RUSSIA: PRESIDENT YELTSIN ELECTION CAMPAIGN UPDATE

Описание: (16 Apr 1996) Natural Sound

Russia is ready for "a historic compromise" to end the war in Chechnya, according to President Boris Yeltsin.

Speaking during a trip to the southern Russian city of Krasnodar, Yeltsin said he was willing to grant maximum autonomy short of full independence to the war-torn region if it would guarantee peace.

Russian President Boris Yeltsin arrives at the war memorial in Russia's Krasnodar region.

A number of Communist sympathisers in the crowd wave red flags as Yeltsin meets Russia's war veterans

He then helps to lay a wreath at the war memorial and pay his respects to those who have fought and died for their country.

Yeltsin continued his tour of the region with a visit to the Cossack village of Novoneshasnovkaya where he greeted crowds of locals who had turned out to see him.

In a bid to rally support for his bid to hold on to the presidency in the June elections, Yeltsin signed decrees underwriting the official status of the influential Cossack community.

The crowd seemed pleased with the gesture.

He went on to visit a housing project for army officers withdrawn from eastern Europe and for some of those who stormed the Chechen capital Grozny last year.

Talking to representatives of the local administration during this his second of his pre- election tours of the country, Yeltsin said Russia was ready for "a historic compromise" to end the war in Chechnya.

He said he was willing to grant maximum autonomy short of full independence to the war-torn region if it would guarantee peace.

Yeltsin is due to visit the town of Budyonnovsk on Wednesday where Chechen separatists last year took hundreds of civilians hostage.

An end to the conflict in Chechnya is seen by many, including Yeltsin, as crucial to his chances of re-election in June.

But despite massive television coverage of his high-profile campaign, Yeltsin still lags behind his main rival, Communist leader Gennady Zyuganov, in the polls for June's election.

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