Yeltsin fires government again, names his preferred successor

Los Angeles Times

MOSCOW -- President Boris Yeltsin for the first time on Monday identified his preferred political heir, the colorless and little- known head of the main successor to the KGB, signaling the end of an internal Kremlin struggle and the apparent start of a campaign by Yeltsin loyalists to keep power in next year's election.

The ailing and erratic Yeltsin shocked Russians by sacking the entire government for the fourth time in 17 months. He announced that Vladimir V. Putin, a former spy who is chief of the Federal Security Service and secretary of the Security Council, would replace outgoing Prime Minister Sergei Stepashin.

Yeltsin also urged Russians to support Putin in the presidential election. The announcement of a chosen successor one year before the election signals the determination of Yeltsin's inner circle to hold onto power.

The post of prime minister has been a revolving door in Yeltsin's later years as president. He ousted Yevgeny Primakov in May and Stepashin on Monday.

The difference this time is Yeltsin's nomination of Putin for president, in effect marking the end of a behind-the-scenes struggle over who would be the Kremlin's presidential candidate. Yeltsin, 68, is barred from running for a third term, but he has never before clearly designated a successor.

In a televised address, Yeltsin also set the date for parliamentary elections, Dec. 19, and pledged clean, fair elections.

Yeltsin, reading slowly from a prepared script, expressed his hope Monday that Russians would back Putin.

"I have decided to name a man who, in my opinion, is able to consolidate society. Relying on the broadest of political forces, he will ensure the continuation of reforms in Russia," Yeltsin said.

But his decision to dump Stepashin's government only three months after appointing it caused shock waves.

"It's hard to explain madness. The people have grown tired of watching a sick leader who is not capable of doing his job," said Boris Nemstov, a former deputy prime minister who was himself sacked by Yeltsin in March 1997, speaking to Radio Echo of Moscow.

Putin, 46, confirmed Monday he would run for the presidency. But he seems an odd choice -- a former spy and the chief of the main successor to the Soviet KGB.

His shadowy career as an intelligence officer in Germany in Soviet times and his low political profile mean he is little known to Russians. The chief rationale for the choice seems to be his loyalty to Yeltsin and his entourage, known here as "The Family."

Key figures in Yeltsin's inner circle are his daughter, Tatyana Dyachenko; his chief of staff, Alexander Voloshin; and tycoon Boris Berezovsky. There had been speculation that they might try to find a way to allow Yeltsin to run again.

Yeltsin's nomination of Putin came after a powerful new political alliance, Fatherland-All Russia, emerged last week. Led by Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov, the group poses a stark threat to Yeltsin's entourage.

Luzhkov has been trying to entice the popular Primakov to take the leading position in the new coalition. But Primakov, whose popular support could swing the election, has been coy about his plans.

In Washington, the Clinton administration shrugged off the Russian reshuffle, asserting that it expects few changes in matters of concern to the United States.

"I don't think we should blow this out of proportion," State Department spokesman James Rubin said in the administration's official response to the changes.

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