Yeltsin Deputy Calls Reforms 'Economic Genocide'

Vice President Aleksandr V. Rutskoi of Russia, bolstering his image as a superpatriot and a vigorous opponent of economic reforms, appeared today before a congress of about 3,000 nationalists and warned that the Russian people were headed for "economic genocide" under the course chosen by the Government and its Western advisers.

In a speech laden with references to Russia's glorious past and what he views as its current incompetence, Mr. Rutskoi positioned himself to take advantage of despair over soaring prices and the hurt pride that many feel over Russia's loss of status.

Mr. Rutskoi, an air force general, was elected last spring as President Boris N. Yeltsin's running mate.

Russia today, the Vice President asserted, is the "mirror image" of the Russia of 1917, when the Bolsheviks seized power. He accused Deputy Prime Minister Yegor T. Gaidar and his team of economic advisers of pursing a Bolshevik strategy of "revolution at any price."

With prices up by an average of 350 percent since Jan. 2, and standards of living falling along with production, Mr. Yeltsin's Government is under attack from both the right and the left. Several hundred people gathered in Manezh Square here today to protest high prices, and bigger protests by former Communists and union members are expected on Sunday along with counter-demonstrations by Government supporters.

Mr. Rutskoi's speech, before the Congress of Civic and Patriotic Forces, coincided with the appearance today of a two-page article in the former Communist Party newspaper Pravda in which he assailed the Government, mocking ministers by name and accusing them of ignoring the pain caused by the economic changes. No Specific Alternative

The Vice President has called for the declaration of an "economic state of emergency" and the creation of a separate Russian currency. Though he offered a detailed critique of economic programs, he offered no substantive alternative.

With his appearance today at the movie theater Rossiya before an array of right-wing nationalist forces, including Cossacks in full dress and young men in czarist uniforms, Mr. Rutskoi, a decorated pilot whose plane was shot down twice by Afghan rebels, cast his fate with what some here call a "patriotic movement."

The morning session got off to a bad start when members of Pamyat, a nationalist group with overtones of anti-Semitism, tried to force their way uninvited into the theater. In an incongruous touch, posters for the film "The Godfather" were piled against the stairs to make room for stacks of Russian nationalist literature.

Mr. Rutskoi's own party, an offshoot of the old Communist Party, was not represented at the congress, and some said that many of its members were unhappy with the Vice President's choice of a forum. Applause but Little Fervor

He was applauded today by the people who filled the giant theater, but not with great enthusiasm. Some said they had come because of disappointment and anger at the "democrats," as the new governments of Russia and the city of Moscow are called.

"It is all the same group," said Marina Bezpalova, a 35-year-old researcher. "They just threw away their old Communist Party cards, which at least had prevented them from stealing outright. Now, there is no one to reprimand them, so they steal freely."

Others came to the congress out of curiosity, and said they were alarmed at what they saw. "I think the Vice President has lost his authority by appearing here," said Svetlana R. Kosmina, a research physician. "This smells of National Socialism."

Mr. Rutskoi's two-page broadside -- published a week after other articles by him appeared in Pravda and the old Soviet Government newspaper Izvestia -- touched on several themes. He made an appeal for preservation of the dignity and unity of the army, and he attacked Russia's infatuation with the West and its products, from McDonald's to Western economists who peddle the "worst kind of utopianism."

Several speakers at the congress railed against Russia's humiliation as a former superpower and as a nation under attack from its neighbors, particularly Ukraine. Mr. Rutskoi described Ukraine's claim to part of the Black Sea fleet as an "affront," and vowed to take up the defense of Russians living in other republics.

The sense that Russia has become a beggar nation was brought home in recent weeks, particularly after President Yeltsin's trip to Britain, the United States and France. Mr. Yeltsin urged audiences to aid Russia or face the threat of a dictatorship made up of "Reds" -- former Communists -- and "browns" -- neo-fascists.

At the theater today, outrage was focused on Western "macro-economists" who critics said have ignored Russian realities, on Russians in government and on people described as "speculators," or "biznesmeni."

Mr. Rutskoi had his first falling-out with Mr. Yeltsin after calling for a tough policy against nationalists in Chechen-Ingushetia, a Muslim enclave in the volatile Caucasus region of southern Russia. After a storm of criticism, Mr. Yeltsin repealed a state of emergency that he had imposed in the region on Mr. Rutskoi's recommendation.

The Vice President was stripped of his chairmanship of five major committees after he made a series of biting attacks against the Government's plans for economic change in December. He has since complained that he has not been able to meet privately with President Yeltsin.

Mr. Rutskoi is believed to enjoy the support of army officers and of managers of military industries, which have been hit hard by budget cuts.

Yet so far, in the growing chorus of attacks against the Government's policy of economic "shock therapy," Mr. Rutskoi and other critics have avoided blaming Mr. Yeltsin.

Although Mr. Yeltsin is head of state, he is generally being spared in the people's anger at high prices. It is a sign of his continuing personal popularity that Mr. Rutskoi and Ruslan Khasbulatov, chairman of the Russian Parliament and another persistent critic of Government policy, have emphasized that they still support the President and that they share his goals.