Boris Yeltsin and Russia

It would seem there is no accounting for what power and greed will do to a politician. The case in point is Boris Yeltsin, who, in his eagerness to take over the Kremlin and consolidate his power, has locked up files and taken stock of the trappings of his new role as president of the Russian Federation (“Yeltsin Men Quickly Take Charge of Kremlin Spoils,” Dec. 20).

In his somewhat cavalier treatment of Gorbachev, the man who really made it possible for Yeltsin to make his move, Yeltsin would do well to remember he too could one day fall from his heady perch as leader of the newly formed Russian Federation.

SHIRLEY PORTER, Sunland