Word: meier
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...Kremlin is reaching hard for medical terms that nobody quite understands to tell us that Yeltsin is tired and perhaps depressed," says TIME Moscow correspondent Andrew Meier. "But as long as he's still breathing, much of the political establishment wants to keep him in office because they're not yet ready to fight elections." And, of course, the ailing president has his own reasons for hanging on: "Yeltsin needs legal immunity for himself and his family and he wants a nice retirement package," says Meier. So expect 18 more months of an increasingly withdrawn president becoming marginal...
...Russian joke, but in fact it was the first concrete economic measure announced by Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov. "By restoring the Soviet-era state monopoly on the alcohol industry, they hope to get as much hard currency as possible into state coffers," says TIME Moscow correspondent Andrew Meier. "The problem is there's little chance that they have the infrastructure to enforce it." The state machinery required to police liquor distribution is in disarray, while the Russian underworld -- which has a huge stake in the market -- is stronger than ever...
...weekend horse-trading session in the hope of securing Viktor Chernomyrdin's election on Monday, after the Duma postponed Friday's vote. "The Communists still insist they'll reject Chernomyrdin, but the tide may be turning as backroom deals have swung some key constituencies," says TIME Moscow correspondent Andrew Meier...
...currency board -- everyone from international lenders to the Communist opposition is skeptical. "It's like having 1,000 people in a room with no air, and then throwing in a bottle of oxygen with enough for three or four people and saying work it out among yourselves," says Meier. The Darwinian culling of the banking sector has limited appeal to anyone except Moscow's oligarchs, who hope to salvage some of their wealth. Foreign bankers have little enthusiasm for the plan -- besides doubts over its efficacy, it's a nonstarter without another infusion of Western billions...
...head of the FSB (successor to the KGB) will be Vladimir Putin, a former spy in Germany who now serves in Yeltsin's presidential administration. "At 45, Putin is much closer in thinking and age to the new 30-something men who now rule Russia," says Meier. "It reveals the desire of the new generation in power to push the grayhairs from the controls of the security forces" -- and make sure the troops remain loyal and battle-ready for the tough times ahead...