By Sergei Zavgorodny

KIEV, Ukraine, October 4, 1993 (FR) – As I see it, the conflict is over. Khasbutalov, the leading military men and the chief of the Supreme Council have surrendered to Yeltsin. The so-called “White House” is under Yeltsin’s control and the conflict is over. Most of the people now support Yeltsin. Russian television has shown that the people are in high spirits. Yeltsin is being supported by the masses. However, when the elections are held it is probable that neither Yeltsin nor the communists will be supported, but a third power will arise.

Thousands of people turned out to support Yeltsin during the uprising. Russian television showed the people who came together to stand for Yeltsin even though they were not armed. “We’ll stand without weapons,” they said. People crowded around campfires throughout the city of Moscow and held a vigil for Yeltsin, they didn’t sleep. Some people wondered why he couldn’t foretell that this was coming. “Why didn’t his secret intelligence know about this before it happened? Why was he caught unaware?”

There are many changes happening now in Russia and Ukraine. A new law has been introduced in Russia which would restrict the activities of American missionaries. Boris Yeltsin never signed this bill into law. In Yeltsin’s proposed Russian constitution, there is a religious liberties clause that would prohibit such law as unconstitutional. However, Ukraine is a separate nation. If a similar law passes in here, then many young churches would be under pressure.

Editor’s note: Sergei Zavgorodny (staff writer for Predvestnik) is writing an article which will deal with the implications of these great changes for Christians and some newly established churches in the former USSR. Sergei’s article will be translated into English and published in a coming issue of The Forerunner.