Word: duma
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...this weekend expecting a quid pro quo for getting the West out of a messy situation in Kosovo by brokering a peace deal," says Meier. "Whether or not the IMF and other Western institutions come through with money for Russia depends a lot less on the outcome of a Duma vote on economic reform than on the outcome of the Kosovo conflict." In other words, the most important Russian negotiators in the bid to get Western financial aid may be the ones in armored personnel carriers at Pristina Airport...
Bailing out Russia makes almost no financial sense, but it matters a lot politically. That may be why nobody appears overly surprised -- or concerned -? that the country?s parliament, the Duma, on Thursday rejected a key package of economic reforms. The proposed reforms would have been an effort to meet the preconditions for a $4.5 billion IMF loan required to roll over Russia's debts to the international institution. "This was entirely expected," says TIME Moscow correspondent Andrew Meier. "It?s a lame-duck Duma voting down conditions agreed to in April by a government that no longer exists...
...usually denounce the President in flamboyant and colorful terms--suddenly became passionate supporters of the government. Zhirinovsky denied that he had been bought off but made it clear he would like a high post in the next government. From the background, Yeltsin aides put out the word that the Duma could be dissolved and a state of emergency declared if the vote went against him. When the results were announced, Chechnya gained the highest number of votes in favor of impeachment, 283--still 17 short of the two-thirds needed...
...Russia these days, one battle just leads to another. The Duma presents Yeltsin with a similarly complex enigma. The very machinations he used to wriggle out of impeachment--everything from firing Primakov to making promises to the opposition--now present him with a new maze to negotiate...
...into a man who simply wants to hold on to power. As his nation starves, Yeltsin reached not for an economist or a diplomat who might be able to help Russians figure a way forward. Instead he called on a security man. After its humiliation over the impeachment, the Duma may decide to save face by rejecting Stepashin. But it may be hard for them to summon up the organization and courage to turn Stepashin down. Parliamentary leaders like communist leader Gennadi Zyuganov sounded winded after the impeachment debate wound down, exhausted by Yeltsin's apparent political immortality...