Yeltsin calls for consensus following a stunning win by Rutskoy

JUST as President Yeltsin unceremoniously got rid of his former ally turned enemy, Gen Alexander Lebed, another general has popped up like a jack in the box to cause further problems for a beleaguered Kremlin, which is showing signs of a deal with the Communist opposition.

The results from the elections for the Governorship of the Kursk region were more of a shock than a surprise. Gen Alexander Rutskoy, Mr Yeltsin's former vice president turned deadliest of enemies, was expected to have a good chance of victory in an underprivileged agricultural region close to the Ukrainian border.

But with a vote of almost 80 per cent, Gen Rutskoy's success was little short of stunning and his victory has posed major problems for the Yeltsin administration.

Victory in a governorship election, a series of which are being held this autumn, also means a seat in the Federation Council, the upper house of the Russian parliament, which up to now has consisted almost entirely of politicians appointed by Mr Yeltsin rather than those elected by the people.

In the days when Mr Yeltsin favoured decentralisation of government he called on regional governors to take whatever power they could from Moscow and that is precisely what Gen Rutskoy and other newly elected governors are likely to do.

Not only that, the new batch of freshmen in the Federation Council is likely to radically alter the constitutional balance of power.

Before the current series of elections, the administration's main opposition came only from the lower house, the State Duma, which has been controlled by, the Communists and their allies since December, 1995.

The upper house, composed of regional governors appointed by Mr Yeltsin, presented few problems. Until yesterday, about half the Yeltsin appointed governors had held their posts and their Federation Council seats in the staggered local elections.

The extent of Rutskoy's victory, however, following weeks in which corruption in the Kremlin has been the main news story, points to a possible anti Yeltsin majority in the upper house.

Gen Rutskoy was Mr Yeltsin's running mate in the Russian, presidential elections of 1991 but the two men quickly took different political paths.

Differing from Mr Yeltsin on economic policy as early as the beginning of 1992, Gen Rutskoy who had stood by his president during the coup of August 1991, found himself isolated. His state car was taken away and journalists who tried to attend his press conferences were turned away at the Saviour's Gate at the Kremlin.

The process of alienation continued, and in October 1993, Gen Rutskoy and Mr Yeltsin's appointee as speaker of the Russian parliament, Mr Ruslan Khasbulatov, were the leaders of parliamentary - resistance to the Yeltsin administration which ended only when tanks were sent in to shell the parliament building.

Both men spent terms in prison following the "October Events" as they are known in Russia.

While the Kursk result was being announced, Mr Yeltsin called for a consensus among himself, the Prime Minister, Mr Viktor Chernomyrdin, the Kremlin chief of staff, Mr Anatoly Chubais, and the speakers of both houses of parliament, the Communist Duma leader, Mr Gennady Seleznov, and the leader of the Federation Council, Mr Yegor Stroyev, who has strong Communist affiliations.

Following a meeting with the president yesterday, Mr Seleznyov said Mr Yeltsin was in fine fettle and ready for his forthcoming heart operation.

. The Lithuanian independence leader, Mr Vytautas Landsbergis, made a victorious comeback over his former Communist foes yesterday as results of a parliamentary election put his party on top. His Homeland Union led the Lithuanian Democratic Labour Party (LDLP) with about a third of the votes counted.