Yeltsin appeals to regions

Skirting around his conservative opponents in parliament, President Boris Yeltsin went to Russia's regional leaders with a plan for a new constitution that would give them more autonomy. In exchange, they would be required to help him to get rid of the obstructive Soviet-era assembly, writes Helen Womack from Moscow.

In his first reaction to his referendum victory last Sunday, Mr Yeltsin also told his government ministers that the vote of confidence in his economic policies had been a 'sensation' and that reforms 'now enjoy the protection of the people. I regard the result of the referendum as a direct mandate from the people and I have no right not to fulfil it'.