Viking_Yearbook_94

1993 Russia Associated Press R ussia, one of the worlds greatest powers, experienced political upheaval in 1993 more typical of a Third World nation. When President Boris Yeltsin disbanded the legislature on Sept. 21, many of its hard-liners barricaded themselves inside the parliament building in Moscow. Vice President Alexander Rutskoi and others tried to wrestle power from Yeltsin in an attempted coup. But, following Yeltsin's orders, tanks and troops flushed out the defiant lawmakers, many of them old-line Communists opposed ti Yeltsin's attempts to move the nation toward a free market economy. The world was stunned by the sight of fire raging uncontrolled inside the stately parliament building. When the smoke cleared the rebellion was crushed, and its leaders, including Speaker Ruslan Khasbulatov and former Security Minister Viktor Barannikov, were jailed. A commission was formed to create a new legislative framework, and elections for a new parliament were scheduled. 42