Word: ryzhkov
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...fuzzily sketched by Yeltsin, the Russian Republic has three options: go it alone entirely, with its own army, currency and customs system, which would mean, in effect, secession; enter into some new coalition with Gorbachev that edges out the U.S.S.R.'s most unpopular national leader, cautious Prime Minister Nikolai Ryzhkov; or go ahead with a modified Shatalin program on Nov. 1 and wait for Gorbachev's plan to fail -- an outcome Yeltsin predicted would happen within six months at most. Carrying out Shatalin's full plan in Russia was evidently doomed by Gorbachev's decision to pull back from...
...however, the pressure on Gorbachev to do something dramatic is greater than ever. In parliament, Abel Aganbegyan, one of Gorbachev's favorite economists, asserted that "the economic situation in the country is catastrophic." The leading scapegoat for the troubles is Prime Minister Nikolai Ryzhkov, whose own proposed remedy is a go-slow package that preserves much of the center's control over the economy. Led by Moscow Mayor Gavril Popov, some 40,000 demonstrators marched in the capital last week demanding Ryzhkov's resignation. The parliament of the Russian Republic, which accounts for half the Soviet Union's population, seconded...
...interview with TIME, Ryzhkov was remarkably frank about the possibility that he might resign. "To resign today," he said, "would mean that we have to choose a whole new government. Does the country really need that right now?" Asked his opinion about a proposal to let Gorbachev rule the country with his Cabinet of ministers, Ryzhkov replied, "Maybe someday we will adopt an American system of government, but it is too early for this...
While distancing himself from Ryzhkov, Gorbachev has refused to sack him. At one point, Ryzhkov threatened to resign if parliament approved a proposal he could not "believe in." Later the Prime Minister endorsed the idea of giving Gorbachev almost single-handed control of the economy, though that would seriously undermine his own authority...
...that refrain must sound all too familiar to Gorbachev, who still seems to prefer that Ryzhkov jump rather than be pushed. Even though Gorbachev has come out in support of the Shatalin program, his proposed changes in the text suggest he also has a certain ambivalence about taking the final grand leap into a market economy. With tensions mounting across the country, whether cigarette riots in provincial Russia or border skirmishes in the Caucasus, Gorbachev cannot help being concerned about what might result from added chaos in the economy. Last week he sent out a presidential telegram to regional leaders...