Living in Moscow, one becomes increasingly aware of the role played in Russian life by skandaly -- scandals or uproars caused by the sudden revelation of a hitherto concealed outrage. Even literary works -- especially those of Dostoevsky -- contain plenty of skandaly and skandalchiki (little scandals) for readers' delectation. Both literary and real-life skandaly have been characterized by one thing: After all the huffing and puffing, they usually come to naught. In literature, this denouement merely has entertainment value. In real life, however, it can have disastrous political implications. The latest scandal, concerning one of the mainstays of the Yeltsin administration -- its commitment to legality and human rights -- is a particularly shocking case. The source of the scandal is a 90-page report on violations of human rights in 1993, prepared by the Russian President's Committee on Human and Civil Rights and submitted to Yeltsin on July 5.