Kolonova, 36, cuts and

polishes fingernails to

glossy perfection at Elefant,

a new beauty parlor in St.

Petersburg. "Life is much

harder now," she says,

"although a rich person

would say it's easier. We

have so much more crime."

Even so, she supports the

changes that have

overtaken Russia.

("At the Crossroads" cont'd)
He might have used his triumph to provide a clean break with a Communist culture that taught and required individuals to subsume their interests to the state's. He might have begun the process of teaching Russian citizens to handle their new-found power as a responsible electorate. He might have created a true reformist party to tap the enthusiasm for democracy that has now waned, a victim of crime, corruption and the emptiness of spirit felt today by the Russian people. He did not. As a former Communist party leader, Yeltsin my have had personal misgiving at striking the Lenin cult at the roots, but as a result, Russia seems stuck today between its communist past and an undetermined, but impending future.

Russia's
Soul