Gorbachev Says Yeltsin Would Break Up U.S.S.R

Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev attacked maverick Communist Boris N. Yeltsin’s campaign platform for the Russian presidency today, accusing him of working toward “the breakup of the Soviet Union.”

Gorbachev launched the quick, sharp attack on Yeltsin at the Russian Congress, which he has attended as a silent observer over the past week. His speech exposed the deep concern that led him to sit through hours of tedious procedural debates.

Yeltsin’s plan for wresting control of the Russian republic from the Kremlin and allowing it to set its own policies amounts to “an attempt to cut Russia off from socialism,” Gorbachev said.

“That will contradict the line of perestroika, which we proposed to give a second wind to socialism on the road to democratization,” he said. “Can we do without Russia, if she decides to go another route?”

Russia is the largest of the 15 Soviet republics, with just over half the country’s population and two-thirds of its territory.

The Congress was generally raucous, with loud heckling during Gorbachev’s speech.

Gorbachev at one point retorted to the hecklers: “You’re active, but I’ve met up with more active people.”

He accused Yeltsin of being “confrontational,” and appealed for greater harmony to allow reforms to move forward.

Yeltsin was Gorbachev’s protege at one point, but in the past two years has become his most vocal public critic. Gorbachev has rarely responded to Yeltsin’s criticism with direct counterattacks, but he has complained several times of radical “demagogues” who care more about their own ambitions than the good of the people.