President Boris Yeltsin's inauguration for a new term as Russian head of state in the Kremlin yesterday, his first public appearance since June 26th, posed as many questions as it answered. His short address given in a stilted and unconvincing manner, his physical appearance was less than vigorous and at a time when his country has reached crisis point yet again he is to take a holiday of unknown duration.
As Mr Yeltsin placed his and on a copy of the Russian constitution and swore allegiance, sources in the military were admitting that the situation in the Chechen capital, Grozny, was out of control. Rebels were also reported to have taken over the region's second and third cities. The man who formally accepted power in the Kremlin bore little resemblance to the lively figure who had promised a negotiated settlement to the conflict in Chechnya in the course of his election campaign. Within days of his election victory the war had started again within a month the supposedly demoralised rebels had staged a comeback both in terms of propaganda and military success.
Russia's economy is showing signs of crisis once more as the decision of the International Monetary Fund to postpone a monthly payment of loan funds indicates. The fight against crime in Moscow is degenerating into harassment of non Russians allegations of large scale corruption by Mr Yeltsin's associates continue.
Not surprisingly Russians are frustrated. This feeling of hopelessness has been expressed vividly by the liberal Moscow newspaper, Nezavisimaya Gazeta, which hitherto gave unstinted support to Mr Yeltsin. "President of Russia!", the newspaper wrote in yesterday's editions, "A month has passed with no word from you, the president, from the prime minister, from the foreign minister or from the head of our security council. Chechens know what to say to the nation, Communists know what to say, but you do not know what to say. You have nothing to say.
This venting of emotion, while understandable, stresses Russia's weakness rather than its strengths. In the five years since the dissolution of the Soviet Union the Russian people, after brief flirtations, have rejected the blandishments of the extreme right in the form of Mr Vladimir Zhirinovsky and of the communist chauvinist coalition led by Mr Gennady Zyuganov. In doing so they have quickly acquired political maturity.
Such an electorate deserves better from its leadership. It deserves, most importantly, the fulfilment of the most important and, financially, least expensive of Mr Yeltsin's promises a negotiated end to the Chechen war. While workers remain unpaid for months on end, finances are diverted to the bleak battlefields of Chechnya where the sons of those workers are dying. Indications last night that a fresh truce is being discussed are at least a hopeful sign. Chechnya's political status is, by international law, as an integral part of the Russian Federation, an internal problem for the Kremlin. Indiscriminate and widespread loss of human life is, however, no internal matter, but a legitimate concern of the international community. In the past, western pressure for a solution was tempered by the fear of harming Mr Yeltsin's electoral prospects. No such obstacles now remain.