After discarding four prime ministers in two years, 68-year-old
Yeltsin last summer settled on Vladimir Putin, former KGB agent and
now its most popular politician and interim president, who is a heavy
favorite to win the presidential election at the end of March.
While Yeltsin's popularity in the West has waned in recent years
behind allegations of corruption, Russia's stance on the war in
Kosovo and his criticism of Latvia for treatment of its Russian
minority, many remember him best as the defiant reformer standing
atop a tank outside the Kremlin calling for the end of the Soviet
Union and as the man that came to Riga in 1991 to help usher in
independence.
"Whatever were Yeltsin's remarks about Latvia lately, he nevertheless
was our friend and helped us in very complicated circumstances," said
former Latvia Foreign Minister Valdis Birkavs.
Putin, little known before being appointed prime minister and leading
Russia into a controversial war in Chechnya, is not expected to make
great diplomatic strides with neighboring countries.
If Yeltsin stirred Russian nationalism in recent years, some analysts
say, Putin may bring it to a boil.
"I am very pessimistic about the future," said Paul Goble, director
of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, "especially given the American
reaction to Putin."
Statements Putin made about the ongoing war in Chechnya within a few
days of taking office have caused Goble some concern.
The war, Putin said this week, will be important in reversing the
"breakup" of Russia, an about-face from statements he made earlier
that armed aggression in Chechnya was necessary to stamp out
terrorism.
Putin's words in recent days "raise some disturbing questions" about
a Putin policy that might take Yeltsin's policies a step further and
border on hostility toward the West, said Goble.
Most Russians have rallied around Putin's firm hand, persuading
Yeltsin to groom him for the presidency.
But for now, most politicians in Latvia are more concerned about
Russia's rogue stance in Chechnya than what effect Putin's
nationalistic streak might mean for future relations.
"Putin's trump card [Chechnya] is morally indefensible," said MP
Juris Sinka, a member of the Latvian Parliament's foreign affairs
committee. "If that is the main basis on which Mr. Putin stakes his
future, then it does not bode well for Russia."
But Putin has tried to show the West that at the very least he will
continue reforms toward a market economy and not condone a backslide
toward Communism.
A few hours after taking office, Putin posted a detailed plan on how
he will run Russia on the government Internet web site of the Russian
Federation.
Russia needs to strengthen power in the state, he said, but not at
the cost of democracy.
"History proves all dictatorships, all authoritarian forms of
government are transient," Putin wrote. "Only democratic systems are
not transient. Whatever the shortcomings, mankind has not delivered
anything superior.
"A strong state power in Russia is a democratic, law-based, workable
federative state."
Although the Communist Party still remains the strongest in Russia,
results from last month's parliamentary election signaled a
pro-Yeltsin shift in the Duma, a trend that will likely continue
should Putin win the presidential election scheduled for March 26.
As for Yeltsin, a Putin presidency guarantees he won't be prosecuted
on money laundering charges that have swirled around him and his
family, including 39-year-old daughter-adviser Tatyana Dyachenko, in
recent months.
One of Putin's first acts as president was a decree Dec. 31 granting
Yeltsin immunity from criminal prosecution. He cannot be arrested,
searched or questioned by prosecutors under any conditions, according
to a statement from the Kremlin.
Earlier this week, Putin distanced himself from Yeltsin by firing
Dyachenko, who was reportedly already packing in her office when she
received the news.
Yeltsin's legacy in the Baltics will be clouded, according to observers.
While his push for independence in the Baltics made him many friends
here, his harsh words in recent years have caused some to turn their
back.
"It was a two-faced policy he had," said Atis Lejins, head of the
Latvia Institute of International Affairs.
Yeltsin steered Russia out of the Soviet Union and into a series of
fiscal slumps that have left the one-time superpower with an economy
one-fifth that of the average G-7 country.
In his resignation address, Yeltsin showed an apologetic side rarely
present in his eight years as Russia's president.
"I want to beg your forgiveness for dreams that never came true
because what we thought would be easy turned out to be incredibly
difficult," he said. "Russia must enter the new millennium with new
politicians, new faces, new intelligent, strong and energetic people.
As for those of us who have been in power for many years, we must go."
For the moment, Putin's future is tied to Russia's success in Chechnya.
Instead of six months to wait for the presidential election
originally scheduled for June, Russians will have just three months
to make up their mind on Putin.
According to Russian law, elections for a new president must occur
within three months after a president resigns. It is tentatively
scheduled for March 26.
If the election were held tomorrow, observers say, Putin would win easily.
But mounting casualties in Chechnya will likely weigh against him and
favor his strongest competitor, former Prime Minister Yevgeny
Primakov.
"I don't completely count out that he might lose in March," said
Lejins, calling Putin's style of rule "democracy in parentheses."
"Something could go wrong."
As much as Yeltsin's resignation was a surprise to most, the upcoming
election and Russia's immediate future is still in question, added MP
Sinka.
"Russia is predictable only in its unpredictability," he said.
Please enter your username and password.
2024 © The Baltic Times /Cookies Policy
