors.
Airborne Attack Possible
Russian television reported that crack airborne troops who had entered the capital through the night were preparing an airborne attack, but it was not immediately clear whether this meant an assault from the air or a commando attack on the ground.
Government troops were also reported to have moved into the Ostankino radio and television center.
The final assault on the Parliament this morning came after a day which rampaging bands of supporters of the legislators, wielding clubs, iron staves and sometimes Kalashnikov assault rifles and waving the red flag of the Soviet Union and the white, black and gold czarist flag of extreme nationalists, fought pitched battles across Moscow in which at least 25 people died and hundreds were wounded.
The heaviest fighting Sunday was around the Ostankino broadcasting center, where the rebels blasted down the entry door with a rocket-propelled grenade and fought a three-hour gun battle before they were expelled.
The violence Sunday shocked the capital on a beautiful fall day. It came on the 13th day of the standoff between Mr. Yeltsin, who is backed by those seeking political and economic changes in Russia and by Western nations, and the tough-minded Parliament leaders who have blocked many of his efforts.
According to reports from major cities across Russia, the situation in the provinces was tense Sunday but there was no violence, and radio broadcasts spoke of gathering support for the President.
But First Deputy Prime Minister Vladimir F. Shumeiko reported that in four regions, local councils had raised red flags over Government buildings. He said Kostroma, in central Russia, was a special source of concern because officials there were trying to bring the local army garrison onto the side of the rebellious parliament.
All through the night, defenders of the [Moscow] White House with automatic weapons maintained a tense watch by candlelight. When fighting broke out, commanders inside reportedly ordered all unarmed people to take shelter inside the building.
Mr. Yeltsin, who flew into the Kremlin by helicopter early Sunday evening, proclaimed a state of emergency in Moscow, declaring, “We will triumph.”
There were reports from the Kremlin that some senior commanders were declaring neutrality in the struggle. But the Itar-Tass news agency said all military district commanders had declared their loyalty to Mr. Yeltsin and to Defense Minister Pavel S. Grachev, who was reported preparing an appeal to all servicemen. Mr. Yeltsin’s spokesman, Vyacheslav Kostikov, said over the radio that the “fascist putsch” would be suppressed.
After nightlong consultations with the Ministers of Defense, Interior and Security, Tass reported that Mr. Yeltsin signed a decree early today ordering the “power ministers,” as they are known, to recapture buildings held by the pro-Parliament forces and to disarm them.
Ultimatum From Government
The attack began after the Government issued a final ultimatum to defenders inside demanding that they surrender. Lieut. Gen. Aleksandr Kulikov, appointed commandant of Moscow for the state of emergency, warned the forces holding the White House, as the Parliament complex is called, that if they did not surrender their arms, “they will be eliminated,” Itar-Tass reported.
Two hours into the attack, as ever more tanks converged on the Parliament and commandos darted toward the building on the ground, Mr. Yeltsin went on national television to vow that “the armed fascist putsch in Moscow will be crushed.”
Speaking slowly and sternly, Mr. Yeltsin seemed almost apologetic for having thought he could negotiate with the conservative forces in the Parliament, who for two years fought his every program.
“This alarming and tragic night taught us much,” he said. “We did not prepare for war. We thought we could negotiate and save peace in the capital.” Those who launched Sunday’s violence, he said, were not individual bandits. “All that happened was an armed putsch planned in advance,” he said.
Mr. Yeltsin appealed to Russians to support the soldiers fighting at the White House. As for those who had launched the bloodshed, he said with an dramatic pause: “They miscalculated and the people will curse the criminals. For them and those who gave their orders, there is no forgiveness, because they raised their hand against peaceful people, against Moscow, against Russia, against children, women, old people.”
The night before the attack on Parliament, the United States Embassy, located across the street from the White House, evacuated most of those who live inside.
According to the head of military operations in the Kremlin, Gen. Konstantin Kobets, the Government had summoned about 1,500 airborne troops from three elite units, 27th Motorized Infantry Brigade and the Kantemir and Taman airborne divisions.
Bitterness of Conflict
The violence offered stark evidence of the passion with which Mr. Yeltsin’s opponents loathed his attempts to break Russia out of its history of authoritarian rule-which they accused him of reimposing in the name of democracy.…
The latest showdown began Sept. 21, when Mr. Yeltsin dissolved the Parliament and soon after ringed its headquarters with troops and barbed wire.
It was increasingly evident as the situation unfolded that the demonstrators included many hard-core “reds and browns” — Communists and extreme nationalists. But there are also many retired pensioners and war veterans who had been disaffected with Mr. Yeltsin’s economic program, which has brought capitalism to Russia, high inflation, and a loss of economic security for many….
In a huge, nuclear-armed nation that had come to dread the prospect of civil war after years of political struggles, the violence Sunday and today was a nightmare come true.
