Yeltsin Calls in Troops After His Foes : Rampage in Moscow and Rout Police : Russia: Gunfire erupts as tanks surround Parliament building and defenders are ordered to surrender. Mobs storm TV station, mayor’s office.

Boris N. Yeltsin’s presidency trembled Sunday as thousands of pro-Parliament demonstrators backed by paramilitary units rampaged through downtown Moscow and smashed through police barricades around the besieged Russian Parliament building.

By early today, there were signs that forces loyal to Yeltsin were reasserting control. Hundreds of troops, including paratroopers, were securing strategic points in downtown Moscow after Yeltsin called a state of emergency.

At 7 a.m., tanks and armored personnel carriers surrounded the Parliament building and were reportedly pelted with Molotov cocktails from the barricades, sending a column of smoke into the morning sun.

Yeltsin’s military commander in Moscow, Lt. Gen. Alexander Kulikov, ordered the Parliament defenders to surrender and said if they mounted armed resistance they would “be eliminated.”

Gunfire was heard but it was unclear whether the armored vehicles were firing at the White House itself. Interfax news agency reported that the vehicles were firing into the air to clear the square.

A Yeltsin spokesman said commanders of Russia’s military districts had pledged loyalty to the president.

The news agency, quoting “informed sources close to the president,” said Yeltsin will agree to simultaneous elections for president and Parliament--a significant concession that Yeltsin had categorically ruled out as late as Friday. The report could not be immediately confirmed.

Moscow exploded in violence Sunday after enraged demonstrators--backed by makeshift but well-armed paramilitary units--made a frontal assault on the police barricades around the Parliament building. Riot police said they could not stop the crowd short of shooting them, and thousands of jubilant protesters surged in to end the 13-day siege.

On orders from rebel Vice President Alexander V. Rutskoi, right-wing forces then seized the Moscow mayor’s office, dragging the deputy mayor and other officials out at gunpoint, and stormed the main television headquarters, knocking out the two channels that reach most of Russia.

At least eight people were reported killed and 100 injured in street brawls and firefights between riot police and demonstrators. But the toll was expected to rise sharply as riot police inside the Ostankino television building used machine guns and grenade launchers today to fight off attackers. Unconfirmed reports put the death toll at 24.

For much of Sunday, Yeltsin’s opponents appeared to be gaining the upper hand. “The Yeltsin regime has finally fallen,” proclaimed Communist leader Viktor I. Anpilov, the organizer of the mass demonstrations Saturday and Sunday.

But by evening, pro-Yeltsin demonstrators manned barricades on Red Square and on downtown Tverskaya Street, and at least 5,000 presidential supporters rallied in front of the statue of Prince Yuri Dolgoruki, the founder of Moscow.

The Itar-Tass news agency announced that it had been captured by pro-Rutskoi forces but was then “freed” by Interior Ministry troops loyal to Yeltsin.

Most significant, the two Ostankino television channels began broadcasting again from an old studio located in the Shabolovka Center, about five miles from the embattled main television headquarters.

Gen. Konstantin I. Kobets said paratroopers had entered Moscow as of 4 a.m. today and promised that they would bring law and order to the city within hours.

On Sunday, Yeltsin rushed back from his suburban dacha by helicopter to declare a state of emergency under which political meetings are banned until Oct. 10 and the military takes control of law enforcement in the city.

Yeltsin also formally fired Rutskoi, a retired air force major general, as vice president and as a military officer, depriving Rutskoi of his pension. Although Yeltsin did not appear on television, the 62-year-old president released a written statement from the Kremlin.

“Today in Moscow blood was spilled,” the statement said, warning that the “former leaders of the White House” had violated the law and the constitution and “are ready to plunge Russia into the abyss of civil war.”

At 1 a.m. today, Prime Minister Viktor S. Chernomyrdin appeared on Ostankino television with the startling declaration, “Moscow is in danger! Everyone must understand that if Moscow is in danger, the Fatherland, too, is in danger.”

Chernomyrdin announced that troops were being deployed in Moscow to restore peace. But he insisted that the situation is under control and asked the Russian public to have faith in its government.

