Where They Stand

The political platforms of Russia’s front-runners in the presidential election campaign have been long on innuendo and short on specifics, but the policies of incumbent Boris N. Yeltsin and Communist Party challenger Gennady A. Zyuganov are discernibly different on key issues:

Private property

Zyuganov: Pledges to maintain a balance among state, collective and private ownership of business and industry, but has made clear a preference for state control. Opposes private land ownership and accuses the current leadership of corruption in housing privatization.

Yeltsin: Supports private ownership of real estate, business and industry, despite a campaign-season suspension of privatization. Promises low-interest mortgages for future home-buyers.

Budget and public spending

Zyuganov: Advocates higher state spending to rescue failing industries and protect jobs. Would subsidize or underwrite health care, education, transport and energy through deficit spending. Counts, dubiously, on repatriation of tens of billions in flight capital taken out by successful businesses and swindlers.

Yeltsin: Promises to boost the monthly minimum wage (now $15) and pensions, but supports a free market for salaries, prices and industrial production. Counts on a post-victory rush of private and foreign investment and plans more liberal borrowing from abroad to ease the budget crunch.

The Army

Zyuganov: Vows to reinvigorate the military and restore its superpower status, but has been vague on specifics.

Yeltsin: Recently proposed an all-volunteer force, streamlined to correspond to a less adversarial relationship with Western powers.

War in Chechnya

Zyuganov: Advocates peace talks and a negotiated resolution of the crisis, but echoes his opponent’s view that the breakaway territory is and always will be part of Russia.

Yeltsin: Has successfully diverted public attention from his flagging, 18-month-old invasion that has cost 30,000 lives by agreeing to a shaky cease-fire and fresh negotiations on autonomy with the rebels.

Reintegration of former Soviet Union

Zyuganov: Pays lip service to the voluntary nature of reintegration but party stalwarts openly lament the “loss” of 25 million Russians living in what are now independent states. Hints of recovering Soviet-era territories disquiet neighbors, especially the prosperous and fiercely independent Baltic states.

Yeltsin: Supports closer economic and political ties on a voluntary basis within the Commonwealth of Independent States, linking 12 of the 15 former Soviet republics (the Baltic states do not participate). Seized the initiative by forging a new political alliance with Belarus this spring and by uniting with Belarus, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan in a cooperative trade confederation.

Personal Freedoms

Zyuganov: Insists media must remain loyal to the state. Vaguely hints at foreign travel curbs to prevent further exodus of strategic materials and hard currency abroad. Has abandoned the party’s previous official policy of atheism, and has suggested political opposition would be tolerated despite the party’s earlier claims to a leading role in all aspects of life.

Yeltsin: Pledges commitment to open borders, freedom of worship, independent media and multiparty democracy.

Source: Times Moscow Bureau