- (AFP) - President Vladimir Putin huddled with top pro-Kremlin
lawmakers while Russia was kept guessing about its new leaders after a
shock government sacking just three weeks ahead of a presidential poll.
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- Putin did little to clarify the new leadership mystery
by meeting his deposed prime minister Mikhail Kasyanov and cabinet Wednesday
to say that he had been thinking the move for some time but remained uncertain
until the last minute about when he should do it.
-
- He said the government's dismissal had been "basically
planned."
-
- Kasyanov sat grimly at Putin's right-hand side while
his ousted cabinet ministers looked on gloomily as the president spoke.
Several newspapers predicted that many of their careers were at an end.
-
- "A sacrifice on the eve of elections," the
Moskovsky Komsomolets daily declared on its front page beneath a picture
of Kasyanov -- a man linked to Putin's predecessor Boris Yeltsin and the
businessmen who lurked in his Kremlin court.
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- "The first one has been removed," said the
paper while predicting massive government overhauls on the eve of Putin's
expected March 14 re-election.
-
- Putin's announcement Tuesday that he was dismissing a
government that oversaw four years of economic growth was a shock not only
to the nation but also to his ousted team.
-
- The Kommersant business daily reported that most ministers
and Kasyanov himself learned of the news from reporters.
-
- "I did not expect this," Kasyanov was quoted
as saying by Interfax.
-
- Western officials also seemed to be taken by surprise.
-
- "We are following the situation closely but have
no other comment at this time," said one US diplomat.
-
- Both independent newspapers and Western investors in
Russia appeared uncertain about what sparked such a seemingly rash move
from a president known for his calculating caution in politics.
-
- Putin's decision is seen here as the Kremlin's formal
break with the Yeltsin era and the business tycoons with which it was linked
so closely and whom many believed Kasyanov was defending.
-
- But Putin also left many confused. He did not show his
hand Tuesday and kept silent about who would replace Kasyanov. He must
present a new prime minister for approval within two weeks.
-
- Putin invited lawmakers from the pro-Kremlin United Russia
party to his suburban Moscow residence amid speculation that an announcement
would be imminent.
-
- The decision here is viewed as monumental -- the new
prime minister would be seen as Putin's anointed successor and have an
inside track in 2008 presidential elections.
-
- Putin's choice is also likely to lay bare before the
world which of the secretive clans in the Kremlin he actually favors.
-
- One is believed to be made up of military men and former
secret services agents like Putin himself. The hardline clan labeled as
the "siloviki" is thought to be pushing for Defense Minister
Sergei Ivanov for the top cabinet post.
-
- Meanwhile a separate clan of liberals with market-economy
training but whose influence does not seem to be as strong is backing Finance
Minister Alexei Kudrin.
-
- A few other names from inside the Kremlin circles have
been mentioned -- almost none of them known to the public at large. There
was also a splash of speculation that parliament speaker Boris Gryzlov
-- who was also meeting Putin on Wednesday -- might get the nod.
-
- The Russian media seems to be scrambling for answers.
But it is also reveling in the fact that a presidential election that before
was without interest suddenly has added spice.
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- "It looks like the president's new choice (for prime
minister) will be as surprising as the decision to dismiss the government,"
NTV television said as it lead off its morning news.
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- "But no one knows his name," added the station.
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- Some Western investors said Putin was simply laying down
the law and declaring openly that he planned to rule Russia his own way
over the next four years.
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