MOSCOW : Constitutional Peek

Russians today get their first full look at the proposed new constitution on which they are supposed to vote in a Dec. 12 referendum.

With some alterations, the latest draft is expected to strongly resemble proposals that President Boris N. Yeltsin submitted this summer to a constitutional convention. The convention’s work foundered on opposition from Parliament, which Yeltsin dissolved on Sept. 21.

Leaders of some of the 21 ethnic “republics” that are part of the Russian federation have threatened to block the referendum in their jurisdictions to protest changes in the draft removing their sovereign status. But Yeltsin’s show of political strength in early October may make the regions more compliant.