Word: putin
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Prime Minister Vladimir V. Putin stands to govern Russia in Yeltsin's stead, at least until elections are held on March 26. Famed for his tough stance against Chechen separatists, Putin is confident in his new post. Unlike Yeltsin, Putin is a relatively youthful 47 years old and doesn't have to worry about his own health in addition to that of his country. The former KGB insider is a career opportunist whose first act as prime minister was to offer Yeltsin immunity from prosecution...
...Putin's widespread popularity and his declared hardline against corruption bode well for Russia's future. Indeed, one of his next acts after covering Yeltsin's tracks was to remove Yeltsin's daughter, Tatyana Dyachenko, the recent subject of an investigation into allegations of bribery, from her Kremlin post as "image adviser" to the president. Along with Dyachenko, Putin fired several other members of Yeltsin's inner circle, who have also come under fire for corrupt practices, from their government positions. His promises of economic reform sit well with investors. The Russian stock market rose by about 20 percent...
Russia's campaign in Chechnya is in trouble, and acting president Vladimir Putin is taking no chances. The Russian military announced Friday that it had been ordered to "temporarily halt" the assault on Grozny, and that Moscow's two leading commanders in Chechnya would be returning to their former posts. "This is as close as we're going to get to an official admission that Russian forces have hit a wall in Grozny," says TIME Moscow correspondent Andrew Meier. "It's a major turning point...
...popularity of the Chechnya campaign has made Putin the hot favorite in presidential elections scheduled for March, but the specter of mounting Russian casualties in a Caucasian quagmire could eat away at his support. Still, suspending the assault - out of a sudden concern for the city's civilian population after six weeks of indiscriminate bombing - doesn't necessarily eliminate the risk. Russian generals have already conceded that Chechen forces are actively harassing their troops deep inside areas over which Moscow has ostensibly established control. Which means that right now there's no politically safe way forward - or back...
There should be at least a measure of concern, then, in Putin's camp, at the current state of the Chechnya campaign. Grozny is proving far more resilient than was allowed for by Russian generals who boasted three weeks ago that the Chechen capital would fall within days. Western news reports on Wednesday quoted Russian officers describing the heavy casualties their units have suffered in Grozny, and the Russian media has begun covering funerals of soldiers killed in the campaign. Although seizing Grozny would be more of a symbolic victory than anything else - the bulk of the Chechen separatist army...