Mr Sergei Yastrzhembsky, President Yeltsin's chief spokesman, is a suave, elegantly-dressed man who rarely shows irritation. His response to reported Russian threats of "world war" in the event of a US attack on Iraq was one of those rare occasions in which he showed anger.
"Some American correspondents working in Moscow traditionally experience great difficulties with the Russian language. We very much hope that these difficulties will not grow into an irritant between the Kremlin and the White House," he told reporters.
There had been no suggestion, he stated, that Russia would involve itself militarily on Iraq's side.
If Mr Yeltsin's original statement had been interpreted as anti-American-government, Mr Yastrzhembsky's at least had the effect of moving the tension down a notch to the level of anti-Americanmedia.
The US embassy in Moscow rowed in with some oil for troubled diplomatic waters with a statement which denied reports that Washington was planning to use nuclear weapons against Iraq. These reports had been running in the Russian media, most of which have strong connections with the Yeltsin administration. What Mr Yeltsin actually said, in a televised meeting in the Kremlin, was: "We must try to make Clinton feel that he can run into a world war with his actions. He acts too loudly. Too loudly."
The term "world war" is one which, not surprisingly, can send people reaching for the panic button but a closer look at Mr Yeltsin's wording would suggest he was not under any circumstances threatening to use Russia's still-powerful nuclear arsenal.
The Russian President has in the past been guilty of gross overstatements, gross understatements and, on even more spectacular occasions, an inability to make any statement at all. He was therefore quite an easy target for those in the western media who wished to subject him to ridicule.
But Moscow analysts insist Mr Yeltsin was, on this occasion, acting quite responsibly in trying to calm down "his friend Bill," from taking precipitate action.
Certainly, intelligence reports were being received that weapons of mass destruction could be used in the region and there is little doubt that such actions could lead to an apocalyptic situation and would set a precedent for the use of such weapons in other areas in the future.
Mr Yeltsin's Foreign Minister, Mr Yevgeny Primakov, a distinguished Arabist, has been strongly involved in Russia's efforts to achieve a diplomatic solution to the Iraqi problem. He is also, as a former head of the KGB, extremely sensitive to intelligence reports. His very strong stance against NATO expansion has led to charges of anti-Americanism.
Iraq is considerably closer geographically to Russia than to any of the western nuclear powers.
The Middle East, because of this proximity, has always been a region in which Russia, whether Tsarist or Soviet, has had a legitimate interest. His attempts to maintain his country's influence in the area mark Mr Primakov out for what he really is: a pragmatic politician.
So too, despite his extravagances, is Mr Yeltsin. He has to deal with a state Duma dominated by a coalition of communists and great-Russian chauvinists which is virulently anti-American in its outlook.
The Duma's vote, by 323 to 19, urging the Kremlin to ignore the sanctions imposed on Iraq by the UN gives an indication of the type of political forces Mr Yeltsin has to deal with.
While the general public in Russia is too concerned with economic survival there is a general feeling of resentment of Russia's diminishing influence if not of America's enhanced role in world affairs.
Plans by Germany, Denmark and Poland to form a joint military force to defend the western approaches to the Baltic have, for example, been viewed with consternation in Moscow.
Russia's Defence Minister, Mr Igor Sergeyev, has spoken of "NATO advancing towards the Russian border with weapons in its hands."
To some western observers Russian attitudes on the Gulf and the Baltic may appear to verge on the paranoid. Russia's own historical experience, however, has led to a deep mistrust of the West, whence all its invaders from Napoleon to Hitler have come.