Parliament Votes To Remove Yeltsin

In a confrontational display of its rage at President Boris Yeltsin’s continued absence from the Kremlin, the Parliament voted overwhelmingly Wednesday evening to support a resolution to remove Yeltsin from his post because of his poor health.

The 229-63 vote in the Communist-dominated lower house has no legal force, and it was instantly swamped in a confusing sea of parliamentary maneuvers that will require a second vote on the resolution before it is adopted.

But after seven troubling months in which the president has been far too sick to work, the measure reflects the growing sense that an economically depressed Russia has a leader who may never again be fully capable of carrying out the strenuous duties of his job.

While opposition figures have often called on Yeltsin to be removed, this was the first time the issue had been put to a vote.