Boris, Meet Bill

EVEN FOR A COUNTRY IN PERPETUAL CRISIS, EVENTS in Russia last week seemed more foreboding than usual. While President Boris Yeltsin was on an impromptu vacation, he continued to trade accusations — but made no progress in resolving differences over how to share power — with archrival Ruslan Khasbulatov, the capricious chairman of Russia’s parliament. In remarks echoed by his Defense Minister, Pavel Grachev, Yeltsin used an interview on the eve of the biggest Soviet-era military holiday to rebuke hard-liners, including dissident officers, for trying “to play the army card” in a bid to derail Russian democracy. The next day 20,000 procommunist and ultranationalist demonstrators rallied next to the Kremlin to demand Yeltsin’s resignation. A penchant for disappearing during major power struggles again raised public doubts about Yeltsin’s health and political acumen. But the beleaguered President could take comfort in the week’s only bright spot: an announcement that he and U.S. President Bill Clinton will hold their first summit on April 4. The meeting should provide some much needed luster to the besieged President’s image.