COMMUNISTS MAKE BELATED ATTEMPT TO PUT OWN SPIN ON VOTE.

There is general agreement that President Boris Yeltsin has gained the most from the hornets’ nest stirred up by the Duma vote. While the Communists forfeited their moderate image overnight, Yeltsin’s popularity surged as he was suddenly perceived as the only politician strong enough to beat off a Communist challenge. The Communists and their agrarian and nationalist allies tried belatedly to reinterpret developments, issuing a statement March 20 in which they accused the Yeltsin camp of exaggerating the importance of the Duma vote "in order to create a political crisis and destroy the presidential elections." They also complained about the "emotional" reaction of leaders of countries on Russia’s borders. (Interfax, March 20) The damage done to the Communist image may not last for ever, but it is nonetheless clear that the Duma vote has provoked a profound reshuffling of Russia’s political landscape.

Yavlinsky Caught in the Cross-Fire.