These are some items from the April 13 Russia Today's (http://www.russiatoday.com/) review of the Russian press for April 12, 1999. IZVESTIYA Lead Story Yugoslavia Wants to Join Russia to Itself THIS IS BE THE PAY FOR DECLINE OF IMPEACHMENT Summary President Boris Yeltsin's recent statements on Yugoslavia have caused confusion among Russia's political circles, the daily wrote. On Friday, Duma speaker Gennady Seleznyov told the chamber that Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milosevic had requested that his country be admitted into the union of Russia and Belarus. Seleznyov said he had passed this statement on to Yeltsin, and that the Russian President supported the proposal. However, on the same day, Yeltsin made a number of conflicting statements about Yugoslavia. First, he said that Russia should not be involved in an armed conflict in Yugoslavia, but added only unless "the Americans do not push us to this by starting ground operations." At a meeting with heads of Russia's republics, Yeltsin said that "adventurers from the party of war" should not be allowed to have their way. He also commented on the future of Yevgeny Primakov's government, saying "at this point Primakov is useful for us, but then we will see." Earlier, Seleznyov had said that Yeltsin was not interested in dissolving Primakov's Cabinet of the Communist party. Yeltsin statements have already caused a split among the opposition. Some Communists say that the Duma should go on with the impeachment proceedings, regardless of the process of unification with Yugoslavia, while others say that the idea of impeachment is worthless, considering the new political situation. The daily concluded that the worst point, however, is that Yeltsin will have to explain his own position to the Western countries. Some embassies have already requested information about the new union of three countries and the "re-targeting of Russian missiles to NATO countries," which Yeltsin allegedly promised. about I Z V E S T I Y A (circulation 600,000) The former official paper of the USSR Supreme Soviet, Izvestiya managed to become financially independent in the early 1990s. Now owned by the UNEXIM Group, it has a definite pro-government orientation. This national daily is a popular paper among the Russian intelligentsia. ================================================================== S E G O D N Y A Lead Story Russia Was Accepted by Yugoslavia PROBABLY BECAUSE BORIS YELTSIN AIMED MISSILES AT MILOSEVIC'S ENEMIES Summary Russians had only just heaved a sigh of relief after hearing President Boris Yeltsin's promise "not to get involved in the war in Balkans," when a new danger appeared: Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic began seeking admission to the Russia-Belarus union. According to Duma speaker Gennady Seleznyov, Yeltsin liked the idea very much. Seleznyov went on to tell Duma deputies that the president had informed him that Russia would retarget its missiles at the countries which are now attacking Yugoslavia. It seemed like the president and the Duma had reached a consensus. However, later officials in the Kremlin and in the Defense Ministry began to interpret the president's words in different ways. Senior military commanders said they had not received any orders to re-target the missiles. Then NATO hastened to reject Seleznyov's information as unofficial. However, Seleznyov insisted that he had quoted the president correctly, and that the statements had been made in front of television cameras. The daily concluded that, with all of Yeltsin's well-known controversial statements, the process of integration between Russia and Yugoslavia is well underway. And this means that Russia is getting involved in the Balkan war. about S E G O D N Y A (circulation 100,000) Owned by the Most Group headed by Vladimir Gusinsky, the paper was set up in 1993 and now targets a business-minded audience. It has managed to pool some good journalists who report on a wide range of issues and opinions, although some have since defected to the new daily, Russkie Telegraf. N O V Y E I Z V E S T I Y A This Is How World Wars Start Summary The daily commented on the statements that President Boris Yeltsin made on Thursday and Friday. Yeltsin first said that Yugoslavia cannot join Russia or the Russian-Belarussian union, unless a referendum is held in Yugoslavia on this issue. What about a referendum in Russia?, the daily asked. Yugoslavia is now in a state of war, even if it is an undeclared one. If Russia gets involved in a union with it, an attack against Yugoslavia would mean aggression towards Russia. Yeltsin reportedly discussed the issue of a Russian-Yugoslav union with Duma speaker Gennady Seleznyov. But the daily asked: How could the Communist Duma leader discuss anything with the president, when the Communists are preparing to impeach Yeltsin in a couple of days, declaring him a criminal? The Duma, meanwhile, greeted the idea of unification with great enthusiasm, and ultra-nationalist Vladimir Zhirinovsky even said that other states will voluntarily join the union: Bulgaria, Moldova, Ukraine, Armenia and Kyrgyzstan. The Russian political seat appears to be a lunatic asylum, the daily concluded. The only one among these countries which would have any grounds to join is Armenia, which would do so for the same reason as Yugoslavia— to have the protection of "a big brother" in its conflicts. about N O V Y E I Z V E S T I Y A After the daily Izvestiya was taken over by the UNEXIM group last year, editor-in-chief Igor Golembiovsky resigned in protest and, with a number of the daily's leading journalists, set up Novye Izvestiya. It began publication on Nov. 1, 1997, and is so far the only Russian daily to use color
