|
|
 |
|
 |
 |
| AN AILING PRESIDENT | |
 February 15, 1999 
|
||
 |
|
Russian President Boris Yeltsin is not only battling poor health but he is also fighting possible impeachment. Special Correspondent Simon Marks reports from Moscow on Russia's ailing leader and the future of its government.
|
|
|
|||||||||||||
| Sidelined most of the year. | ||||||||||||||
| VIKTOR ILUKHIN, Communist Party: (speaking through interpreter) From
1992 to 1997, the population of Russia fell by 4.2 million people. We
connect that directly with the president's socioeconomic policies with
massive delays, paying pensions and salaries, massive unemployment, food
shortages, and a fall in agriculture production. This is an inhumane policy
pursued by the president, aimed at killing the people in the Russian Federation.
SIMON MARKS: Dramatic accusations apart, the would-be impeachers also
say President Yeltsin is simply no longer up to the job.
SIMON MARKS: But August's economic collapse, when Russia defaulted on its international debt, has shattered Moscow's dreams and plans. In a glitzy, new underground shopping mall built beneath the Kremlin's walls, it feels as though there are more shattered stores than shoppers. The mall was once upheld as a vision of Moscow's future, but today, with the ruble worth 300% less than its pre-crisis value, Russia's banks are teetering on the brink of collapse. As the remaining businesses here struggle to survive, the mall looks like a white elephant, a mirage depicting a prosperity that proves fleeting. OLGA FYODOROVA, Clothing Store Manager: (speaking through interpreter) You know, business has fallen a lot. Sales are down by 30%, and we expect them to fall by 50%.
OLGA FYODOROVA: (speaking through interpreter) Many stores are closing because they can't survive the crisis. Rent is very expensive in this complex. There are far fewer customers now, and their buying abilities have dropped as well. So stores don't survive. They go bankrupt and close. SIMON MARKS: Others put a brave face on it. In the mall's Cuban cigar store where once Russia's nouveau riche stood in line for stogies, the owner hopes for rosier times. ROMAN MOGILEVSKY, Cigar Store Director: (speaking through interpreter) I think that if the management lowers the rent, everyone will come back. The crisis can't last forever. Sooner or later, everything will return to normal. |
|
|||||||||||||
|
A race against time . |
||||||||||||||
|
LILYA SHESTSOVA: Moscow miracle is fading, and everybody understands that after August financial collapse, Moscow is without its safety net and Moscow miracle is really becoming, you know, a shadow. SIMON MARKS: So he needs the elections to be held now? LILYA SHESTSOVA: He needs elections as soon as possible. That's why he's trying to push Yeltsin out. SIMON MARKS: Trying to push Yeltsin out is a new strategy for the mayor. Until a few weeks ago, he was pledging loyalty to the ailing Russian leader. Now he wants Yeltsin to go, and allow the year 2000 elections to take place ahead of schedule. YURI LUZHKOV, Mayor, Moscow: (speaking through interpreter) The issue definitely exists, and everybody can see it. It would be hypocritical not to notice it or to keep silent about its existence, but the constitution and ethical principles demand that the president must take the decision by himself. I think he should realize it and announce it.
LILYA SHESTSOVA: I think that Lebed is guilty himself, first of all. He paid no respect to Krasnoyarsk's audience. He paid no respect to Krasnoyarsk's groups of influence. So people in Krasnoyarsk are tired, are fed up with this, you know, governor ghost. So I don't think that he has any chances to be re-elected in Krasnoyarsk. SIMON MARKS: And this toughing-talking admirer of Chile's General Pinochet seems to realize his chances are slipping away. At a recent televised meeting in Krasnoyarsk, he boiled over with frustration, threatening violence towards those failing to do things his way. GENERAL ALEXANDER LEBED, Governor, Krasnoyarsk: (speaking through interpreter) I'm sick and tired of being tolerant. I've been tolerant for six months. Now I'm going to break spines. |
||||||||||||||
| Running out the clock. | ||||||||||||||
|
VIKTOR CHERNOMYRDIN, Former Russian Prime Minister: (speaking through interpreter) I've worked there, and it's hard when the president isn't around. There are lots of questions that need to be solved by the president, and he needs to be aware of everything. But based on my experience, there is also always the opportunity to speak with him, no matter what condition he's in. There's always a chance to call him or visit him and get his advice, although it puts extra pressure on everyone else. SIMON MARKS: Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov is the latest figure here to carry Boris Yeltsin's water. The cunning Soviet-era bureaucrat has been in day-to-day control of Russia since September. And in the last few weeks, he's started to flex his muscles. He's tried to negotiate a truce with those wanting to impeach the president, but was slapped down by Yeltsin for negotiating away presidential powers. He's ordered raids on businesses controlled by Boris Berezovsky, a close friend and business associate of the Yeltsin family. And Pimakov has used the surrounding intrigue to advance his own claim on the presidency. Russian newspapers speculate that Primakov's position is now at risk, but one of his predecessors doesn't think so.
