February 16, 1996
Web posted at: 11:15 p.m. EST (0415 GMT)
From Moscow Bureau Chief Eileen O'Connor
CHELYABINSK, Russia (CNN) -- Boris Yeltsin promised Friday to withdraw troops to the borders of Chechnya, guarantee pay on time, and hold down the price of vodka. The Russian president was trying to prove again that he is a man of the people, but the question remains: Is he the man people want?
Yeltsin has his supporters. "Personally, I love him. I do not like how we used to live. We were not free," said one woman.
And, he has his detractors. "What good is freedom when we are hungry?" a man said.
Opinion of him runs in that vein, swaying back and forth between those who value freedom above all else and those who would rather get their paychecks on time.
"I don't know who I will vote for; not Yeltsin,"
-- Gavrilovna
The trouble with Yeltsin's political campaigning, as is usual in any campaign, is that he will see only a select few. He will listen only to them, and perhaps not hear what a president and a candidate needs to hear.
Friday, the 65-year-old president, who has suffered two mild heart attacks, looked fit and ready to fight the good fight for his re-election as he swept through the industrial city of Chelyabinsk in the Ural mountains.
Ludmilla Gavrilovna had something to say to the president and waited for him in the bitter cold outside a factory where he was scheduled to visit. "They won't let me get close," she said, but she's determined to tell him that her family is hungry. "I don't know who I will vote for; not Yeltsin," Gavrilovna said.
"What are you saying? The others (candidates) are even worse,"
-- Russian man
But a man nearby can't believe his ears. "What are you saying? The others (candidates) are even worse," he said.
But the main opposition, the Communists, are promising to make things better; to guarantee wages and pensions. But those are easy promises, some say, and are the very policies that brought Communism and the country to collapse in the first place.
Still, all agree that economic reforms under Yeltsin are missing a key ingredient: popular support. In an effort to gain that support, his advisers are trying to change the message, and some say he is manipulating the media to do that.
Yeltsin replaced the head of Russian TV Thursday for being too morbid. He said that Oleg Popstov broadcast lies, showed too many dead bodies, and failed to report enough the good news.
But Popstov said that the Russian people will see his removal for what it is: an attempt by Yeltsin to control his image. "No prohibitions, no attempt to submit the press will bring any positive results ... The viewers won't buy that propaganda crap," Popstov said.
Yeltsin's first assignment for new broadcast chief Eduard Sagalayev: A "happy" story on some of the country's "best plants."
The irony of the assignment was not lost on workers nationwide, who are having a hard time getting their paychecks.
At an impromptu question-and-answer session at the huge Soviet-era steel pipe plant in Chelyabinsk, Yeltsin was asked about the bloody 14-month conflict in Chechnya. The Russian president acknowledged that Russia's strong show of force may have been a "mistake" but assured those gathered that the fighting would be over by the June 16 election.
By resorting to what some are calling old-style methods, Yeltsin is alienating his likely supporters: those who may not like economic reforms but appreciate political freedom.
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