Yeltsin Crimes Exceed Nixon’s, Foe Says
A lawmaker seeking Boris N. Yeltsin’s impeachment said Saturday that the Russian leader is guilty of far worse crimes than the Watergate scandal that drove President Richard Nixon from office nearly two decades ago.
Vladimir B. Isakov took the floor in the Congress of People’s Deputies and recalled that Nixon faced impeachment by the House of Representatives “for an innocent, by our standards, ‘prank’--the office of the opposing political party was bugged.”
“In this country, telephones of the vice president, the chairman of Parliament and all the rest are bugged and no one feels embarrassed about it,” the deputy said.
By contrast, Isakov charged, Yeltsin is guilty of defying the Russian Congress and its Soviet-era constitution. The president is seeking a referendum to ask voters to back him and resisting efforts by Congress to take control of state-run television and radio from the president.
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