Impeachment Process Begun Against Yeltsin

Russia’s wrathful lower house of parliament opened impeachment proceedings Thursday against President Boris N. Yeltsin, turning a long-running parliamentary sideshow into a dangerous power struggle.

Each side appears to be on a potentially suicidal mission to depose the other.

“We are ready for any scenario,” said Communist lawmaker Igor M. Bratishchev.

The year-old impeachment drive revved into high gear after Yeltsin fired his popular prime minister, Yevgeny M. Primakov, on Wednesday. Primakov was a favorite with the Communist-dominated Duma, the lower house of parliament.

“The country is in ruins. It is racked by death throes. And this is why it is impossible for Yeltsin to continue as president,” railed Communist deputy Viktor I. Ilyukhin. “We believe impeachment will be the first step in the country’s revival.”

Yeltsin’s representative, Alexander A. Kotenkov, argued that impeachment risks shattering Russia’s already fragile political system.

“For the first time in the 20th century, Russia has the chance to replace the head of state legitimately and openly--before now they were either deposed or died in office,” Kotenkov said. “Today you face the choice between plunging the country into political crisis and fighting for power, or effecting an orderly succession of power” in next year’s presidential elections.

The impeachment proceedings are unlikely to unseat the president, who enjoys near-authoritarian powers under the constitution. Even if the Duma votes to impeach, the decision must be confirmed by the upper house, the Federation Council, as well as the country’s two highest courts--bodies whose members are largely Yeltsin supporters.

But a vote for impeachment, along with votes rejecting Yeltsin’s nominee for prime minister, would drive Russia toward a constitutional crisis in which Yeltsin might be both required and forbidden to disband the Duma. To break the deadlock he could be tempted to call a state of emergency, rule by decree, cancel upcoming elections or even impose martial law.

“He is moved by only one motive--the preservation of his personal power and wealth of his family and close circle,” said Rasul I. Shugurov, a deputy from the conservative Agrarian Party.

Parliament has formulated five articles of impeachment against Yeltsin: instigating the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991; illegally using force against parliament in 1993 when lawmakers resisted his order to disband; going to war in 1994 against the separatist republic of Chechnya; destroying the armed forces by depriving them of sufficient funding; and committing genocide against the Russian people by promoting reforms that impoverished them and raised the death rate.

Lawmakers say the charge with the most support is the article on the war in Chechnya. But they warned that Primakov’s dismissal has persuaded some lawmakers to take a harder stand, raising the likelihood that one or more charges could get the two-thirds majority needed to pass in the Duma.

“Yeltsin’s actions yesterday ensured that impeachment has become a real prospect,” said Oleg V. Morozov, leader of the centrist Russia’s Regions faction. “The dissolution of the Duma is almost inevitable.”

The Duma had set the vote for Saturday, but Communist leader Gennady A. Zyuganov said it could come as early as today.

If even one charge of impeachment passes, the president is constitutionally barred from disbanding the Duma--and the stage is set for a constitutional clash.

Yeltsin has nominated Primakov’s interior minister, Sergei V. Stepashin--whom many lawmakers blame for pushing Russia into the Chechen war--to be prime minister. If the Duma rejects the president’s nominee three times, Yeltsin is required to dissolve the Duma and call new elections.

At that point, neither the president nor the parliament would have a firm claim to power.

“The president may try to disband the Duma regardless of the vote,” said Sergei B. Budazhapov, a deputy from the hard-line People’s Power faction. “But we are ready for it. . . . We will not leave the Duma building. Let him bring in the tanks.”

The Communist-dominated Duma has been at loggerheads with Yeltsin since it was elected in December 1995. This is the third showdown over a prime ministerial nomination in 14 months.

Yeltsin won the first such battle in March 1998, when the Duma approved little-known Sergei V. Kiriyenko as premier. However, Yeltsin was forced to back down in September, dropping his nomination of former Prime Minister Viktor S. Chernomyrdin and accepting Primakov, a longtime foreign minister, as a compromise.

The new standoff between parliament and president has revived fears of a confrontation like the one in 1993, when lawmakers resisted dissolution and Yeltsin used tanks and troops to force them from the building. More than 100 people died in the clash, and Yeltsin forced through a new constitution that gave him near-authoritarian powers.

“Today the situation is not like 1993,” said hard-liner Budazhapov. “This time, when the people rise up, they will wipe Yeltsin and all his cronies away.”

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Sergei L. Loiko of The Times’ Moscow Bureau contributed to this report.