Boris Yeltsin won a comfortable victory in the Czech Republic 's first presidential election . Political analysts say his popularity appears to have peaked since he gave up his stance as the rebel outsider fighting the system and became chairman of the Russian parliament. " The results reflected strong public desire for change and the dwindling influence of the Soviet Communist establishment . The US administration has denied doing anything to add to Mr. Yeltsin 's stature as a rival to Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev . It now appears that a new working relationship between Yeltsin and Gorbachev has changed the situation . Putting aside strong differences , they are working on transforming the Soviet Union at a more rapid pace ; namely , a new federal structure decentralizing much political and economic power to the country 's 15 republics .
Boris Yeltsin won a comfortable victory in the Czech Republic 's first presidential election . The results reflected strong public desire for change and the dwindling influence of the Soviet Communist establishment . The US administration has denied doing anything to add to Mr. Yeltsin 's stature as a rival to Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev . It now appears that a new working relationship between Yeltsin and Gorbachev has changed the situation . Putting aside strong differences , they are working on transforming the Soviet Union at a more rapid pace ; namely , a new federal structure decentralizing much political and economic power to the country 's 15 republics .