Earlier in the evening, Parliament Chairman Ruslan I. Khasbulatov had told about 150 cheering lawmakers at a special session that troops were moving toward Moscow--but that it was unclear to whom they were loyal.

“I’m also convinced that the military forces will not shoot at defenders of the constitution,” Khasbulatov said. “I think we should take the Kremlin!”

Sunday’s explosion of violence was heralded by smaller street clashes in recent days by hard-line demonstrators--mostly Communists and ultranationalists with a smattering of monarchists and anti-Semites, along with people who say Yeltsin’s economic reforms have impoverished all but a handful of Russians.

These protesters have recently been joined by a smaller faction of newcomers protesting Yeltsin’s violation of the constitution by his Sept. 21 order dissolving Parliament and calling elections for a new legislature on Dec. 11 and 12.

Yeltsin last week had already issued an ultimatum giving Rutskoi and Khasbulatov until today to organize a withdrawal from the Parliament building.

By Sunday morning, the crowd’s mood was violent. Saturday night’s skirmish with riot police ended only after an ultranationalist Parliament member told protesters to “go home and conserve your strength” for Sunday’s demonstrations.

At 2 p.m., thousands of anti-Yeltsin demonstrators massed around the giant Lenin statue in October Square, while riot police tried unsuccessfully to disperse them. One elderly man suggested that two middle-aged women get out from in front of the riot police shields and truncheons “for survival.”

“Survive as you like, we’re going to fight!” one of the women snapped back.

Especially striking was the number of demonstrators in their 50s, 60s and 70s who harangued and insulted the young riot police and who declared themselves fully prepared to be beaten or killed Sunday.

“We are ready for a partisan war,” said Vasily F. Fedorenko, 62, who described himself as a “Communist with convictions.”

Chanting “Rutskoi is president,” and “Fascism will not prevail,” at least 10,000 demonstrators--some estimates put the crowd as high as 20,000--began marching down Moscow’s main Garden Ring Road vowing to “liberate” the Parliament building.

Riot police made their first of three attempts to stop the crowd just past Gorky Park on the Crimea Bridge, where about 300 troops formed a human barricade with their shields.

But police were vastly outnumbered by demonstrators, who pelted them with bricks and returned truncheon blows by swinging homemade clubs. Within a minute or two, the sea of silver police shields parted and the demonstrators went surging through. Officers said they had received an order to let the crowd pass.

Emboldened by this victory, demonstrators raced onward, grabbing chunks of asphalt and ripping up pipes and construction debris. Some brandished shields and helmets captured from the riot police.

“It’s a people’s revolution!” one protester screamed. “Yeltsin the criminal has lost!”

Ignoring tear gas and water cannon--neither especially forcibly applied--the furious mob rolled through another police barricade in front of the Foreign Ministry building at Smolensk Square. As young officers ran for their lives, the demonstrators disabled several trolley cars, smashed and seized at least seven troop trucks and took control of two of the water cannon.

One bus full of dreaded OMON riot police was overtaken by demonstrators after it failed to make a U-turn fast enough. The strapping officers cowered inside behind their shields as the furious mob smashed the bus windows and attempted to overturn it.

The riot police were rescued by a number of women demonstrators, who linked hands around the bus and shouted, “Don’t kill them! These are our sons!”

The massive crowd rushed on to the Parliament building, where the police blockade quickly crumbled.

One young riot police officer sat on a curb near the White House nearly sobbing. His hands were covered in blood from carrying his wounded commander out of the crowd to safety. He said the commander had been shot in the back by demonstrators.

“When the people broke through, we decided not to shoot at them,” said the officer, who gave his name only as Sergei. “But instead they shot at us.”

Asked whether he had received orders to shoot, Sergei stared in disbelief.

“I am a normal person,” he said.

Once the White House barricade was broken, a triumphant Rutskoi walked out into the demonstrators and ordered them to seize the mayor’s office and the nearby Peace Hotel, where many troops had been quartered.

“Try not to use weapons,” Rutskoi said. “Use only physical force. Take away their guns and hardware.

“The soldiers are demoralized,” he added. “We must be more daring and courageous.”

