Seeking a Mr. Clean image, Mr. Yeltsin turned down an offer of a government dacha.

The joint declaration by Gorbachev, Yeltsin, and the Presidents of Azerbaijan, Byelorussia, Kazakhstan, Kirghizia, Tadjikistan, Turkmenia, the Ukraine and Uzbekistan, was the product of a day of talks at Novoye Ogarevo, a government dacha on the outskirts of Moscow.

The changes were announced while President Boris N. Yeltsin was on vacation at a government dacha in northwestern Russia.

Mr. Kasyanov may have done some fishy maneuvers to get a government dacha and help a friend get one, as the prosecutor alleges, but Mr. Kasyanov denies wrongdoing.

Over the past few years, the West has mainly seen Mr. Yeltsin through the prism of news clips, embarrassing shots of him toppling over at official ceremonies, frugging at a rock concert or recovering from heart surgery in a government dacha.

But in an interview at his government dacha outside Moscow, a former prime minister, Sergei V. Stepashin, provided an inside look at the debate within the Russian establishment and at the thinking of the man who is now Russia's acting president and is positioned to win the next election.

The document states: "The government dacha on the territory of the recreational complex "Pushcha-Vodytsia" is presented for a use to the head of Kabmin, Viktor Yanukovych."

A Plea to Prevent Blood in the Streets Mr. Sobchak left his Moscow apartment early to meet with Mr. Yeltsin in the government dachas outside the city, then he flew home.

As far as government dachas go . . . they are made available to the acting leadership.