Moscow - Russian Communists said yesterday they had rallied enough support in the State Duma (the lower house of parliament) to demand President Yeltsin's impeachment amid growing protests by unpaid coal-miners.
The Communist leader, Mr Gennady Zyuganov, said more than 150 deputies had signed a petition to impeach Mr Yeltsin, the minimum needed to start the lengthy proceedings.
Earlier yesterday Mr Zyuganov presented to the Duma a 12page list of charges against Mr Yeltsin, which included the ruining of the Soviet Union in 1991 and the violent dissolution of Russia's Soviet-style parliament in 1993.
"We call on all parties to support the miners, teachers and doctors who believe the chief culprit is the President of Russia and are demanding his removal from power," he told the Duma as thousands of angry workers severed rail links across the country.