Soviet Union Back-Alley Politics in the Kremlin

Charges fly as a fiery prosecutor takes on a powerful opponent

The candidate seeking election goes on television to accuse one of his country's leading politicians of corruption. The injured politician denounces his accuser. The government launches an investigation, and the investigators blast the candidate. The incident would not be out of place in a Western capital. But this, last week, was the Soviet Union, which is finding that one side effect of glasnost is political alley fighting in public.

The accused politician is none other than Yegor Ligachev, 68, the ruling Politburo's leading conservative. His accusers are Telman Gdlyan and Nikolai Ivanov, government prosecutors who specialize in rooting out official corruption...

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