Reforms revived as Yeltsin saves his ministers

BORIS YELTSIN'S chances of salvaging Russian reform despite the fall of Yegor Gaidar looked high yesterday after the President signed a decree reappointing almost all the ministers who had worked with the radical young prime minister.

Back in the government were Anatoly Chubais, the minister responsible for privatisation, as well as the Economics Minister, Andrei Nechayev, and the deputy prime ministers Alexander Shokhin and Vladimir Shumeiko, all names Russian and Western businessmen alike wanted to see to be confident of continuity from the new Prime Minister, Viktor Chernomyrdin.

Even the liberal Foreign Minister, Andrei Kozyrev, much hated by hardliners who accuse him of selling out Russia's interests to the West, was reappointed although he, along with the ministers for defence, security and the interior, must be confirmed by parliament. After his mock Cold War speech in Stockholm last week, his safe passage is not guaranteed.

The news came after two days of suspense and rumour. Mr Chernomyrdin, a former energy industry official, apparently had the cabinet list ready on Tuesday but then Mr Yeltsin retreated to his dacha outside Moscow suffering from what officials called a cold. This, coupled with the fact that Mr Yeltsin had cut short a visit to China last week because he feared his reformers were about to be sacked, raised speculation that a tug-of-war over key portfolios was going on between liberals and hardliners.

The only victim of the reshuffle was Pyotr Aven, the Foreign Trade Minister and debt negotiator, who resigned on Tuesday when he realised there was no place for him in the new cabinet. But he is being replaced by the man who deputised for him, Sergei Glazyev. A new minister, Boris Fyodorov, was put in overall charge of financial policy although the Finance Minister, Vasily Barchuk, also kept his job. Mr Fyodorov has liberal credentials dating back to the time when he was finance minister for the Russian republic in the old Soviet Union. Currently working with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development in London, he is a man with whom the West can work.

Reformers will sigh with particular relief at the survival of Mr Chubais, who has just launched an ambitious drive to privatise state industry by issuing vouchers to Russian citizens. Like his colleagues, Mr Chubais had said he would only serve Mr Chernomyrdin if he was sure he would be allowed to continue with his work.

One new appointment, that of Yuri Yarov, was apparently designed to appease conservatives. Mr Yarov, a deputy head of the Russian parliament who is close to Mr Yeltsin's rival, the parliamentary chairman, Ruslan Khasbulatov, was included on the cabinet list but his responsibilities were not specified.

Outside the economic sphere, too, Mr Yeltsin managed to keep the ministers he wanted and even bring back one who had been an earlier victim of the hardliners. Georgy Khizha, his troubleshooter in the Caucasus, is staying. And Sergei Shakhrai, who was kept busy as Mr Yeltsin's lawyer at the trial over the legality of the Communist Party after being dropped some months ago, was reinstated with the job of overseeing ethnic policy.

Also reappointed were Boris Saltykov, a Deputy Prime Minister responsible for higher education and science, the Minister of Labour, Gennady Melikyan, the Minister of Culture, Yevgeny Sidorov, and the Minister of Social Protection, Ella Pamfilova.

Ms Pamfilova, who argued that ministers should set an example of modesty while the population was suffering austerity to achieve market reform, had offered her resignation on Monday but Mr Yeltsin refused to accept it.

The new Prime Minister himself, whom Mr Yeltsin chose reluctantly after caving in to pressure from the conservative Congress and dumping Mr Gaidar last week, has been described as a 'dark horse' and has put out conflicting signals about his commitment to reform. But the young men who are carrying on are likely to keep him on what Mr Gaidar called the 'straight and narrow road' to the market.

(Photograph omitted)