Agitation in favor of such a legal right apparently could not await the promulgation of new constitution under consideration. The official Tuva information agency denies reports circulated by the official Russian information agency that the leadership of the Tuva republic supports secession. The parliament of Tuva ratifies a new constitution for the republic which states that the republic is a sovereign entity within Russia but that also guarantees the right to secession. In a move undertaken by many of Russia's autonomous regions, the parliament of Tuva protests against the deployment of Tuvinian units in the breakaway region of Chechnya. The sole ethnic Russian in charge of an administrative district in Tuva is murdered by unknown assailants.
Authorities quickly deny that ethnicity played a role in the killing.
This move reflects the republic's desire to increase international contacts commensurate with building its sovereignty. The Republic of Tuva marks its major annual holiday - the republic day. On Oct. 17 the Udmurt press carried an appeal from the heads of 15 Republics to the President of Russia asking him to withdraw his request that the Constitutional Court rule on Udmurtia. The basic thrust of the appeal is that the members of the Russian Federation have the right to decide for themselves the form in which local self-government is to exist on their territory. The Congress of Tuva people amended 20 articles in the Tuva constitution in order to remove differences between the local fundamental law and the federal constitution.