Edition: U.S. / Global

SHOWDOWN IN MOSCOW: Tactics; Yeltsin Attack Strategy: Bursts Followed by Lulls

Published: October 5, 1993

The assault on the Russian Parliament building today was a textbook example of the decisive application of military power. But for all the firepower -- and the fires burning inside tonight showed that there was plenty -- the attack was punctuated by long lulls as the Russian military waited to see if the rebels would yield.

Strobe Talbott, the American Ambassador at Large to the former Soviet republics, said President Boris N. Yeltsin's aides had indicated that they considered two basic tactics: an all-out attack or a gradual operation that would give the anti-Yeltsin forces an opportunity to surrender.

And as the daylong assault went on, it was clear that Mr. Yeltsin's commanders had decided on gradualism.

The first sign that an assault was imminent came shortly before 7 A.M., or midnight Eastern time, when five armored personnel carriers rolled down the Garden Ring Road, a major thoroughfare in Moscow, and asked for directions. The Russian troops were looking for Bolshoi Devyatinsky lane, which abuts the United States Embassy compound and leads to the eastern corner of the Parliament building, the towering redoubt on the Moscow River where the defiant lawmakers had maintained their headquarters. Encircling the Building

The building was soon surrounded by Russian tanks and armored personnel carriers. In addition to their positions on Bolshoi Devyatinsky, the armored columns maneuvered to the west, north and east. Tanks also deployed to the south, on the other side of the Moscow River and on the Novoarbat bridge, giving them a clear line of fire at the front of the building.

The Russian units ordered into Moscow were elite forces known for their loyalty to Mr. Yeltsin. They included soldiers from the Taman Division and the Kantemirovsky Division, as well as airborne forces from Tula, a base 120 miles south of Moscow.

"I can't figure it all out," a young private from the Kantemirovsky Division said as he leaned against his tank.

But the confrontation between President Yeltsin and Aleksandr V. Rutskoi, a leader of the rebellion who has been named acting president by the Parliament, did not weigh heavy on his mind.

"Grachev said that our orders come from him and Yeltsin," the soldier said, referring to Gen. Pavel S. Grachev, the Defense Minister and a former paratroop officer who threw his support behind Mr. Yeltsin during the abortive hard-line coup attempt in 1991 and has since remained loyal to him. Closing In on Dissidents

Virtually from the moment the military launched its attack, it established a tightening stranglehold on the Communists, nationalists, independents and Cossaks defending the Parliament building and the nearby building that houses the Mayor's office.

As the tanks and armored personnel carriers began pummeling the buildings about 8:30 A.M, three helicopters were monitoring anti-Yeltsin rebels on the roof and on upper floors of the building. Meanwhile, paratroopers rushed toward it, fighting their way though the first several floors.

With the outcome of the battle never in doubt, the clear preference of the military was to scare the anti-Yeltsin demonstrators into surrendering and to limit casualties. But the military was also determined to use as much force as needed to subdue the rebels.

The military clearly planned to win decisively and did not want a prolonged siege. The only question was the number of lives that would be lost. And that was largely left up to the rebels as they were alternately bombarded with shells and appeals to surrender. A Warning Is Ignored

Soon after the fighting broke out, General Grachev arrived at the barricades in an armored Zil limousine to meet with a handful of anti-Yeltsin demonstrators outside the White House, as the Russian Parliament building is called. The general warned the anti-Yeltsin rebels to surrender, but they continued to fight on.

Shortly after noon, the military renewed its appeals to the anti-Yeltsin forces, calling out on loudspeakers: "People in the White House. Give yourself up while you still have a chance." The rebels answered with a fusillade of small-arms fire.

As snipers took up positions on the roof, one gunman on a high floor was able to pin down a column of Russian armored personnel carriers for hours. The military continued to pound the Parliament building, shelling it from from several angles, blasting gaping holes into the upper floors, setting offices aflame and shredding volumes of the government documents into confetti. Uncertain Casualties Figures

As the tanks circled the building to establish position, the wounded and the dead were brought out.

By the mid-afternoon, much of the marble facade of the Parliament building was singed by the billowing smoke. Crowds of onlookers gathered, along with tanks crews on the south bank of the Moscow River, to watch the fire.

Although reliable figures about the number casualties were not available, an aide to Mr. Yeltsin, Lieut. Gen. Dmitri A. Volkogonov said 500 people might have been killed inside the building. But he later described the figure as "clearly exaggerated" by opponents of the Russian President.

About 5 P.M., long, dispirited columns of Rutskoi supporters began emerging from the Parliament building and were marched to buses, hands on their heads, as Russian officers shouted epithets at them.

While sniper fire and gun battles continued into the night, the military battle was over.