Moscow Unmoved

MOSCOW: President Clinton's soothing reassurances are unlikely to inspire Russians to keep faith with capitalist reform. "Clinton's message was that if Russia implements the difficult reforms, everybody wins," says TIME Moscow correspondent Andrew Meier. "That didn't reassure many people. The ruble dropped almost 15 percent during the three hours of Clinton and Yeltsin's Wednesday meeting."

As the summit closed, Russia looked no closer to resolving its political crisis, with the Duma set to repeat its rejection of Viktor Chernomyrdin this Friday. And the IMF is likely next week to withhold the next $4.3 billion installment of its bailout package: "The IMF has presented a laundry list of changes it wants to see before the money is released," says Meier. "But it would be impossible for the Russian government to comply with those conditions in a week -- that's if there was a government." Ten years ago Ronald Reagan inspired Russian students with the promise that capitalism would turn Moscow into a "shining city on the hill." Sifting through the wreckage of that dream, Clinton has found few fragments of optimism.