Yeltsin Tells U.S. Visitors of Campaign

MOSCOW — President Boris N. Yeltsin told a U.S. congressional delegation Wednesday that he will travel across Russia to rally support before an April 25 referendum that parliamentary hard-liners have stacked against him.

The delegation, headed by House Majority Leader Richard A. Gephardt (D-Mo.), arrived in Moscow on Tuesday after a two-day visit to Kiev, Ukraine. The 15 lawmakers met with Yeltsin and then with his main political opponent, Parliament Chairman Ruslan I. Khasbulatov.

The delegation’s arrival followed Yeltsin’s weekend summit with President Clinton, who announced a $1.6-billion aid package to assist Russia and neighboring ex-Soviet republics with free-market reforms. The aid was meant to shore up Yeltsin in his power struggle with pro-Communist legislators who nearly ousted him last week.

Yeltsin told the Americans that his first referendum campaign stops will be in the resource-rich Yakutia region of northern Russia and the Kuzbass coal-mining area of Siberia, the Interfax news agency reported.

Voters will be asked four questions in the referendum: whether they have confidence in Yeltsin; whether they support early elections for president and for Parliament, and whether they support Yeltsin’s economic reforms.

The question on reforms, added by the Congress of People’s Deputies, will be almost impossible for Yeltsin to win because it requires approval by 50% of all eligible voters.