Word: primakov
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...middle of last week, it suddenly became clear to everyone, even the detached and disoriented Boris Yeltsin, that under these circumstances, any government would be better than none. So Foreign Minister Yevgeni Primakov was persuaded to overcome his reluctance and take the job of Prime Minister. Primakov, a former journalist, academic and spymaster, is a man who believes in strong government, and presumably felt he had to respond when his President called. The Duma confirmed him overwhelmingly, 315 votes to 63, last Friday. His appointment solves the political stalemate at the top, at least for now, but it does nothing...
...that the U.S., which was being polite about his latest appointment, has ever found Primakov easy to take. Washington officials vividly remember how he showed up in Baghdad late in 1990 in an effort to rescue his friend Saddam Hussein and head off the Gulf War. Since then he has been head of the Foreign Intelligence Service, which succeeded the KGB. As Foreign Minister, he has done his best to prevent the expansion of NATO, lift the sanctions on Iraq and forestall Western military action against Serbia. Even so, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright has gone...
...Primakov is not overtly anti-U.S., but he is a gosudarstvennik, a proponent of a strong, centralized Russian state in foreign and domestic affairs. His opposition to American policies stems from this world view. And it wins him the support of the nationalists and communists in the Duma, who share his resentment of the world's lack of respect for their country. Washington understands his motivations. He is, says a senior White House official, "a hardheaded pursuer of what he believes are Russia's national interests...
...appointment of Primakov was promoted by Grigori Yavlinsky, a liberal reformer who heads the Yabloko Party. The Foreign Minister's name also appeared on a list of acceptable candidates put forward by Communist Party leader Gennadi Zyuganov, an odd alliance of convenience. Yeltsin chose Primakov partly because he was obviously confirmable and partly because he thought he could count on Primakov's loyalty. But by agreeing to drop Chernomyrdin, the man Yeltsin wanted to succeed him, the President visibly weakened his position and strengthened those of Zyuganov and Yavlinsky. Whether Primakov succeeds or fails, both of his backers intend...
...successful can Primakov be? His opening moves are not promising. He is pledging to form a kind of coalition government, apparently to please several of the Duma's parties, and that may be a formula for confusion. In a statement last week, he denied any plans to return to the Soviet past but said flatly, "The government should intervene in economic affairs and regulate them." Then he selected two men with a lot of experience with such intervention. As his first Cabinet appointment, he named Yuri Maslyukov, a Communist Party member and a former head of the Soviet State Planning...