			Foreign Correspondent

		      Inside Track On World News
	    By International Syndicated Columnist & Broadcaster
		 Eric Margolis <emargolis@lglobal.com>

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DON'T MESS WITH BORIS
by
Eric Margolis   20 June 1996



Boris Yeltsin staged a bravura political performance this
week that left communists and hardliners dumbfounded, or reeling
in confusion, and connaisseurs of intrigue gasping in
admiration.. 

For the second election in a row, Yeltsin finessed the vote  by
using that most beloved of all Russian intelligence ploys, the
false-flag operation:  

In 1993 elections, the Yeltsin camp split the
communist-nationalist vote by creating a loudmouthed stalking
horse.  A nobody named Vladimir Zhirinovsky suddenly strode onto
Russia's political stage, spouting fire and brimstone.  He was
secretly funded by Yeltsin, and given intense press coverage by
the pro-Yeltsin media.  

Zhirinovsky not only diverted votes from the communists, 
his bombast also scared the pants off the credulous west.
This allowed Yeltsin to warn: `if you don't give me
everything I want, and keep those billions coming, you'll
get crazy Vladi.'      

A gruff, former paratroop general, Alexander Lebed was running
for president. He was widely ignored and given no chance
whatsoever.  Suddenly, two weeks ago, the  Yeltsin-controlled
media began fawning over Lebed, turning the telegenic,
gravel-voiced general into an overnight star.  In Sunday's
election, Lebed came in third, winning 15% of the vote - just
enough to defeat the communists.  

Last month, Lebed and Yeltsin made a secret deal.  Yeltsin
would inflate Lebed's candidacy.  Lebed would throw his
support to Yeltsin after the election.  In return, Yeltsin
would:  1. make Lebed his grand vizir of national security;
2. fire.  Lebed's bitterest enemy, Defense Minister Pavel
Grachev. 

Security sources have confirmed to me that when Yeltsin
fired Grachev, generals backing the deposed Defense Minister
tried to mount a hurried coup. They were thwarted by pro-
Yeltsin  commanders, and the Tamanskaya Division - the
Kremlin's Praetorian Guard.  

On Wednesday, Yeltsin mounted a palace coup against three
powerful Kremlin allies of Grachev.  Yeltsin dismissed  Gen.
Alexander Korzkakov, head of the top-secret security
organization, GUO; the current KGB Director; and, reportedly, the
notorious `Black Magician,' KGB Gen. Georgi Rogozin.  Until the
Lebed coup, this triumverate had been the real power behind the
throne.



Crafty Boris Yeltsin is now poised to achieve three major
goals. First, he has a commanding lead in next month's
run-off elections, thanks to Lebed's backing,  The  Reds
appear to have reached their high-water mark and are ebbing.

Second, Yeltsin his ridded himself of the odious Grachev,
the butcher of Chechnya, who is widely hated by Russians. 
Grachev held the threat of a military coup over Yeltsin's
head.  Yeltsin needed Gen. Lebed, who is lionized in the
army, to defeat Gen. Grachev.  

Third, though an ardent nationalist, Lebed  strongly opposed
the bloody war in Chechnya, calling for a referendum that
might even allow  rebellious Chechens independence.  As
national security chief, Lebed could be Yeltsin's long-
sought ticket out of the mess in Chechnya.  

By backing off and saying, `Let Lebed settle with the
Chechens,' Yeltsin could end the simmering war, his worst
political problem. If things go terribly wrong in Chechnya,
Lebed would get the blame.

After Chechnya, surging crime is probably the nation's major
concern.  Many Russians voted for the communists in hope the
reds would crush private-enterprise crime, as they did in
the past.  Now, the tough Lebed will take on the nation's
rampant criminals, bringing communist-strength law and order
but without communism - just what most Russians want.

If that other very popular hero of the Afghan War, Gen.
Boris Gromov, is named defense minister, the armed forces
will line up firmly behind Yeltsin.  The two `Afghani,'
Lebed and Gromov, could end up in charge of Russia if
Yeltsin has another heart attack.

Lebed's two heros are South Korea's late military ruler,
Gen. Park Chung Hee, and Chile's  redoubtable former
military strongman- and savior- Gen. Augusto Pinochet.  Park
fathered S. Korea's transformation from one of the world's
poorest countries into a modern industrial state. Pinochet
crushed Chile's marxist regime, broke communist unions, and
produced an economic miracle in the once-poor Latin nation.

The Yeltsin-Lebed Diumvirate may still fall apart. If it
endures, Russia could eventually face government by the
bayonet - what the communists  call `Bonapartism.' 


copyright Eric Margolis    1996

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