Privatization Chief Stays; Reformers Out

Prime Minister Yevgeny M. Primakov’s stop-start government lurched forward when President Boris N. Yeltsin reappointed Russia’s privatization chief but ditched two reformers left from the previous Cabinet. The presidential press office said Yeltsin and Primakov had made some headway filling Cabinet posts at a Kremlin meeting. Interfax news agency quoted First Deputy Prime Minister Vadim Gustov as saying more names would be announced in the coming days. But despite Russia’s economic crisis, Primakov has said he will not rush to fill the post of deputy prime minister in charge of finances vacated by Alexander N. Shokhin on Friday. Yeltsin reappointed Farit Gazizullin as state property minister, in charge of privatization. But the president sacked tax service chief Boris Fedorov and another deputy premier, Viktor Khristenko.