CHECHEN rebels yesterday ruined Boris Yeltsin's inauguration, making him look impotent by savaging his army in Grozny even as he made a brief appearance to pronounce the presidential oath to protect human rights and the security of Russia.
All that could be said in favour of the ceremony, held inside the Kremlin rather than on the square outside under the heavy rain clouds, was that it was mercifully short.
This was thanks to Mr Yeltsin's new head of administration, Mr Anatoly Chubais, who saw the propaganda disaster for Russia off the rebels infiltrating Grozny this week.
Mr Chubais had been studying records of the last Tsar's coronation in 1896 to get ideas for Mr Yeltsin's inauguration. The draft text of an election victory ode had been published in the press: "Our proud state, great and glorious, doth rejoice. The whole country is full of strength since the people made their choice." But this week, as the Chechen rebels vented their anger over what they see as Mr Yeltsin's betrayal of his pre election promises, plans for a more modest ceremony were announced. The official reason was that the budget would not bear anything lavish. But there was immediate speculation that the Chechen crisis and Mr Yeltsin's precarious health had affected the decision.
Certainty the 65 year old leader, who had not been seen in public since a week before his reelection on July 3rd, looked old as he walked stiffly along a red carpet to take his place on the flag and flower bedecked stage of the Kremlin Palace. But he pronounced his oath clearly and stood for a further 15 minutes while the Russian Orthodox Patriarch, Alexy II, blessed him.
"Thank God," said one Russian as she watched the proceedings on television. "I was afraid he was going to fall over."
At a reception for 3,000 guests afterwards, Mr Yeltsin was reported to have been lively - at least considering the official "colossal weariness" that he is now suffering from.
"He made a toast and gave a speech which was a little less wooden than the oath," said one Western guest. "Then he had a few glasses of champagne and he actually looked fairly sprightly when he walked out."
Mr Yeltsin's first act after officially resuming his powers was to ask parliament to confirm his Prime Minister, Mr Viktor Chernomyrdin, for a further term. The State Duma will decide the matter today. Although the President's Communist and nationalist opponents have a majority, they do not appear to be in a mood to rock the boat.