The crowd responded by jumping into captured army trucks and ramming them into the glass doors on the ground floor of the mayor’s office. A firefight immediately erupted between riot police inside the building, which also houses the offices of the International Monetary Fund, and Kalashnikov-armed paramilitary troops outside. Demonstrators were caught in the cross-fire, and at least one paramilitary man was wounded, witnesses said.

Again, the police surrendered first. About 25 OMON riot troops bolted from the building, ran across the street and disappeared.

“Glory to Russia!” machine-gun-waving men in camouflage gear waved from the barricades.

Soon armed men had captured city officials, including Deputy Mayor Alexander Braginsky, and dragged them at gunpoint through the thick layer of broken glass and the jeering crowd in the lobby across the street to the Parliament building. There was no immediate word about their fate.

As the protesters jumped in army trucks and headed toward Ostankino television, one demonstrator lent his arm to a stooped old woman who was carefully picking through the shards of broken glass on her way out of the wrecked mayor’s office.

“As you can see, Yeltsin is a bandit,” Yevgenia I. Umalova, 77, explained calmly. “He should be overthrown.”

One police unit was greeted with cheers and kisses as its troops made a dramatic crossing from outside what had been a barbed-wire barricade into the White House grounds. Demonstrators immediately gave them cigarettes and applauded their bravery in deserting the Yeltsin camp.

Once they had ceased to be the center of attention, however, some of the young men said they were prisoners, not defectors.

At 1 a.m. today, a pitched battle for Ostankino television was still on. Interfax reported there were a “very large number” of killed and wounded.

Times staff writer Michael A. Hiltzik and Times Moscow Bureau reporters Alexei V. Kuznetsov and Andrei Ostroukh contributed to this report.

Battles in the Streets

Armed opponents of Russian President Boris N. Yeltsin broke the siege of Parliament and attacked the Moscow mayor’s office and TV headquarters before being driven off by loyal troops.

Gorky Park: Police crack down on pro-Parliament political rally, sparking march to the White House.

Parliament (White House): 15,000 angry demonstrations push through police cordons to break a siege of Parliament.

TV Headquarters: Forces loyal to Russia’s rebel Vice President Alexander V. Rutskoi storm the Ostankino television tower. 8 killed, 100 injured.

Mayor’s Office: Demonstrators smash a truck into the glass front of the building, beat several men found in their offices and seize two aides, meeting little resistance.

Itar-Tass News Agency: Protesters overwhelm riot police and smash their way into headquarters of Itar-Tass, the official Russian news agency. Attackers were later driven away.

Kremlin: Government forces and Yeltsin supporters stand guard. Yeltsin issues a statement vowing to restore order.

Yeltsin’s Cavalry or a Force for Chaos?

Ever since the dissolution of the Soviet Union--but especially now, during the current crisis at the Russian White House--the world has watched warily to see whither the allegiances of the Red Army forces. And for significant reason:

* HUGE FORCE: Russia, according to best estimates in July, had up to 2 million people serving in its military; that compares to a U.S. force of 1.7 million.

* DOWNSIZING: Russia’s military, which as recently as 1988 had 4.2 million people in its fold, has been shrinking as Moscow has summoned its far-flung forces home--often leaving them to fend for themselves in increasingly dire economic straits.

* ECONOMIC WOES: Hundreds of thousands of Russian officers cannot find adequate housing for themselves or their families. They find their wages--ranging from $80 a month for a lieutenant colonel to $2 a month for a recruit--humbling at best and impoverishing at worst.

* BAD BLOOD: Morale in the military has plunged to new lows. Russian officers complain bitterly that they do not understand their post-Cold War role. Tens of thousands of draftees have failed to appear for duty. There have been mounting reports of corruption by and within the military, as well as shocking stories of abuses of soldiers, sailors and airmen by their commanders.

* COMMAND: Western analysts have expressed growing concern that the sprawling Russian military may yet fracture. This would be an especially grave development, as it would feed chaos, placing increased importance not on a rational chain of command but on personal loyalties of forces to selected Russian leaders.

Source: Times Staff Reports