Subject: Yeltsin's TV address
From: [email-masked] (Serge Viznyuk)
Date: Tue, 21 Sep 1993 18:52:24 -0400 (EDT)
Newsgroups: talk.politics.soviet,soc.culture.soviet,relcom.talk,relcom.politics

From: [email-masked]
Subject: Text of Yeltsin Address - (partially garbled)

 
YELTSIN'S ADDRESS ON NATIONAL TELEVISION
 
TRANSCRIPT BY:  FEDERAL NEWS SERVICE
                620 NATIONAL PRESS BUILDING
                WASHINGTON, DC 20045
 
"TO THE CITIZENS OF RUSSIA"
 
Fellow citizens. I am addressing you at one of the most complex and
critical moments on the eve of events of
extraordinary importance.
 
In recent months Russia has been experiencing a profound crisis of
its state structure. All government institutions and political
leaders have been dragged into a fruitless, senseless and
destructive struggle. A direct consequence of this is the decline
of the authority of state power as a whole. I am sure that all the
citizens of Russia have become convinced that in such conditions
it is impossible not only to implement difficult reforms, but to
maintain elementary order.
 
One must say bluntly. Unless political confrontation in the power
structures in Russia is put an end to, unless the normal tempo of
its work is restored the situation cannot be kept under control and
our state cannot be preserved and peace in Russia cannot be
preserved.
 
I have been inundated with demands from all parts of our country
to stop the dangerous developments, to stop the rape of people's
rule. For more than a year attempts have been made to reach a
compromise with the body of deputies, with the Supreme Soviet.
Russians know well how many steps I have made at recent congresses
and in between congresses. But even if agreement was reached on
some matters categorical refusal to honor the commitments followed.
 
You and I hoped that a turning point would occur after the April
referendum.  Members of the Supreme Soviet have been flouting the
expressed will of the Russian people. A course is pursued to weaken
and eventually removal of the President, to disorganize the work
of the present government. A powerful propaganda campaign has been
mounted to discredit the executive branch of power in Russia as a
whole.
 
The decisions of the Supreme Soviet and the Congress contradicting
the results of the April referendum have not yet been repealed. And
one can now safely say that they will not be repealed. On the
contrary, in the past months tens of new anti-people decisions have
been prepared and adopted. Many of them are deliberately aimed at
worsening the situation in Russia. The most outrageous instance is
the so-called economic policy of the Supreme Soviet. It's decisions
on the budget, privatization and many other decisions worsen the
crisis and cause great harm to the country.
 
All the efforts of the government to alleviate the economic
situation run into blind wall of misunderstanding. One can hardly
name a few days when the Council of Ministers was not under
pressure, was not the victim of arms twisting. And this in the
midst of a grave economic crisis.
 
The Supreme Soviet has stopped reckoning with the presidential
decrees, the presidential amendments to draft bills, even with the
presidential right of veto stipulated by the Constitution. The
legislators in so doing are constantly pledging fidelity to the
Constitution and law.
 
The constitutional reform has virtually  been terminated. Not only
dis and the comments made by the President of the Russian
Federation, particularly the chapters of the Constitution titled
"Federal Legislative Branch" and "The President of the Russian
Federation, Federal Executive Branch". Logically the 7th Congress
was to adopt the new Constitution of the country. But the Supreme
Soviet leadership, without giving any sound reason, stopped the
constitutional process. Moreover, the Supreme Soviet has recently
suggested that I should approve the unseating of the President
elected by the popular vote. This is exactly the purport of the
constitutional amendments which I recently received from the White
House.
 
It must be recognized that the process of creating a law-based
state in Russia has in fact been disorganized. What is going on is
deliberate undermining of the already feeble legal base of the
young Russian state. The law-making work has been turned into a
weapon of political struggle. Laws which Russia  so urgently needs
fail to be passed for years. Instead, a drastic revision of the
existing Constitution has been launched, and in a primitive
formula: we'll  pass those laws that suit our purpose at the
moment, we'll write down anything we want to be written at the
moment. As things go that way there emerges a growing number of
opportunities freedoms of the individual and the fundame ntal
democratic principles.
 
