Word: stepashin
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Dates: during 1999-1999
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...Yeltsin is threatening to dissolve the Duma, the lower house of Russia's parliament, and call new elections unless his new pick for prime minister, Sergei Stepashin, is approved. That looked unlikely Thursday, as legislators proceeded with moves to impeach Yeltsin, setting the stage for a showdown. While the constitution allows Yeltsin to dissolve the legislature if it rejects his nominee three times, it also forbids dissolution of the Duma while impeachment proceedings are under way. That may look like a constitutional crisis in a Western democracy, but in Boris Yeltsin's Russia lawyers and judges...
...Yeltsin explained the move by accusing Primakov of failing to revive Russia's crippled economy -- which is not unlike berating a man for failing to defy gravity -- but that's not borne out by his choice of successor: "The new appointment as prime minister, Sergei Stepashin, is a man without any economic background but with a well-deserved reputation for bungling," says Quinn-Judge. "The Duma is unlikely to approve Stepashin, and that sets the stage for another period of prolonged political paralysis in Russia." One Yeltsin objective may, however backfire: The ailing president had hoped that by firing Primakov...