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- WORLD, Page 63World NotesSOVIET UNIONFace-Off With Boris
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- Boris Yeltsin is beginning to know what it feels like to be
- Mikhail Gorbachev. Last week the Russian president confronted a
- group of angry nationalists seeking independence from Moscow --
- and stumbled badly.
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- Faced with a virtual rebellion in Chechen-Ingush, a small,
- predominantly Muslim autonomous republic of 1.3 million in the
- south of the Russian Federation, Yeltsin declared a state of
- emergency and deployed 532 interior-ministry special police. The
- show of force only rallied support for Dzhokhar Dudayev, the
- former general who leads the revolt. As armed loyalists
- surrounded the federation force, Yeltsin's resolve began to
- crumble, and he agreed to the withdrawal of the stranded
- troopers. In Moscow the Russian parliament delivered its own
- blow to the president's authority by voting overwhelmingly to
- veto his emergency decree.
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- Russia's ethnic troubles only begin with Chechen-Ingush.
- Though non-Russian nationalities make up less than 20% of the
- federation's population, the 31 autonomous areas they occupy
- constitute nearly half its territory. And many of them have
- proclaimed their desire for independence.
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