This sort of law has nothing to do with jurisprudence, all the more
when it is dictated by a single person or by a group of persons.
being purged, and all those who do not show personal loyalty to
their leader are mercilessly banished from the Supreme Soviet and
its Presidium. What I am talking about is not a chance, nor a
manifestation of growing pains. All this is bitter proof of the
fact that the Supreme Soviet as a state institution is now in a
state of political decomposition. It has lost its ability to
perform the main function of the representative body, the function
of concerting public interests. It has ceased to be an organ of
rule by the people. Power in the Supreme Soviet of Russia has been
seized by a group of persons, who have turned it into the
headquarters of irreconcilable opposition.
 
Hiding behind the deputies' backs and parasitizing on the
collective irresponsibility of secret balloting, it is pushing
Russia towards the abyss.
 
One can no longer disregard and tolerate this and do nothing. My
duty of President is to recognize that the current deputies' corps
have lost the right to remain at the key levers of state power. The
security of Russia and her peoples iake this possible. The
effective Constitution does not provide either for any procedure
to adopt a new Constitution, which would envisage a decent way out
of the crisis of statehood.
 
As the guarantor of the security of our state, I am obliged to
suggest a way out of the deadlock, am obliged to break this
pernicious vicious circle.
 
In view of numerous addresses to me by leaders of the subjects of
the Russian Federation, deputies' groups, participants in the
Constitutional Conference, political parties and movements,
representatives of the public and citizens of Russia, I have taken
the following steps.
 
Vested with authority acquired at the all-people elections in 1991
and with trust, which was reiterated by the citizens in April 1993,
I endorsed by my decree amendments to and revisions in the
effective Constitution of the Rus of the Congress and the Supreme
Soviet. An entirely new supreme body of legislative power in Russia
is being created. Any actions aimed at disrupting the elections
will be deemed illegitimate and persons acting in this way will be
prosecuted under the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.
 
The people who will come to the Russian Parliament should not be
people who engage in political games at the expense of the people,
but create laws which Russia needs so urgently. The people in the
Russian Parliament must be more competent, more cultured and more
democratic. I believe such people exist in Russia and we will be
able to find them and early election of the President to be held
after the start of the Federal Assembly. Only you, the electors,
will decide who will occupy this top state post in Russia for
another term. In accordance with the presidential decree which I
have already signed, the exercise of legislative, administrative
and supervisory functions of the Congress of People's Deputies and
the Supreme Soviet of the Russian Federation is suspended. The
Congress shall no longer convene. The powers of the people's
deputies of the Russian Federation shall be terminated. Needless
to say, their working rights will be fully guaranteed. They will
have the right to go back to their work places where they worked
prior to being elected deputies of Russia. And to be reinstated in
their former jobs. At the same time each of them has the right to
run again in elections to the Federal Assembly. The powers of the
local bodies remain in force.
 
In this connection I call on the local leaders to use every
legitimate opportunity to ensure public law and order.
 
The rights and freedoms of the citizens of the Russian Federation
established by the Constitution are guaranteed.
 
I appeal to the leaders of foreign powers, to foreign citizens and
our many friends all over the world. Your support is significant
and valuable for Russia. At critical moments in complex Russian
transformations you have been with us. I urge you this time around
to understand the complexity of the situation in the country. The
measures that I have to take as President of the Russian Federation
is the only way to protect democracy and freedom in Russia, to
defend reform and still weak Russian market.
 
These measures are necessary in order to protect Russia and the
whole world against catastrophic collapse of the Russian state, the
reign of anarchy in a country possessing a huge arsenal of nuclear
weapons. I have no other aims.
 
Fellow citizens. The time has come when, by common effort we can
and must put an end to the profound crisis of the Russian state.
I count on your understanding and support. I count on your good
sense and civic awareness. We have a chance to help Russia. I am
sure that we will be able to use it for the sake of peace and
tranquility in our country in order to banish from Russia the
debilitating struggle of which all of you are tired.
 
By common efforts, let us preserve Russia for ourselves, our
children and grand children. Thank you.
 
END