SOVIET LEADER THRONGED GORBACHEV CHARMS MOST WELL-WISHERS

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, April 12, 1993                   TAG: 9304120111
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: RICHMOND                                LENGTH: Medium
SOVIET LEADER THRONGED GORBACHEV CHARMS MOST WELL-WISHERS
Fallen Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev may be unpopular in his own country, but he drew adoring crowds Sunday in the second day of his speaking tour in Virginia.
His warm reception at the University of Richmond was marred only briefly when a heckler interrupted his evening speech at the Robins Center.
The man ran in front of the stage and shouted, "Jesus sends me. Gorbachev is the beast," before security guards took him away.
"This is not something very new to me," Gorbachev said to laughter from the sold-out crowd. "Some people go too far in their adulation of Gorbachev."
Earlier, the smiling Gorbachev and his wife, Raisa, were mobbed by well-wishers and clicking cameras.
He posed for pictures with students from the university's Jepson School of Leadership Studies, took a few gentle questions at a news conference, and went to a private dinner with the university's president, Richard Morrill.
Raisa Gorbachev, who suffered a stroke two years ago, was very tired and planned to get a checkup at a Richmond hospital today, said Dmitry Shchiglik, a member of the Gorbachev delegation. He said the party canceled a stop scheduled for tonight in Charlotte, N.C.
At the news conference, Gorbachev repeated the "time is running out for Russia" theme from his speech Saturday night to the Richmond Forum.
He also took a sarcastic dig at Russian President Boris Yeltsin, who has called an April 25 referendum on his performance in office.
"Yeltsin has said very modestly that there is no alternative to him. I would not venture to say that," said Gorbachev, speaking through an interpreter.
Gorbachev said Russia needs free elections as quickly as possible or its economy will continue to decline. Anyone who wins a free election could run the country, he said.
"I see many things happening right now that are very alarming to me," he said. "I am trying to do my best to influence the course of events."
During his six years in power, Gorbachev moved his country toward democracy and a free market. But while he is hailed in the West for his role in ending the Cold War, economic hardships caused by his reforms made him unpopular at home. He was nearly ousted in a coup in August 1991 and gave up power a few months later.
He has been doing well on the speakers' circuit and will make $125,000 for his stops in Virginia. Today he speaks at Virginia Commonwealth University, and he will mark the 250th birthday of Thomas Jefferson in stops Tuesday at the University of Virginia and Monticello.
Gorbachev has received standing ovations at all his appearances.

by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB