Yeltsin is gaining popularity now because he was able to settle the Chechnya war last May.

The Chechnya war presents other difficult problems for the administration.

But he echoed Western criticism that the Chechnya war hurts civilians.

Mr. Putin has attacked journalists as unhelpful and, in the context of the Chechnya war, even traitorous.

The second Chechnya war began late in 1999.

He was the second journalist to die covering the Chechnya war.

He has distanced himself from the Chechnya war and is now moving quickly to try to end it.

He was once a supporter of Mr. Yeltsin, but he and his media outlets have criticized many political developments, not only the Chechnya war.

The length and brutality of the Chechnya war, which is not over, have damaged Russia's reputation in the West and undermined political and economic stability here.

And he has been distancing himself from the Chechnya war as fast as he can.