Yeltsin Says He Will Run In June Election

Casting himself as Russia’s only hope for reform, President Boris Yeltsin announced on Thursday that he would seek a second term in the June Presidential election.

His voice croaking with hoarseness after a rash of campaign-style appearances in his home town of Yekaterinburg, Yeltsin told supporters that he had best chance to head off a Communist victory and continue Russia’s political and economic reforms. And he promised a solution within months to the hugely unpopular war in Chechnya.

But even as Yeltsin spoke, the Communists were lampooning Yeltsin as a weak rival and celebrating the nomination of their standard bearer, Gennady Zyuganov, at their party congress in Moscow.