The chairman of the Duma' commission on impeaching President Boris Yeltsin
told journalists that the commission had no intention of terminating its
work. It just works in another rhythm.When the deputies were afraid of
losing their seats they demanded the commission work as fast as possible,
hoping that it would be the decision on impeachment that was supposed to
rescue the Duma.
The list of accusations imputed by the deputies to Yeltsin makes you
feel like you are dealing with a revolt in a madhouse - one can find here
the destruction of the Soviet Union, a coup d'Оtat organized by Yeltsin
in 1993, even genocide against own people... But it is, so to say, the
Communist view of the history which does not differ a lot from that of
Stalinist times. Another voice - that of General Andrei Nikolaev heading
the Union of sovereignty of the people and labor made me look more carefully
at Yeltsin's impeachment issue. Nikolaev called the Russian leader, for
the sake of saving the homeland, to give up his presidency and announce
a new presidential election not later than for September 1999.
Former frontier-guard Nikolaev speaks by voice of Moscow's mayor Yury
Luzhkov. It was this educated General whom Luzhkov had selected for public
presentation, as it were. And when Nikolaev speaks about Yeltsin's dismissal
it is not just words. When Luzhkov, who earlier was afraid even to hint
at his own presidential ambitions, now is speaking loudly about them in
the background of Nikolaev's appeals, it can mean that the elite does not
take Yeltsin and his nearest retinue into account any longer. It wants
only one thing from the President: to step down and enable it to share
power. As soon as possible!
Well, Yeltsin himself is guilty of such a situation. He has lost the
initiative and is no longer himself. Yeltsin's last move - appointing Kirienko
Premier in an attempt to save the economy - was nullified a few months
later by the very logic of crisis development, Chernomyrdin's clumsy return,
and pushing Yeltsin aside from state affairs. It is not the question whether
Yeltsin steps down or finishes his tenure because it seems that he will
not be himself anymore. The question is: what will be after Yeltsin?






