Yeltsin bars press from seeing Rutskoi

Kremlin guards under orders from President Yeltsin stopped his rebel Vice-President, Alexander Rutskoi, from meeting journalists in the Kremlin, Reuter reports from Moscow.

Reporters and camera teams invited to an unprecedented briefing with Mr Rutskoi gathered at the appointed hour at the Kremlin's Spassky Gate. But a lone guard, clearly flustered by the commotion, said he had no clearance and could admit no one.

The clash highlighted a squabble between Mr Yeltsin and the former Afghan war hero who was his running mate in Russia's first elections in June 1991. Mr Rutskoi has moved from attacking Mr Yeltsin's economic reforms into open rebellion.