MOSCOW, Feb 27: The much-publicised full meeting of the Russian Government, chaired by President Boris Yeltsin ended here on Thursday with an unprecedented confusion over the Cabinet reshuffle.In his nationally televised opening remarks at the plenary meeting of the Russian Government, Yeltsin threatened that he would fire three Cabinet ministers at the end of the meeting.
However, despite Yeltsin's threat the promised reshuffle at the end of the session was not announced, apparently because of differences between Yeltsin and Premier Viktor Chernomyrdin.
After the meeting, Yeltsin's press secretary Sergei Yastrzhemsky told journalists that the reshuffle would be made public later.
Yeltsin abruptly left the meeting, after hearing the speech of Tataristan President Mintimer Shaimiyev, who sharply criticised the government's economic policy.
Regional governors, leaders of parliamentary factions in the State Duma, the lower house of Russian parliament, and several important public figures alsoparticipated in the special session.
He had called the special Cabinet meeting to listen to ministers about their performance and ``make decisions immediately'' on their fate. The economic priorities for 1998 were high on the agenda.
When Yeltsin announced that three ministers would be fired, an uneasy wave of nervousness ran through the front rows, occupied by the ministers, leaving them to guess about the ones who might be sacked by the end of the day.
In his speech on the last year's performance of his government, Chernomyrdin focussed on the urgent necessity of a new tax code in order to boost state revenue, adding there was a $ 7.5 billion gap in the 1998 budget and strict spending cuts were needed. The budget and new tax code are still awaiting the parliament's approval.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
