; Medvedev alleged that the incident took place soon after a stormy meeting of the Communist Party Central Committee in October 1987. Russians vote Wednesday in the first democratic elections for the presidency of the Russian Republic and the mayors of various cities . On Monday , some 30,000 people voted in support for the front runner for president , Boris Yeltsin . The campaign has turned dirty with newspaper claims that Yeltsin is emotionally unstable . Yeltsin 's opponents have charged that Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev personally ordered a KBG attack . This suggests that rapprochement between Yeltsin and Gorbachev is only skin deep and also indicates growing desperation by Soviet leaders . Failure to win an absolute majority will force a runoff with Yeltsin 's main opponent , former Soviet Prime Minister Nikolaj Putin .
Russians vote Wednesday in the first democratic elections for the presidency of the Russian Republic and the mayors of various cities . On Monday , some 30,000 people voted in support for the front runner for president , Boris Yeltsin . The campaign has turned dirty with newspaper claims that Yeltsin is emotionally unstable . Yeltsin 's opponents have charged that Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev personally ordered a KBG attack . This suggests that rapprochement between Yeltsin and Gorbachev is only skin deep and also indicates growing desperation by Soviet leaders . Failure to win an absolute majority will force a runoff with Yeltsin 's main opponent , former Soviet Prime Minister Nikolaj Putin .