Wherever President Boris Yeltsin goes, he is usually no more than five steps away -- a thickset man with dark hair plastered across a balding pate and a roaming gaze, one of the most shadowy figures in Russian politics.


Alexander Korzhakov, the chief of Yeltsin's bodyguard, was voted the fourth most powerful politician in Russia by a group of experts polled by the current affairs television program Itogi on Sunday. It was a remarkable assessment for a man who is officially only a Kremlin security boss.


But Korzhakov is more than a mere guard, and in recent weeks he has tentatively showed signs of becoming a more independent political figure. On Nov. 11 he gave a rare newspaper interview to Nezavisimaya Gazeta. Korzhakov was as tight-lipped and bland as a Soviet functionary, yet the fact that he gave an interview at all aroused great interest, especially as it appeared in a paper known for anti-Yeltsin views.


"I must say I was very surprised," said the newspaper's deputy editor Andrei Poleshchuk, who sent Korzhakov the written questions. "But I think it's not by chance that Mr. Korzhakov decided to answer our questions."


Poleshchuk suggested Korzhakov was sending a message that he is his own man and that his views do not always coincide with the president's.


In another piece of kremlinology, Itogi suggested three weeks ago that Korzhakov was being given a say in national security matters. Before, when Yeltsin had met with generals and security chiefs, Korzhakov would sit beside him in the position of aide. But Itogi showed pictures of Korzhakov sitting with the generals, opposite Yeltsin.


Korzhakov's Kremlin security guard already enjoys autonomy from ministerial control. In November 1993, after the crushing of the White House revolt, Yeltsin signed a decree making it an independent body. Korzhakov's critics accuse him of being accountable to no one and exerting a malign influence on the president.


"I have the impression that he decides everything in the Kremlin," the former public prosecutor Alexei Kazannik recently told Moskovsky Komsomolets. "Everyone in the Kremlin knows that in order to drag through a doubtful decision or sign an illegal decree, you have to go to General Korzhakov."


Kazannik, who was dismissed as public prosecutor in February, said he had seen ministers "toady" before Korzhakov. He said Korzhakov had interfered directly in his work and had tried to have the Moscow prosecutor Gennady Ponomaryov fired.


Asked to respond to allegations of political interference, Korzhakov said he had no comment, an answer that his interviewer said was quite revealing.


"When a person from the intelligence services says 'no comment,' it means the answer is yes," Poleshchuk said. "It seems to me he was showing the answer is yes, he does have political influence."


The subject of Korzhakov certainly reduces even the most outspoken observers to silence.


"A great deal depends on him, and that includes politically, but we don't have much information," is all reformist deputy Sergei Yushenkov, the chairman of the State Duma's Defense Committee, would say.


Korzhakov, 44, began working with the future president in 1985, when as an officer of the KGB's Ninth Directorate he was put in charge of protecting Yeltsin, the new first secretary of the Moscow Communist Party.


"Alexander Korzhakov, my chief of security, and I have been inseparable since 1985 when I moved to Moscow," Yeltsin wrote in his book.Yeltsin said he used to spend days off with Korzhakov.


"He is a very decent, intelligent, strong and courageous person," Yeltsin wrote. "While outwardly he seems very simple, behind this simplicity is a sharp mind and an excellent and clear head."


Korzhakov refused to shed any light on his relationship with Yeltsin in his interview with Poleshchuk. "As far as stories go, then today, as I see it, is not an appropriate time" to tell them, he said.


Korzhakov played a central role during last fall's power struggle between Yeltsin and the Supreme Soviet. According to Yeltsin, Korzhakov personally persuaded Defense Minister Pavel Grachev to bring in tanks and bombard the White House on Oct. 4.


According to two accounts, Korzhakov personally arrested the leaders of the White House rebellion and escorted them to Lefortovo prison. Izvestia said that in a "fine gesture," he saved the head of former Vice President Alexander Rutskoi's bodyguard, an old rival, and let him go home when they reached the prison gates.