In Chechnya for a week, ostensibly to help find a peaceful settlement in the war-torn republic, Khasbulatov is exploiting a remarkable turn- around last month when Yeltsin signaled he would tolerate Khasbulatov playing a role in Chechnya.
Khasbulatov met this week with Oleg Lobov, the presidential envoy in Chechnya, something no representative of Yeltsin's main foe, Dzhokhar Dudayev, has done.
He then attacked the "illegitimate" government of Salambek Khadzhiyev, accusing it of coming to power "on Russian bayonets and tanks, spilling a sea of blood." It was obvious populist rhetoric for the embittered people of Chechnya with whom he is something of a hero.
Until the war in Chechnya, Khasbulatov was probably the best-known Chechen in Russia and abroad, mainly for his bitter stand as parliamentary speaker against Yeltsin in the White House siege of October 1993.
He was imprisoned, but later released through an amnesty, for his role in the rebellion. But last month Yeltsin, in a move to sideline Dudayev, signaled that the Kremlin would tolerate Khasbulatov if he sought election in the republic.
Many, including Kremlin officials, believe Khasbulatov, who has frequently disavowed any interest in politics since his release from prison, would be a strong contender if elections are ever held in Chechnya.
Gersolt Elmurzayev, a close ally of Khasbulatov's who now works in the Moscow-backed government in Grozny, has said he would quit to support Khasbulatov in an election.
Elmurzayev added in an interview that people believed Khasbulatov when he blamed Dudayev for bringing the brutal Russian military response upon the republic.
Khasbulatov's political platform was for sovereignty and control of Chechnya's valuable resources, but Elmurzayev said achieving such goals would require patience. "We need to do it slowly. We cannot fly into the cosmos just yet."
Obshchaya Gazeta suggested the Kremlin was more interested in using Khasbulatov and other Chechen leaders in a policy of divide and rule to keep Chechnya weak, each running their "own Chechnya."
But analyst Andrei Piontkovsky at the Moscow Center for Strategic Studies was dismissive of Moscow's inventiveness or control. The policy of welcoming Khasbulatov into the political life of the republic was an act of "despair," he said in an interview.
Khasbulatov could prove a more lethal opponent than Dudayev, he said. "As far as I know, this Chechen, he is most interested in damaging his enemy No. 1, Mr. Yeltsin."
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