Moscow, 28 November 1996 (RFE/RL) - Russian Communist Party leader Gennady Zyuganov says his parliamentary faction will decide tomorrow whether to support a no-confidence motion in the government.
Zyuganov held a press conference in Moscow today before tomorrow's scheduled debate in the opposition-dominated Duma on the government's plan to withdraw the last two troop regiments from Chechnya. Deputies opposed to the plan say it amounts to granting the breakaway republic independence and have threatened to start impeachment proceedings against President Boris Yeltsin.
Zyuganov said communist deputies will hold a special session before the Duma debate to formulate their position. He said he does not support the impeachment of Yeltsin, whom he described as ill and needing time to recover. But he demanded the resignation of presidential chief of staff Anatoly Chubais.
Zyuganov criticized Yeltsin's decree calling for the troop withdrawal.
He also attacked the interim agreement signed between Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin and self-proclaimed Chechen prime minister Aslan Maskhadov last weekend. He said neither Yeltsin nor Chernomyrdin had what he called "the right" to sign such documents, which he said were illegal.