Just Joking, Not Drowning, Yeltsin Says

Interior Minister Vadim V. Bakatin told the Supreme Soviet on Monday that an investigation has been made into a purported attempt to drown maverick Communist Boris N. Yeltsin, but Yeltsin said on state TV that it was all a joke.

Bakatin told the lawmakers that Yeltsin had reported to a policeman that a car overtook him, and unknown persons made him get into their car, pulled a bag over his head and, on reaching a bridge across the Moscow River, threw him in the water.

“Yeltsin said he managed to reach the bank, rested to regain his breath and then turned to the militia (police). However, he asked the militia people not to let anyone know what had happened,” according to an account by the Tass news agency.

Bakatin said that legal action was started to establish the circumstances behind the statement made by Yeltsin, since it referred to a criminal case involving an attempt on a person’s life. Yeltsin’s account “could not be confirmed,” Bakatin said.

Yeltsin told Bakatin on Sept. 30, two days after the alleged incident, that the policeman misunderstood a joke. On Monday, he had to tell the Supreme Soviet and the entire nation.