The candidate backed by Mikhail Gorbachev for President of the Russian Republic , Russian Aleksandr ##ov , withdrew from the race today , strengthening the campaign of Boris Yeltsin , the populist who has repeatedly clashed with Gorbachev . Two other men remained in the race but the race appeared to be between Yeltsin and Vlasov . Earlier , Yeltsin delivered a speech pledging to defend the republic from meddling by the national Soviet government but not from clashing with it . Yeltsin, formerly Gorbachev's protege, has become an opponent in the last two years, blaming the Soviet president for ``halfway reforms.'' Gorbachev holds the posts of President of the USSR and General Secretary of the Russian Communist Party , the two most powerful jobs in the Soviet Union .
The candidate backed by Mikhail Gorbachev for President of the Russian Republic , Russian Aleksandr ##ov , withdrew from the race today , strengthening the campaign of Boris Yeltsin , the populist who has repeatedly clashed with Gorbachev . Two other men remained in the race but the race appeared to be between Yeltsin and Vlasov . Earlier , Yeltsin delivered a speech pledging to defend the republic from meddling by the national Soviet government but not from clashing with it . Gorbachev holds the posts of President of the USSR and General Secretary of the Russian Communist Party , the two most powerful jobs in the Soviet Union .