Although other countries were also involved in trying to end the war, Russian politicians confronted issues that directly affected their country in ways that the other countries did not because the problems of extreme nationalism and ethnic minorities, which were the issues in Bosnia, also beset multiethnic Russia. President Boris Yeltsin had to find a way to reconcile the international and domestic constituencies surrounding these questions while remaining true to the promise of the new democratic institutions of the post-Soviet Union Russian state. Analysts of events in Russia commonly remark on the changes that the end of the Soviet Union has brought to the country. Most tell us that the changes have not all been for the better, for this "democratic transition, "with its multicandidate elections and open parliamentary debates, has been accompanied by an increase in the crime rate, an increase in the unemployment rate, major disruptions in the economy, and a host of other social ills. Frequently lost in discussions of