Government Reshuffles

Recent Russian Cabinet changes by President Boris N. Yeltsin:

* March 23, 1998: Yeltsin abruptly fires Prime Minister Viktor S. Chernomyrdin, who had served more than five years. The president says he wants to speed reforms and names 35-year-old Sergei V. Kiriyenko the new premier. Kiriyenko brings a group of young economic reformers into his government.

* Aug. 23, 1998: Yeltsin ousts Kiriyenko days after his Cabinet defaulted on some debts and devalued the national currency, triggering Russia’s worst post-Soviet economic crisis. He reappoints Chernomyrdin, but parliament rejects the nomination twice.

* Sept. 10, 1998: Bowing to the opposition, Yeltsin nominates Foreign Minister Yevgeny M. Primakov as prime minister. Opposition and pro-government factions in parliament welcome the choice and overwhelmingly approve Primakov.

* May 12, 1999: One day before impeachment hearings in parliament, Yeltsin fires Primakov, who had good relations with lawmakers. Interior Minister Sergei V. Stepashin is named as a replacement. Although the economy stabilized under Primakov, Yeltsin says he ousted him because the Cabinet had been too slow in pursuing market reforms.

* Aug. 9, 1999: Yeltsin suddenly fires Stepashin without citing any reason. He names Vladimir V. Putin, the head of the Federal Security Service, the acting prime minister. The president also says Putin is his preferred successor in the presidential election set for next year.

Source: Associated Press