Russia's state Duma is judging President Boris Yeltsin. Of course, there is nothing too strange about this: the commission on impeachment activities are just one of the factors of the contemporary political process in the country. The topics to be discussed look interesting: the agreement to establish the CIS signed by the Russian and Ukrainian Presidents along with the Belarus Supreme Council Speaker is number one. This issue has been tolerated for a long time by the new Communist elite, but their tolerance is now over. The Communists speak about Yeltsin's crimes and use the very fact of his participation at the Belovezh meeting near Minsk as a justification for his dismissal. There is no need to ask who the judges are. Anatoly Lukianov, former speaker of the USSR Supreme Soviet (currently heading the parliamentary committee on legislation) and Viktor Iliukhin, Head of the committee on security issues who has gained a sad glamour after his attempts as a Prosecutor General's office employee to judge Mikhail Gorbachev for the collapse of the USSR, gave their speeches at the session. The first is a politico known from his country's history as a cowardly traitor, a farcical plot participant, and a no-talent dogmatic, while the second is a lawyer known for his incompetence and a desire to adjust the law to his ideology. And they are speakers at the trial against the agreements of Belovezhskaia Pushcha? This seems ridiculous only at the first sight. It is true that everything that has become possible because of the current Russian political elite stance which seems to be ashamed of its participation in the Soviet empire's destruction and tries to explain Yeltsin's trip to Minsk in terms of state interests. Russian politicians and historians turn a blind eye to the fact that few days before Yeltsin, Kravchuk, and Shushkevich met, Ukraine had already said goodbye to the Soviet Union. And the issue is not only that people with Communist and chauvinistic sentiments but about seemingly decent and civilized representatives of the elite. Perhaps, at least Duma court will help them understand how dangerous for their political health is to sail with Lukianovs and Iliukhins in the same boat.






