Vice President Alexander Rutskoi said in comments published Tuesday that he will run for president if the man with whom he swept to power, Boris Yeltsin, should step down following Sunday's referendum.
Five days before the vote on confidence in Yeltsin's rule, Rutskoi, now the president's most prominent opponent, told readers of Komsomolskaya Pravda that he would vote for early presidential elections and put forth his own candidacy.
"I am not going to surrender, I have enough strength, I fully understand the situation and, without any doubt, will put forward my candidacy", he said.
The vice president's increasingly sharp attacks on Yeltsin have given ample fodder to conservative newspapers in the final days before the vote, encouraging them to question whether the president, who gained popularity during the Soviet era by crusading against corruption and privileges, has been true to his word.
In a pointed reference to the Watergate presidential scandal in the U. S. that led to the resignation of President Richard Nixon, the former Communist party daily Pravda published an article under the banner headline "Yeltsingate".
The article accused the president of pouring 3 billion rubles into a lavish apartment and dacha for himself at a time when many Russians are struggling for daily survival. An investigation by The Moscow Times, though, indicated that the apartment, still under construction, would be modest once completed.
Pravda's article was published Saturday, one day after Rutskoi publicly accused Yeltsin's top government officials of embezzling state property and selling off cheap valuable natural resources such as gold and oil.
Yeltsin responded to the charge from his vice president by ordering the Security and Interior Ministries and state prosecutors to start an investigation into the affairs of top officials, but did not specify which officials are to be targeted.
Former acting prime minister, Yegor Gaidar, appearing in a televised debate with Rutskoi on Monday, admitted that there had been some "real abuses" but said that the bulk of Rutskoi's charge featured "strange improvisations".
Ruslan Khasbulatov, the president's main political rival, repeated allegations of corruption in Kremlin circles Tuesday and said that he would annul the government's "blows" to Russians with his own decrees. It is unclear whether he has the power to issue decrees.
On a campaign trip of his own to the southern Russian city of Voronezh, Khasbulatov told local legislators that the only way Yeltsin would win Sunday's referendum would be by "cheating, boundless intriguing, and pressure", according to Interfax.
In Moscow, the president's chief of staff, Sergei Filatov, said that the president's regional representatives were being harassed by legislators loyal to Khasbulatov.
He said that an administration chief in the south-central Russian city of Penza had been arrested without charges being filed.
He also complained that local officials in several regions and cities had rejected referendum monitors sent by the president.
Yeltsin spent Tuesday campaigning at the Kreiker cereal factory in Moscow, where he urged young voters not to fear starting families because "reform is moving forward and life will improve", according to The Associated Press.
According to tough rules set by the Congress of People's Deputies, Russia's highest legislature, Yeltsin must win the support of at least 50 percent of the country's eligible voters, something which even his supporters have admitted is nearly impossible.
Recent surveys have shown that barely 50 percent of registered voters plan to go to the polls.
The Constitutional Court on Tuesday began examining the legality of this rule set by the Congress, which is based on a law for referenda involving constitutional questions.
Court chairman Valery Zorkin said Russia's highest court might also examine the four questions to be" put on Sunday's ballot, to determine whether or not they are related to the Constitution.
A ruling may come Wednesday, he said.
If the court rules against the Congress, this would mean making last-minute changes in the counting of votes and possibly in the wording or number of questions on the referendum ballot.
The justices do not have the authority to cancel the referendum altogether, however.
The president has already said that he will ignore the Congres's new rules and judge victory as a simple majority of the turnout.
Five days before the vote on confidence in Yeltsin's rule, Rutskoi, now the president's most prominent opponent, told readers of Komsomolskaya Pravda that he would vote for early presidential elections and put forth his own candidacy.
"I am not going to surrender, I have enough strength, I fully understand the situation and, without any doubt, will put forward my candidacy", he said.
The vice president's increasingly sharp attacks on Yeltsin have given ample fodder to conservative newspapers in the final days before the vote, encouraging them to question whether the president, who gained popularity during the Soviet era by crusading against corruption and privileges, has been true to his word.
In a pointed reference to the Watergate presidential scandal in the U. S. that led to the resignation of President Richard Nixon, the former Communist party daily Pravda published an article under the banner headline "Yeltsingate".
The article accused the president of pouring 3 billion rubles into a lavish apartment and dacha for himself at a time when many Russians are struggling for daily survival. An investigation by The Moscow Times, though, indicated that the apartment, still under construction, would be modest once completed.
Pravda's article was published Saturday, one day after Rutskoi publicly accused Yeltsin's top government officials of embezzling state property and selling off cheap valuable natural resources such as gold and oil.
Yeltsin responded to the charge from his vice president by ordering the Security and Interior Ministries and state prosecutors to start an investigation into the affairs of top officials, but did not specify which officials are to be targeted.
Former acting prime minister, Yegor Gaidar, appearing in a televised debate with Rutskoi on Monday, admitted that there had been some "real abuses" but said that the bulk of Rutskoi's charge featured "strange improvisations".
Ruslan Khasbulatov, the president's main political rival, repeated allegations of corruption in Kremlin circles Tuesday and said that he would annul the government's "blows" to Russians with his own decrees. It is unclear whether he has the power to issue decrees.
On a campaign trip of his own to the southern Russian city of Voronezh, Khasbulatov told local legislators that the only way Yeltsin would win Sunday's referendum would be by "cheating, boundless intriguing, and pressure", according to Interfax.
In Moscow, the president's chief of staff, Sergei Filatov, said that the president's regional representatives were being harassed by legislators loyal to Khasbulatov.
He said that an administration chief in the south-central Russian city of Penza had been arrested without charges being filed.
He also complained that local officials in several regions and cities had rejected referendum monitors sent by the president.
Yeltsin spent Tuesday campaigning at the Kreiker cereal factory in Moscow, where he urged young voters not to fear starting families because "reform is moving forward and life will improve", according to The Associated Press.
According to tough rules set by the Congress of People's Deputies, Russia's highest legislature, Yeltsin must win the support of at least 50 percent of the country's eligible voters, something which even his supporters have admitted is nearly impossible.
Recent surveys have shown that barely 50 percent of registered voters plan to go to the polls.
The Constitutional Court on Tuesday began examining the legality of this rule set by the Congress, which is based on a law for referenda involving constitutional questions.
Court chairman Valery Zorkin said Russia's highest court might also examine the four questions to be" put on Sunday's ballot, to determine whether or not they are related to the Constitution.
A ruling may come Wednesday, he said.
If the court rules against the Congress, this would mean making last-minute changes in the counting of votes and possibly in the wording or number of questions on the referendum ballot.
The justices do not have the authority to cancel the referendum altogether, however.
The president has already said that he will ignore the Congres's new rules and judge victory as a simple majority of the turnout.
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