Moscow, March 15 (RFE/RL) - The Russian Duma today passed a resolution denouncing the decision to dissolve the Soviet Union in 1991.
Our correspondent quotes Duma representatives as saying that 250 deputies voted for the resolution and 98 voted against. There were no abstentions.
The resolution, presented by the Communist Party, calls for re-integrating former Soviet republics and declares null and void the Russian legislature's 1991 decision to dissolve the USSR.
Earlier today, several leaders of the Duma called on parliament members to reject the resolution. Reformists Grigory Yavlinsky and Svatoslav Federov, the pro-government faction "Our Home is Russia", and former commander of Russian troops in Moldova Alexander Lebed issued separate statements aimed at preventing adoption of the resolution.
President Boris Yeltsin said yesterday that the parliament could not restore the former Soviet Union on its own. In an interview with Russian TV Yeltsin called a decision to restore the Soviet Union a campaign tactic aimed only at winning votes in the presidential elections June 16.