Moscow Marks Pushkin

Several thousand admirers including President Boris Yeltsin came out to show their respect for Alexander Pushkin on Monday, but it might not have been what Russia's most beloved poet would have wanted for his birthday.The Moscow city government, hoping to augment the traditional poetry readings and solemn concerts that usually mark Pushkin's birthday, organized a gala event in Pushkin Square, featuring opera singers, an African drum band and a speech by Pushkin's own great grandson. Yeltsin made a surprise appearance at a book store on Tverskaya Ulitsa, where he purchased the first volume of an eight-volume edition on Pushkin and signed a few copies for onlookers.Pushkin, twice exiled by the tsars and never a friend of authority, would not have appreciated the police brought in to keep order, who prevented elderly admirers from placing flowers at the Pushkin monument in the center of the square.Even Grigory Pushkin, the poet's 80-year-old great grandson, briefly fell victim to the holiday's newfound bustle. After addressing the crowd, he was trapped by eager autograph-seekers, prompting him to complain: "Look, are you people crazy, I can barely stand."Pushkin, born in 1799, shaped the modern Russian literary style and is no less a national symbol than the Kremlin or a birch tree.