On invasion's anniversary, Yeltsin
preaches against NATO expansion

June 22, 1996
Web posted at: 7:45 p.m. EDT

BREST, Belarus (CNN) -- Russian President Boris Yeltsin took his re-election campaign on tour Saturday, starting in the neighboring republic of Belarus, then flying to the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad.

His visit fell on the 55th anniversary of the Nazi invasion of Russia, an especially significant date for Belarus. Much of Russia was pounded during World War II, but Belarus, a part of the Soviet Union during the war, was devastated. One in three Belarusians was killed.

Yeltsin took the opportunity to predict dire consequences, including another world war, should Poland and other former East-bloc countries be permitted entry into NATO. Russia has firmly maintained that a NATO expansion would compromise its national security.

Earlier in the day, he attended memorial ceremonies in Moscow, where he joined World War II veterans in laying flowers at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Russians were united in mourning a war the country cannot forget, a war that killed at least 7 million Soviet soldiers and about 19 million Soviet civilians.

Gennady Zyuganov, Boris Yeltsin's Communist opponent for the presidency, was also there, along with his many disillusioned supporters.

War veterans were among them. "We won the war and we saved the country. Now, we are losing the country again to Yeltsin," said one woman.

A veteran with shrapnel still in his chest from the war spoke bitterly of Yeltsin's promised "bright future -- unemployment, poverty."

At the church at Moscow's Victory Park, however, Yeltsin's supporters were in evidence. "I will vote for Yeltsin," said one man. "He started the reforms and I want him to finish them. The Communists tried to shoot me twice. I don't want them back."

Correspondent Bill Delaney and Reuters contributed to this report.

Pivotal Elections: Russia

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