Automatic gunfire crackled through the clear autumn afternoon on city streets and at the Parliament building, known as the White House, and it broke into a full-scale battle Sunday evening when demonstrators assaulted the sprawling Ostankino television center. The attackers used a rocket-propelled grenade to blast through the barricaded door and opened a fierce firefight with police officers inside.
With communications in disarray and continuing chaos at the sites of clashes, there was no reliable means of gauging casualties. But there were confirmed reports of 25 deaths. Witnesses reported that many wounded were brought to hospitals, including children.
Photographer Is Wounded
Among those wounded was a New York Times photographer, Otto Pohl, 24, who was reported in fair condition after undergoing surgery for a bullet through his lung.
First Deputy Prime Minister Yegor T. Gaidar, the leading champion of the shift to a market economy, went on television to urge supporters of the President to converge at the Moscow City Council building, near the Kremlin.
“If today we let into power those who are grasping for it, if we place the keys of government in their hands, they are capable of bringing a bloody brown curtain down over the country for decades,” he declared….
The onslaught began in the early afternoon Sunday, when a large gathering of anti-Yeltsin demonstrators under a statue of Lenin on October Square, about three miles from the White House, abruptly turned and began marching toward the center along the Garden Ring road.
At about that same time, representatives of both sides were meeting in talks brokered by the Russian Orthodox Church on ways to end the standoff.
Acting with evident organization, the marchers, about 5,000 strong at that point, according to some estimates, violently broke through several relatively sparse lines that the riot police tried to form along the ring road. The police fired tear gas and rubber bullets, but the marchers responded with bursts of automatic weapons fire. Some officers fell.
The Parliament center was still ringed by a thick cordon of security forces, bumber-to-bumper trucks, armored personnel carriers and barbed wire. But the marchers, using a commandeered truck as a battering ram, breached the defenses at 3:35 P.M. Bursts of gunfire sounded repeatedly, and a pall of exhaust smoke filtered the clear sunshine.
Soon after, Vice President Aleksandr V. Rutskoi, who was declared Acting President by the defiant Parliament after Mr. Yeltsin dissolved the body, emerged on the balcony and called on the masses to storm the mayor’s office, the broadcasting center and the Kremlin.
‘Only Seconds to Change Sides’
To Government forces ringing the White House, he called out, “You have only seconds to change sides and defect to the people.”
After several starts, during which gunfire rattled continuously, the crowd burst into the Mayor’s offices. Before long, lines of soldiers were seen marching under rebel guard. Many others fled through broken windows or fled to higher floors.
At 6 P.M., the huge security cordon around the White House was entirely withdrawn, but electricity in the building was again turned off at nightfall.
Only a few uniformed policemen remained around the large United States Embassy compound, across the street from the White House. Diplomats inside said residents were hunkered down and forbidden even to peek across the tall brick wall ringing the compound. Windows in the compound facing the White House were covered. No incidents were reported there.
In the meantime, another force of Yeltsin foes moved in convoys of commandeered buses and army trucks toward the broadcasting center.
As the demonstrators gathered outside the complex, several armored personnel carriers stood at a cautious distance and Albert Makashov, a militantly anti-Yeltsin former general, went to negotiate with troops inside.
At 7:20 P.M., a rocket-propelled grenade was abruptly fired at the entrance and a blaze of gunfire erupted. On television at the time, an announcer was concluding a report on the day’s drama when he choked with emotion.
“This has been a heavy day,” he said. “It’s hard to talk, because the conflict between Russians has reached its limits . . . . ” At that, the telecast abruptly broke off.
Within a half hour, though, broadcasts resumed from another center in Moscow, this time with only an announcer.
The official news agency Itar-Tass reported at one point that rebel forces had entered its offices, but then issued a bulletin at 10:51 P.M.: “Tass freed by Interior special force, resumes work.” Independent and foreign radio stations continued to function, as did CNN.
EVENTS IN MOSCOW
2 P.M. Opponents of President Boris N. Yeltsin demonstrate at October Square. 2:30 The crowd moves toward the Parliament building, headquarters of Yeltsin’s foes. 3:35 The crowd breaks through police lines around the Parliament building. 5:00 Demonstrators storm the Mayoral Building. 5:45 Mr. Yeltsin declares a state of emergency. 7:15 Demonstrators break into the television headquarters. Troops open fire. Many people are shot. 11 P.M. An appeal from Mr. Yeltsin is read over the television. 4 A.M. Monday — Airborne and motorized infantry troops enter the capital. 7 A.M. AT Yeltsin’s orders, tanks and armored personel carriers surround the heavily fortified Parliament building, firing back at defenders.
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Added: 10/4/2018, “Yeltsin Shelled Russian Parliament 25 Years Ago, U.S. Praised “Superb Handling”," National Security Archives, George Washington University, Edited by Svetlana Savranskaya and Tom Blanton, Washington, DC
Image, GWU archives
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