Who's in Charge?

As his troops stormed into the capital of Chechnya, Boris Yeltsin seemed increasingly dependent on a small circle of hard-line cronies

To the unreformed communists and neofascists in Russia, President Boris + Yeltsin is a "drunken swine" who should be tested for dipsomania. That sneering dismissal is too crude for the more mainstream politicians. They argue instead that he is isolated in the Kremlin, is badly misinformed and is falling under the sway of a "war party" of military and security officials. Other critics go further, speculating that Yeltsin is scheming to declare a state of emergency, cancel the 1996 presidential elections and rule by decree.

All this talk -- and it was very loud in the Russian capital last week --...

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