THE President of Belarus, Mr Alexander Lukashenko, abruptly backtracked yesterday on an accord to defuse his power struggle with parliament, telling deputies that he still wanted a controversial referendum to be binding.
Mr Lukashenko's demand came as the Russian President, Mr Boris Yeltsin, claimed that Moscow's successful mediation in the dispute was "a great victory" and that a compromise deal on the referendum reached early yesterday had prevented a possible bloodbath.
"Let me carry out the referendum and announce its result as binding," Mr Lukashenko told parliament, which had met to vote on the compromise deal he signed with the speaker of the parliament, Mr Semyon Sharetsky.
Earlier, in the compromise document, Mr Lukashenko agreed not to make binding the referendum issues (an increase in his powers and extension of his mandate by two years). The referendum would still go ahead on Sunday but would only be consultative.
In return, parliament deputies agreed to drop their impeachment procedure against Mr Lukashenko. The Belarus constitutional court had been set to consider the impeachment plea yesterday.
Mr Lukashenko, a former communist apparatchik, has become increasingly autocratic since being elected in July 1994 in the republic of 10 million people, sandwiched between Poland and Russia.
"I'm not afraid of any impeachment, because there won't be any impeachment of the president. However much you deputies appeal, the majority of the people will vote for [constitutional changes]," he told deputies.
Mr Lukashenko addressed deputies twice to press them to ratify the compromise accord aimed at resolving the power struggle which has paralysed political life in Belarus. But the atmosphere was highly charged, with Mr Lukashenko facing hostility from deputies who were reluctant to drop their bid to impeach him.
Meanwhile, Mr Yeltsin said on Russian television that he could not stand by during Belarus's constitutional crisis, which he described as "very, very serious".
"As President of Russia, I cannot allow it," Mr Yeltsin said in Barvikha, a sanatorium near Moscow, where he continues his convalescence following his heart by pass operation.
"As a friendly country and community member, we cannot allow that Belarus society is divided and takes this direction," Mr Yeltsin said.