Yeltsin Extends Olive Branch to Opponents

After crushing Communist nostalgia in a tough reelection battle, President Boris N. Yeltsin offered an olive branch to vanquished opponents Thursday, urging his compatriots to reconcile and dispel fears of civil war and economic upheaval.

“Let us not divide the country into winners and losers,” Yeltsin, still distant from the public eye even in victory, told Russians in a brief television address after trouncing Communist Party challenger Gennady A. Zyuganov.

“Let us get down to work. For we have only one Russia, a great, vast country. One Russia, one fate. And hence, one future,” the ailing and reclusive victor said in a spirited appeal.

Compromise and cooperation seemed to be the guiding forces in battle-weary Russia in the wake of Yeltsin’s unexpected landslide victory in Wednesday’s presidential runoff. He captured 54% of the vote, compared with 40% for Zyuganov, and with it a fresh mandate for pressing on with the painful building of a market economy.

The mood of magnanimity may dissipate in the days of political wrangling still ahead. But the hand extended to defeated rivals gave rise to hopes that what was only the second free vote for a leader in Russia’s 1,000-year history could mark the beginning of the end of a national consciousness shaped by conflict and bloodshed.

Zyuganov complained about biased media coverage and unfair advantages accorded the incumbent but was generally gracious in defeat. He sent a telegram of congratulations to Yeltsin and told a news conference: “We respect the will of the Russian Federation and all Russians.”

Speaking for the president, whose few recent public appearances have been on carefully edited Kremlin videotapes, Prime Minister Viktor S. Chernomyrdin held a news conference to thank voters for their endorsement of this country’s historic transition to democracy.

He said there will be room in the new leadership for “all who want to work, all who want to make a contribution.”

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Senior Yeltsin aide Viktor V. Ilyushin said the newly reelected president may even meet with Zyuganov to discuss some role for the Communist Party leader, who campaigned for a stronger and more reliable social safety net.

Such hints at easing the confrontational atmosphere that hung over the hard-fought election probably reflect the Yeltsin camp’s recognition that Russians have been exhausted by the post-Soviet propensity for adversarial politics.

Yeltsin’s sweeping victory over Zyuganov’s outdated ideology seemed less a mandate for massive escalation of the reform pace than a vote for the status quo to which Russians are reluctantly adjusting.

Zyuganov failed to galvanize support for a return to Soviet-style security largely because the wrenching steps backward he was advocating stirred fears of further chaos.

Perhaps due to the surprising strength of Yeltsin’s victory, whispers of a new willingness to cooperate could be heard from the Communist-controlled Duma, the lower house of parliament that must pass judgment on the president’s proposed appointments for prime minister and the Cabinet.

Duma speaker Gennady N. Seleznyov told journalists that he is confident the deputies will swiftly approve the reappointment of Chernomyrdin and urged Yeltsin to submit his request as soon as possible.

The Duma is scheduled to begin a 10-week summer break in mid-July, and Seleznyov said the deputies would like to seat the new government without delay.

If the Duma leadership wanted to confront Yeltsin with an immediate governing crisis, it could go into recess until October, then thwart appointments for at least a month.

Chernomyrdin and other government ministers must submit their resignations as soon as the election results are declared official, giving the president a fresh opportunity to select a team.

The Central Election Commission said the final tally would be ready no sooner than Monday.

While fences were being mended between the political camps--even nationalist firebrand Vladimir V. Zhirinovsky said Yeltsin’s victory would probably ease social tensions--a new friction might be building within the Kremlin.

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Chernomyrdin dealt two blows to the political ambitions of newly appointed national security chief Alexander I. Lebed, rejecting the retired general’s suggestion that the post of vice president be created for him and casting doubt on the breadth of powers Lebed claims to have.

Lebed, who finished third in the election’s 10-candidate first round, was wooed into the Yeltsin camp two days after the June 16 ballot with the post of chairman of the Security Council.

In an effort to attract Lebed’s nationalist-patriotic constituency, he was given free rein in the last days before the runoff and used his platform to cast himself as the up-and-coming Kremlin heir apparent.

“We have a constitution, and according to it and all constitutions in the world, a vice president is elected together with the president,” Chernomyrdin said of Lebed’s attempt to position himself as Yeltsin’s successor. “The time may come when our country needs a vice president. . . . I do not personally see the need for it. We had one once, and we are crying to this day.”

The prime minister was referring to former Vice President Alexander V. Rutskoi, the retired Red Army general elected with Yeltsin in 1991 who two years later turned on the president and waged a bloody armed challenge from the White House, as the then-seat of the parliament is known.

Yeltsin’s failure to show up at his polling place Wednesday caused a new wave of worry about his condition. The 65-year-old president has suffered heart attacks in the last year and virtually disappeared during the last days of the campaign.

The videotapes released by the Kremlin after Yeltsin’s reelection showed him reading his short message of congratulations to the Russian people and meeting with Moscow Mayor Yuri M. Luzhkov.

Yeltsin looked considerably more vibrant than in a tape showing him casting his vote, and aides said he was back to work in the Kremlin after a few days’ rest.

Luzhkov announced that Yeltsin’s inauguration will probably be held in Moscow on Aug. 9.