Word: russian
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...health, Yeltsin's competence as a leader has long been suspect. Corruption, crime and economic malaise flourished in Russia over the last few years. A criminal investigation instigated by then-Prime Minister Yevgeni Primakov in early 1999 did little to improve Yeltsin's image. Yeltsin, the first democratically elected Russian president, is better known for bravado than diplomacy. His abrupt moves marked a politician more concerned with his personal future than that of his nation...
...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 in the wake of Putin's assumption of the presidency...
...front where Putin will have to act most carefully is the war in Chechnya. A shuffle last week in the top Russian combat generals suggests panic over the need for a hasty resolution of the conflict before the March elections. Unfortunately, high civilian death tolls and unannounced deaths of Russian soldiers have not been perceived as impediments to this goal. In his vigilant efforts to secure his office, Putin is staking his reputation on a misguided war. We hope that Putin will demonstrate enough vision as a leader to sow the beginnings of justice and cooperation instead of personally reaping...
...wasn't supposed to happen this way. Russian generals were boasting before Christmas that the Chechen capital, Grozny, would fall in a matter of days; on Monday, though, they were forced to admit that rebels had broken through Russian lines over the weekend, recapturing a number of villages around the capital and inflicting heavy casualties on Moscow's forces. Fierce fighting for control of the towns of Argun and Shali continued Monday even as Russian troops appeared to be regrouping and rearming for a renewed assault on Grozny. Russian public confidence in a quick and clean victory, which translated into...
...deadline that Putin set for himself on Grozny has already passed, and now it's threatening to turn into a familiar quagmire," says TIME Moscow correspondent Andrew Meier. "While the Russian public is still overwhelmingly in favor of the war, the challenge for Putin is how to maintain the appearance that things are going well in the absence of a real victory on the ground." And the events of the weekend highlighted the limits of Russian control despite its territorial gains in the first months of the war. The Chechens for the most part retreated in the face of Russian...