MOSCOW -- The rivalry between Mikhail Gorbachev and Boris Yeltsin was
a struggle between two of Russia's political titans. And for a long time
it seemed that Mr. Yeltsin had won the feud.
But as the two men reached the age of 70 in the past few weeks, it was
the former Soviet reformer who finally reaped a measure of revenge on the
man who spearheaded the destruction of the Soviet Union. Both men have
exceeded the average life expectancy for Russian males by about a decade.
While the ailing Mr. Yeltsin spent his 70th birthday almost unnoticed
in a hospital bed last month, Mr. Gorbachev was feted on his own 70th birthday
yesterday with an outpouring of tributes from Western leaders, Russia media,
and even from some of the ordinary Russians who had long resented his reforms.
Banners and billboards in Moscow's streets wished him a happy birthday.
Russian newspapers and Internet sites were buzzing with debate about
his legacy.
Russian pop stars held a gala concert in his honour this week, and hundreds
of his friends gathered at a luxury hotel in Moscow last night for a banquet
to celebrate his life and work.
New opinion polls show that the longstanding Russian hostility toward
Mr. Gorbachev is beginning to soften a little, thanks perhaps to the passage
of time since his unpopular reforms and the collapse of the Soviet Union,
and perhaps also to widespread sympathy for his painful ordeal when his
wife, Raisa, died of leukemia in 1999.
One poll this week found that 16 per cent of Russians now approve of
him, a rise of seven points in six years, and 31 per cent disapprove of
him, with 49 per cent neutral.
Mr. Gorbachev has remained healthy and vigorous in recent years, travelling
around the world to give speeches and promote the projects of his Gorbachev
Foundation.
Mr. Yeltsin, meanwhile, remained secluded in an elite Moscow hospital
yesterday, apparently still recovering from his latest illness after more
than a month of treatment. He entered the hospital on Jan. 30 with what
was officially described as the flu. But his doctor disclosed yesterday
that his illness had been complicated by pneumonia, requiring treatment
with antibiotics.
Earlier this week, Mr. Yeltsin's protocol chief said the former Russian
president was leading an "active lifestyle" of reading newspapers, watching
television, and receiving hospital visits from his family.
His aides were forced to issue an angry denial of rumours that Mr. Yeltsin
had fallen into a coma and was surviving on a life-support system. The
rumours were reported on a Russian Internet site.
The bitter rivalry between Mr. Yeltsin and Mr. Gorbachev played a crucial
role in determining the fate of the Soviet Union. The clash began in 1987,
when Mr. Yeltsin was agitating for faster reforms in the Communist system.
Losing patience with his underling, Mr. Gorbachev dumped him from the Politburo
and handed him a humiliating demotion.
Four years later, Mr. Yeltsin struck back. After a failed coup by Communist
hard-liners, he forced Mr. Gorbachev to surrender the Soviet presidency,
and dismantled the Soviet Union.