Russia's political crisis

Chernomyrdin will surely have an easier time talking to the Duma than Kiriyenko. It's possible that he can get a majority of the Duma to understand that it cannot wait to take measures against the acute economic crisis, with a bank panic possible.

But Russia's political crisis is more fundamental. No party stands behind Russia's government. The base is a president who has lost all the people's confidence. The Kiriyenko government had the bad fortune to be hit by the waves from the Asian crisis and the fall in prices of oil, Russia's large export product.

Yeltsin's aim was that the Kiriyenko government would accelerate the reform process in order that the reformists would be able to show growth and improvement to the people before the Duma elections in December 1999 and the presidential election in the spring of 2000. The plan failed. Even if the acute crisis lessens, with Chernomyrdin further question marks have been added to the matter of when and how Russia will get itself out of chaos.

-- Dagens Nyheter, Stockholm