Profile : Yeltsin Aide Joins the ‘Boys’ Club’ : Starovoitova, the lone female voice among Russia’s political power brokers, commands respect with her candor and quick wit.

As Galina V. Starovoitova, one of President Boris N. Yeltsin’s top advisers, approached the rostrum to address the 90% male Russian Parliament, hecklers yelled out “Generalissimo!” and raised a ruckus in the hall to try to prevent her from speaking.

The emotion-charged battle between Russia and Ukraine for the rich Crimean Peninsula was the topic this day, and conservative deputies did not want to listen to Starovoitova.

But listen they did, because as Yeltsin’s straight-talking adviser on ethnic questions--and a host of other subjects--she expresses views that often become the president’s policies.

The only woman to ascend to the top realm of Russia’s male-dominated politics, Starovoitova, 46, often beats her male colleagues at their game--and is not too shy to say so. She has made many enemies on her way up. But these days even her foes respect her.

“Yeltsin chose me as an adviser because he knew I have a great support in the country,” Starovoitova said. “Last month, my rating was No. 5--Yeltsin was first and I was fifth--and I was the first woman.

“Maybe it’s not modest to mention this,” she added without a hint of a blush. “But everyone knows I’m one of the most popular politicians in the country.”

Starovoitova (pronounced Star-uh-VOY-tuh-vuh) was an unknown ethnographer 1988, when she wrote a compassionate letter denouncing pogroms against Armenians in Azerbaijan. That made her so popular among Armenians that she was elected the next year to represent the then-Soviet republic in the Soviet Parliament--even though she is an ethnic Russian from St. Petersburg. Her fame quickly spread nationwide.

She says that Andrei D. Sakharov, the late Nobel Prize laureate and dissident physicist who was also a member of that Congress of People’s Deputies, became “my teacher in politics.” And, even though he died before Starovoitova won a seat in the Russian Parliament and became a powerful member of Yeltsin’s team, Sakharov still influences her thinking.

“In difficult moments, I try to ask myself this question: ‘How would Academician Sakharov act at this time? What decision would he make? What would he say?’ ” Starovoitova said.

“Several of Sakharov’s ideas are timely right now,” she said. “For instance, he supported a flexible membership in the union--this is pertinent now for the Commonwealth of Independent States and for the Russian Federation.”

Starovoitova has developed into a professional, Western-style politician who loves the strategies and tactics of the game. “It is even more interesting than playing chess,” she said. “I can influence the course of events and not simply move figures on the board.”

Her willingness to admit that she likes to wield power is rare in this country, where to call a politician “ambitious” is still an insult.

Many of the fledgling democrats who were her allies in the now-defunct Soviet Parliament have resumed their studies, returned to their workplaces or found positions abroad. But not she.

“When you’re a scholar, you observe events and write about them--somebody may even read the stuff--but you cannot influence events,” Starovoitova said. “When you have access to decision-making, you can influence the decisions and shape history. Once you experience this, it is very difficult to give it up voluntarily. It’s like a drug.”

To date, she said, Yeltsin has followed her advice on staff decisions--the choice, for example, of Russian ambassador to the United States Vladimir Lukin, on relations with other former Soviet republics, on the formation of a Russian army and on strategies for solving violent ethnic conflicts within the multinational Russian republic.

“I have decided for myself that, as long as he accepts more than 50% of my advice, I will remain in this office, as there are a lot of people who would like to influence him. If the percentage is lower, I would be irrational to stay here. But, so far, he has taken more than 70% of my advice,” she said.

Not everyone in Yeltsin’s camp appreciates having to share presidential counsel with this quick-witted, energetic and at times headstrong woman.

“In general, Russian men are jealous,” Starovoitova theorized. “They are very jealous when a woman wins a role on their team and plays such a strong role. There are many men battling to influence the president, and they are especially angered when a woman beats them out.”

