World

Russians Take To The Streets

By CBSNews.com staff CBSNews.com staff

October 7, 1998 / 1:45 PM EDT / CBS

Across Russia Wednesday, protesters took to the streets and demanded back wages and Boris Yeltsin's resignation, reports CBS News Moscow Correspondent Richard Threlkeld.

The demonstrations were the first major protest since Russia was plunged into its latest economic crisis in August, when the country's financial markets collapsed. But most of those marching were protesting months - or even years - of not receiving salaries and pensions because of the economic malaise.

Turnout at dozens of demonstrations fell far below predictions by the Communist Party and other opposition groups, which had forecast 40 million would join the protests.

Police had no overall figures on turnout, but estimated several hundred thousand people took part - a small fraction of Russia's 148 million people.

Organizers said about 400,000 people marched in Moscow, but the motley crowd appeared closer to 30,000. The Moscow marchers ranged from hard-line Stalinist and fascist groups to trade unions and bands of young people making fun of old Communist protesters.

"We will not allow Yeltsin to destroy us," said trade union leader Mikhail Shmakov. "We want a president who solves the concrete problems of the country and doesn't make empty promises."

President Yeltsin was in the Kremlin on Wednesday, and his aides insisted it was a normal workday for him. However, security forces were put on alert in Russia's capital and in other cities where demonstrations were planned, even though protests were as peaceful, as authorities had expected.

Far outside Moscow, regional Governor Alexander Lebed led marchers demanding Yeltsin's resignation through the Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk.

Lebed, the popular former general who brokered an end to Russia's disastrous war in Chechnya, is one of those most often mentioned as Yeltsin's possible successor.

"Today, Yeltsin is alone," said Lebed. "People are pushed to the extreme. Western investors have become fierce and are angry with him."

Wednesday night, thousands of demonstrators were expected to demonstrate right outside Yeltsin's Kremlin office, a sign that he's more isolated now than ever.

Meanwhile, in his first nationwide television address Tuesday, Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov told Russians he would pay off the back wages owed to millions of workers in a timely fashion, but they have been hearing that for the past two years.

Russian inflation is currently forecast at 200 percent, and the former superpower's economy is expected to shrink more than 5 percent this year.