Sir, The west's support for Boris Yeltsin's dissolution of parliament ("West's
best bet" September 29) is based on the idea that this body and the constitution
were inherited from the Soviet Union.
When the disbanded parliament is replaced by a democratically elected legislative
body and a new constitution adopted, Russia can assert it has domestically
renounced the old Soviet system. Such a declaration implies a similar
repudiation externally. Russia can no longer claim a special sphere
of influence in the newly independent states of the former Soviet Union.
The west should only support a consistency in Russian domestic and foreign
policy. |