Starovoitova’s frankness is also not always appreciated. While most members of Yeltsin’s team deny that the Russian army has broken its neutrality in the strife-filled southwestern republic of Moldova, Starovoitova tells journalists that Russian soldiers are fighting Moldovans. And although most Russian officials avoid offending new allies like Turkey, Starovoitova accuses Ankara of backing Azerbaijan in the war with Armenia over Nagorno-Karabakh.

Even her longtime political allies, like playwright and former Soviet legislator Alexander Gelman, say she tends toward extremism. “I thought she was too one-sided about the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict,” Gelman said.

“Her commitment to sovereignty (for all the nationalities) has brought us nothing but tragedy,” added Lyubov I. Kovshevich, 68, a retired hydrologist appalled at the violence unleashed with the breakup of the Soviet Union. “The war has all but reached St. Petersburg. I’m worried for my children and grandchildren.”

Yeltsin offered Starovoitova several ministerial posts, but she chose, instead, to be an adviser because she did not want to give up her parliamentary seat and betray the confidence of her electorate in St. Petersburg. “Besides, as an adviser, I’m more independent,” she said.

Starovoitova dismisses rumors that she is angling for a post abroad.

Over the last year, however, she has learned English well enough that she now gives speeches at American universities and international forums gives interviews in the language. Also, she has already taken a half dozen trips abroad this year--a fact that dismays many of her constituents and gives her enemies fuel for their frequent attacks.

“She has no time to solve inter-ethnic problems of Russia because she’s always abroad exchanging experiences,” said Tamara S. Ratsyek, 58, a retired economist in St. Petersburg.

A well-known anchor on the popular, ultranationalist television show “600 Seconds” accused Starovoitova of misappropriating funds to support her son and husband in London. The next day, a legislator called for an investigation into alleged improprieties. The accusations, while dismissed by liberals in the Parliament, put questions in the minds of Russian voters who are fed up with politicians who have cushy lives.

But Starovoitova scoffed at the accusations, noting that her 3,000-ruble-a-month salary ($30, or 1 1/2 times the average Russian salary) barely supports her. “I do not support my son,” she said.

Starovoitova was divorced a couple years ago from her husband of many years, and he now lives in London with his new wife.

Her old friends and colleagues emphasize that the secret to Starovoitova’s appeal has never been traditional feminine wiles.

“Galina has no special feminine qualities, and never has had,” said Viktor M. Voronkov, a sociologist who has been a close colleague and friend for 20 years. “But that’s not why we loved her then nor why we love her now.”

It’s her keen mind and unwavering commitment to principles, he added, that make her such an appealing individual and have won her the complimentary title of Russia’s “Iron Lady.”

This is still a country where politics is seen mostly as a man’s game--”It is almost impossible to imagine a Soviet woman president,” Starovoitova wrote in an editorial in Moscow News.

But many liberals--politicians and average citizens alike--take heart that someone like Starovoitova is hammering away at the sex barrier.

“I voted for Starovoitova,” commented Olga N. Yakshina, 32, an economist walking in Starovoitova’s St. Petersburg district with her toddler. “I like her competence, straightforwardness and adherence to principles. I like the fact that female politicians have appeared.”

Starovoitova does admit that she may have had to give up more than her male colleagues. Her years on the front lines of politics have cost her her marriage, many friendships and almost all her free time.

“To be seriously involved in politics, especially in such transitional revolutionary conditions, is always a big sacrifice,” she said.

Special correspondent Natalya Shulyakovskaya contributed to this story from St. Petersburg.

Biography

Name: Galina V. Starovoitova

Titles: Adviser to Russian president. Member of Parliament.

Age: 46

Personal: Known as Russia’s “Iron Lady.” Western-style, professional politician who loves strategies and tactics. Frank, quick-witted, energetic and at times headstrong. Divorced. Famous for her sweet tooth.

Quote: “Maybe it’s not modest to mention this. But everyone knows I’m one of the most popular politicians in the country.”