Two hardline Yeltsin adversaries, Gennady Zyuganov and Sergei Baburin, spoke Tuesday of forming a broad opposition movement, although the sheer variety of the nationalist-Communist opposition may make this a tall order.
Inside the new State Duma, Yeltsin is faced by a new generation of opposition leaders who came to prominence in the December elections, including radical nationalist Vladimir Zhirinovsky, Communist Party leader Zyuganov and former Supreme Soviet deputy Baburin.
Now, after the implementation of the Duma's amnesty resolution on Saturday, Yeltsin's old enemies have returned to haunt him as well.
Some of the men freed from Lefortovo, such as Viktor Anpilov, Ilya Konstantinov, Albert Makashov and Alexander Barkashov are fringe political leaders who alienated even some of their allies by leading the attacks on the mayor's office and the television center on Oct. 3.
Others, like the former chairman of the Supreme Soviet Ruslan Khasbulatov and the three men appointed "power ministers" in Rutskoi's alternative government have said nothing to suggest they will return to politics.
"I don't see people worthy of cooperating with," Khasbulatov told Sovietskaya Rossiya on Tuesday.
That leaves former Vice President Alexander Rutskoi, 46, the only one of the Lefortovo inmates who commands national popularity.
Rutskoi aide Andrei Fyodorov told Reuters that his boss is likely to run for the presidency in the next elections, a contest he would fight with Zhirinovsky and very probably Baburin as well.
However, although he emerged as the leader of the hardline resistance against Yeltsin in September, for most of last year Rutskoi was associated more with the political center. This could yet lead him into confrontation with the more extreme opposition groups.
"Now opposition politicians (Zhirinovsky, Zyuganov, Baburin) ought to see him more than anything as a competitor," Nezavisimaya Gazeta commented about Rutskoi on Tuesday.
Both Zyuganov and Baburin made welcoming gestures to Rutskoi.
"I am sure that they will have consultations with opposition forces and with us about cooperation" and about leadership of such a bloc, Zyuganov told a press conference.
Baburin, quoted by Itar-Tass, said the situation in Russia "demands a more definite organization of national-patriotic forces," naming a wide spectrum of allies from Nikolai Travkin's Democratic Party to the Communists and Zhirinovsky's Liberal Democratic Party.
But even at the gates of Lefortovo jail on Saturday, Zhirinovsky acknowledged that Rutskoi would be a rival.
"It's between Rutskoi and me," he said of the next elections.
Yeltsin's staff have made it clear that the polls will probably be held in the summer of 1996, although a presidential decree announcing an early election this June has not yet been formally canceled.
Rutskoi's main disadvantage is that in Nezavisimaya Gazeta's words the former Afghan war veteran is "a general without an army." He has lost his power base both in the vice presidency, which has been abolished, and his People's Party of Free Russia, which has virtually ceased to exist. The party's official leader, Vasily Lipitsky, joined the Civic Union bloc to fight the December election, which collected barely 2 percent of the vote.
A Message from The Moscow Times:
Dear readers,
We are facing unprecedented challenges. Russia's Prosecutor General's Office has designated The Moscow Times as an "undesirable" organization, criminalizing our work and putting our staff at risk of prosecution. This follows our earlier unjust labeling as a "foreign agent."
These actions are direct attempts to silence independent journalism in Russia. The authorities claim our work "discredits the decisions of the Russian leadership." We see things differently: we strive to provide accurate, unbiased reporting on Russia.
We, the journalists of The Moscow Times, refuse to be silenced. But to continue our work, we need your help.
Your support, no matter how small, makes a world of difference. If you can, please support us monthly starting from just $2. It's quick to set up, and every contribution makes a significant impact.
By supporting The Moscow Times, you're defending open, independent journalism in the face of repression. Thank you for standing with us.
Remind me later.