Business Urges Pact To Prevent 'Civil War'

Some of Russia's most powerful businessmen called Friday for a compromise between the country's competing political forces, warning that "society is split" and the results of June's presidential vote could lead to civil war and the breakup of Russia.


The appeal was vague about how such a compromise could be carried out but implied that President Boris Yeltsin and his main rival, Communist Party leader Gennady Zyuganov, should hammer out an agreement on major policies before the election to prevent the country from falling into chaos.


Commenting on the letter, Nezavisimaya Gazeta editor Vitaly Tretyakov called the idea "promising" but "nearly utopian."


The businessmen warned that if the Communists win the election they may try to exact "ideological revenge," but they also criticized Yeltsin's government for the war in Chechnya and the impact on society of some of the economic reforms of the last four years.


"We understand the communists and recognize their political role as representatives of the social groups which were harmed in the tortuous and, on numerous occasions, erroneous reforms. Still, the communists must not insist that society should give up the achievements, won through sufferings, of the last decade."


The authors of appeal also warned those "banking on ideological revanchism and social conflicts" that "domestic businessmen have the necessary resources and will to influence excessively unprincipled and uncompromising politicians."


The appeal, made public Friday, will appear in a number of newspapers Saturday. It was signed by, among others: Boris Berezovsky, president of the LogoVAZ automotive and industrial conglomerate; Alexei Nikolayev, general director of the AvtoVAZ car maker; Vladimir Gusinsky, head of MOST-Bank; Vladimir Potanin, president of Uneximbank; Alexander Smolensky, head of Stolichny Bank; Bank Menatep chief Mikhail Khodorkovsky, along with the heads of the giant oil companies Yukos and Sibneft.


Without referring directly to either President Boris Yeltsin or Communist Party leader Gennady Zyuganov, the authors of the letter warn that regardless of who wins the June contest, he will be a minority president."After the June vote, a minority, red or white, will receive a mandate to enforce rules categorically rejected by a huge part of society. As a result, the spirit of violence and discord, rather than anyone's view of the truth, will win. The acrimony of opposing political forces is so great that either of them can rule only by embarking on the road toward civil war and the disintegration of Russia."


"The essence of it, as far as I understand, is a merger of Zyuganov and Yeltsin for the elections," said Yevgeniya Dillendorf, press secretary of Yabloko's faction in the State Duma, of the appeal. "If this happens, both will lose their voters."


Yabloko officials, for their part, have hinted that their leader and presidential candidate, Grigory Yavlinsky, might throw his weight behind a Yeltsin candidacy if the president makes major changes in economic and domestic policy.


Nezavisimaya Gazeta editor Tretyakov wrote that the bankers who signed the appeal have over the last several months drawn back from backing Yeltsin exclusively.


The bankers' idea, wrote Tretyakov, is "to put Yeltsin and Zyuganov in one room and not let them out until they agree, not on how to turn June 16 into the day of the beginning of the Russian civil war, but the first day of work of the right and the left for the intelligent, fair and real reformation of the country in the interest of all of its citizens."





Andrei Kortunov of the Russian Science Foundation said he believed the business leaders who signed the appeal "are concerned about Yeltsin keeping power for another five years, because it might mean a lot of unpleasant things. And they are also concerned about the Communists."


It is possible, he added, that the businessmen have concluded neither Yeltsin nor Zyuganov wants to change the status quo right now.


"The Communists might be concerned about the possibility of victory, because it's much better to be the opposition party than the leading party, given the complexities of the reform process and the inevitable political and social price that the ruling party will have to pay for that," he said.


"So the assumption is that Yeltsin is not willing to leave for the time being, and the Communist leadership is not willing to get the leadership" yet.


Meanwhile, a poll by the Vox Populi organization, made public Friday, shows Zyuganov still in the lead, but with Yeltsin making gains.


The poll, which represents opinions as of April 15, was taken among 1,856 Russian in 25 regions and oblasts of the country and has a 3-percentage point margin of error.


Asked who they would vote for in June, without being given names to choose from, 25 percent of those respondents who said they were planning to vote picked Zyuganov and 23 percent chose Yeltsin.


Given a list of five candidates, 28 percent picked Zyuganov, 24 percent Yeltsin.


Asked who they would pick in a second round of voting, 40 percent picked Yeltsin, 39 percent Zyuganov.