About Boris: I don't think that he is really leading Russia. He has been able to do this only in a few moments, sometimes with the less worst possible results and sometimes with bad ones, since he is neither a hero nor a true democratic. Not for case, his political school was just the same 'attended' by Breznev, Andropov, Chernenko, Gorbachov and other fellows.

Nevertheless, when he followed the advice of democratically oriented personalities - from Sacharov to Kovaliov - he managed to avoid bigger disasters for his country and for its neighbours (let's remember, for instance, his immediate statement for the peaceful recognition of the independence of the Baltic States in 1991); when he follows the examples of Gorbachov appointing a potential putsch-leader as his vice-president (the case of Rutskoy) or when he allows the Defence minister and his own Security Council to destroy Chechnya, he makes a terrible mistake and shows that he has not the controll of the situation. Now, Boris Eltsin is not able anymore to play the role of President of the Russian Federation.

In this situation, a big matter of concern is the fact that nobody else - as for the moment - looks ready for that. The possible candidates are mostly either hard-liners - such as Zhirinovsky and general Lebed - or extremely weak. The coming elections for the Parliament, that will take place in December, will probably show a little bit more about.