Russia's ex-president Boris Yeltsin has failed to make a comeback into public politics a few months ago. That was a slap in the face from his former subordinates who said a firm "no" to the former Kremlin boss.
In February this year Leader of the Union of Right Forces Boris Nemtsov was invited to visit Boris Yeltsin in his country house. Yeltsin criticized the ruling authorities for cracking down on the free press and making too many concessions to the Americans in foreign policy. Having listened to Yeltsin's
outpouring, Nemtsov suggested that he head the supervisory council of the TV-6 television company that has recently been banned from air. "The journalists would be happy. The state is not going to object. After all, you
are Russia's first president," Nemtsov told Yeltsin who looked absolutely delighted at the idea.
However, the situation unfolded according to a different scenario. No sooner
than Nemtsov reached Moscow he got the bad news that the Kremlin was categorically opposed to Yeltsin's return to public politics. Moreover, Yeltsin himself was convinced that his intention was wrong. Shortly after that it was announced that TV-6 would go back on air under the leadership of
ex-premier Yevgeny Primakov.
All reports on the Yeltsin-Nemtsov meeting were removed from Russian newspapers and their archives.
This story can be interpreted in different ways. Perhaps, Yeltsin would have
been unable to help TV-6 and would have only made things worse. But things could go according to a different scenario. Anyway, Yeltsin didn't expect to
be treated so disrespectfully when he voluntarily stepped down from power in
1999.