LILYA SHESTSOVA: Yeltsin is accustomed to pocket government, to pocket -- you know, to pocket prime minister. And of course, any initiative on the part of his prime minister offends Yeltsin. Of course, Yeltsin will be thinking how to strike back, and he probably would strike back, diminishing Primakov's power. But Primakov is strong because Primakov has possibility to wait. And sometimes those who wait in Russia, they win. SIMON MARKS: But what spoils will the victor win? In Moscow today, there is a new bridge connecting the two sides of the city. It was designed to serve as a link to a new, striving Russian capital, the city of gleaming spires, fast cars and big business. But with no funds left to complete the project, construction has slowed to a crawl. The dreams of prosperity that once burned so brightly here have given way to a cold reality tinged by political gridlock and economic collapse. |
 |
|||||||||||||
 |
        |
|
| Support the kind of journalism done by the NewsHour...Become a member of your local PBS station. | ||
| ||
| PBS Online Privacy Policy Copyright ©1996- MacNeil/Lehrer Productions. All Rights Reserved. | ||
| ||
SIMON
MARKS: It isn't only in Washington that the talk this winter has been
of impeachment. In Moscow, impeachment hearings are underway in the
Russian parliament, where communist leaders are making dramatic claims
about President Boris Yeltsin's rule -- their objective, unlikely to
be achieved since the Yeltsin-controlled court must rule on the constitutionality
of proceedings: To remove the president from power. 
Sidelined
most of this year by what his doctors call a burst ulcer, and still
recovering from open-heart surgery two years ago, the Russian public
have only seen him in snatched snippets of video footage screened on
the country's nightly news. The Kremlin-released clips are always mute.
Yeltsin aides even suppressed the sound that accompanied Yeltsin's birthday
celebration. The president's biggest gamble, his visit to Amman to attend
King Hussein's funeral, was an alarming failure. After what Jordanian
officials say was a medical alert on the scene, Boris Yeltsin returned
to Russia without even paying his last respects before the Jordanian
leader's coffin. The next day, president Yeltsin was back in the Kremlin
in what was interpreted by local political observers as a move aimed
at proving he's still in charge. (Speaking Russian) but when Yeltsin's
voice is heard by the nation, and the last time was on New Year's Eve,
he speaks in vague generalities about the economic catastrophe that
has ravaged his nation. 
BORIS
YELTSIN: (speaking through interpreter) What can I say, the year was
not an easy one for the country, for many of you, and also for me, but
New Year's Eve means new hope, new dreams, and new plans. 
SIMON
MARKS: Olga Fyodorova manages the Benetton store in the mall. She's
worked here for a year, and wonders how much longer she'll be able to
do so. 
SIMON
MARKS: What's bad for the mall is bad for its architect -- the mayor
of Moscow, Yuri Luzhkov. Even though the next presidential election
is still more than a year away, he's one of several politicians here
jockeying for position in case the unstable economy or the president's
fragile health forces an early vote. Polls show that he's currently
one of the front-runners in the race to succeed Boris Yeltsin, but in
light of the economic crisis now affecting even Moscow, analysts say
he may be running a race against time. 
SIMON
MARKS: Luzhkov's frustration is shared by another leading political
figure, this one thousands of miles from Moscow. In the Siberian wastes
of Krasnoyarsk, the local governor wants to be president. But General
Alexander Lebed is also battling to preserve his political viability.
The man who placed third in the last presidential election then threw
his support behind Boris Yeltsin in exchange for a brief spell in government
hopes the governorship of this vast Siberian region would propel him
to the presidency. Instead, analysts say his time in office here has
been a disaster, with even his wealthy supporters saying he's proved
incapable of putting his ideas into practice. 
SIMON
MARKS: While Alexander Lebed and Yuri Luzhkov are in a hurry for elections
to occur, plenty of other political actors here are not. Yeltsin aides
boldly say their principle strategy now is to keep the president alive
through the year 2000, giving them a chance to find an acceptable replacement.
Fearing for their positions, they want Boris Yeltsin to run out the
clock. One man running for the presidency, who needs time to build his
support, is the former Prime Minister, Viktor Chernomyrdin. For five
years, he worked with Boris Yeltsin on a daily basis until Yeltsin fired
him after Chernomyrdin seemed to have presidential ambitions of his
own. Today, from the offices of the political party he heads in Moscow,
the former prime minister says the president is focused on daily affairs,
even if he isn't active. 
VIKTOR
CHERNOMYRDIN: (speaking through interpreter) I think there is absolutely
no danger of him being fired. He's doing absolutely the right thing.
He has little time. Real steps are needed; real results are needed:
Making pension and salary payment, reviving production. Can you imagine
how much he has to do?