One head, that of Russia's perennially acting finance minister, has already rolled in response to the ruble's dramatic crash Tuesday. But if the seriousness of the collapse certainly warranted that somebody should lose his job, Sergei Dubinin was the wrong man.


As finance minister, Dubinin was not responsible for day-to-day manipulation of the ruble. His job -- in this connection at least -- was to ensure that government spending did not trigger rapid inflation that might indeed have caused a run on the ruble. As far as could be expected, he succeeded in that task.


Instead, the blame for Tuesday's sharp fall belongs to the Central Bank chairman, Viktor Gerashchenko, who in one manner or another has badly miscalculated in his policy for intervening on the currency markets. In fact, Gerashchenko admitted as much Tuesday when he said it was clear as early as last spring that the ruble was overvalued.


By keeping the ruble on a steady and gradual downward path, Gerashchenko did provide the financial environment for the vital economic stabilization that has begun to show promise this year. For this, Gerashchenko deserved and received some grudging praise from economic analysts.


But then came the collapse. Now Gerashchenko says that policy was a mistake and he should have let the ruble fall faster, earlier. Perhaps. But the Central Bank chairman has also been a traditional advocate of providing easy credits to industry and letting concerns over inflation and the money supply be damned.


For that reason alone, it was galling to see Gerashchenko in such a jocular mood when addressing the State Duma on Wednesday. For even then, after he had acknowledged that his actions had led to a precipice, he offered no policy by which the country could otherwise have been led to stabilization.


This lack of a constructive vision has always been Gerashchenko's flaw. It is hard to judg