St. Petersburg, June 14 (RFE/RL) -- President Boris Yeltsin and Liberal presidential candidate Grigory Yavlinsky wrap up their campaigns for Russia's presidency in St. Petersburg yesterday and today.
President Yeltsin, speaking on the site where the communists seized power nearly 80 years ago in St Petersburg, told voters yesterday three days before the elections that, as he put it, "Russia does not need any more revolutions."
St Petersburg was the next to last campaign stop for the president before returning today to his hometown of Yekaterinburg to complete his re-election bid in the same place where he started it four months ago amidst dismal poll ratings and many critics.
Yeltsin's visit to St Petersburg lasted five hours, beginning with his arrival at Pulkovo One Airport and culminating with a Palace Square concert that was attended by an estimated 50,000 people. He laid flowers on the Monument to the Heroes of the Defense of Leningrad, visited the Baltic Shipyard, met privately with new Governor Vladimir Yakovlev, and signed separate agreements with the St. Petersburg and Leningrad Oblasts on the division of power between federal and local authorities.
Liberal presidential candidate Yavlinsky is scheduled to complete his campaign today in St Petersburg, once regarded as his stronghold, with a television appearance and a meeting with Governor Yakovlev. In meeting with Yavlinsky, Yakovlev is breaking with the practice of his predecessor, Anatoly Sobchak, who declined to meet with any candidates other than Yeltsin.