Russia Gets Tough to Assure Order at WW II Ceremony : Security: Moscow prepares with Draconian traffic rules and the forced exit of thousands.

By order of the Russian government, it will not rain on President Boris N. Yeltsin’s parade Tuesday.

And to ensure orderly transport of the more than 50 visiting heads of state to the V-E Day venues, central streets within a five-mile radius of parade routes have been closed to vehicle traffic.

Non-residents from former Soviet republics have been driven out of town by the tens of thousands, and Muscovites with the misfortune to live along motorcade routes have been screened and interrogated by police to the point of harassment.

In a nation long notorious as a wellspring of control freaks, the strong arm of the law and the omnipotence of the government are being relied on to create order out of the usual chaos as Moscow braces for the biggest event it has hosted in nearly a century.

Not since the 1896 coronation of the last Russian czar, Nicholas II, have so many foreign dignitaries descended on this city, and official edicts have been issued to banish every potential disruption, from inclement weather to unwanted expressions of dissent.

“Clouds over Moscow will be dispersed,” promised Gennady Beryulev, chief of the Central Aerological Observatory, noting that seven Antonov aircraft will be on standby to drop silver iodide on any clouds that dare drift toward central Moscow. The hedge against Mother Nature is costing the city $200,000.

Moscow Mayor Yuri M. Luzhkov ordered a nine-hour closure of the main traffic-carrying beltways around central Moscow, as well as highways and access roads to be used by the marchers, tanks, guns and armored personnel carriers taking part in a military parade in western Moscow.

While neither today nor Tuesday is a working day in Russia, in honor of the holiday commemorating 50 years since the Allied victory over Nazi Germany, the blanket edicts promise to paralyze a city overrun with hundreds of thousands of visitors, both Russian and foreign.

Even access for foreign journalists based in Moscow has been scrapped in favor of a scheme that delivered all coverage passes for the anniversary events to Russian journalists and those traveling in with foreign delegations.

“It’s easier for us,” said Igor B. Bulai, head of the Foreign Ministry press department, in explaining why he abdicated decisions on how to distribute passes for U.S. media by handing them over to the U.S. Embassy press attache, David Monk.

“I work for the White House,” Monk told irate U.S. journalists here in explaining why he would be delivering all but three of 250 pool cards to superiors in Washington, even for the Poklonnaya military parade, which President Clinton is boycotting, and for a wreath-laying by Yeltsin that takes place before the White House media plane arrives.

But getting the bum’s rush hasn’t been limited to the local press corps.

Moscow police, in a quest to ensure that no unpleasantness mars the festivities, have gone door to door throughout the massive apartment blocks flanking Kutuzovsky Prospect to conduct security checks and instruct residents how to behave during the parade.

A special intergovernmental body called the Headquarters for the Preparation for Celebration of the 50th Anniversary of Victory was created to draft security and logistics planning, including the “Operation Regime” document-checking campaign that has resulted in expulsion of tens of thousands of visitors and temporary workers.

Mayor Luzhkov’s office also has prohibited opposition rallies anywhere near the venues of V-E Day celebrations, and police plan to check every parade-goer trying to arrive at the Poklonnaya parade on foot.

Luzhkov’s order last month for businesses along central thoroughfares to erect “patriotic displays” in their windows was interpreted at the time to be a push for enhancing the holiday spirit.

But Muscovites perplexed as to how they might reach the roped-off parade venue now suspect that the red stars and wartime Stalinist slogans dusted off for the occasion may be all they are intended to see of the celebration.