President Yeltsin fired his prime minister and cabinet yesterday for the fourth time in less than two years, raising new questions about his stability and plunging Russia into an all-too-familiar cycle of political turmoil.
Mr Yeltsin named a former KGB spy, Mr Vladimir Putin, as his acting Prime Minister and said he was anointing him as his handpicked successor.
But few believe that Mr Putin, a politically inexperienced bureaucrat, has any chance of being elected president.
Reaction was harsh across the political spectrum.
"This is an agony, a total insanity," said the Communist Party leader, Mr Gennady Zyuganov. "Who will take a prime minister seriously if they change them like gloves?"
"It's hard to explain madness," said Mr Boris Nemtsov, a former deputy prime minister and a prominent figure on the right. "The people have grown tired of watching an ill leader who is not capable of doing his job."
Mr Yeltsin gave no reason for firing Mr Sergei Stepashin and, in fact, praised him "for his good work" during his scant three months as prime minister. In a nationwide television address, Mr Yeltsin said he wanted to name Mr Putin to the job to lay the groundwork for the 2000 presidential elections.
"I'm convinced he will serve the nation well while working in this high post, and Russians will be able to appraise Putin's human and business qualities," the President said.
"I trust him. But I also want everyone who will come to the polls in July 2000 and make their choice to trust him, too. He will have enough time to show himself up."
The Russian constitution bars Mr Yeltsin from a third term, and the Russian media have speculated that he and his advisers are considering the possibility of postponing or cancelling elections in an attempt to extend his tenure.
Mr Zyuganov predicted that Mr Yeltsin would impose emergency rule as a pretext for remaining in office.
The change at the top will shake the country politically, as did the dismissals of former prime ministers - Mr Viktor Chernomyrdin, Mr Sergei Kiriyenko and Mr Primakov - all fired within the past 17 months.
The rouble began to fall immediately upon news of Mr Stepashin's dismissal, going from 24.9 to the US dollar to 25.9 in street trading.
Mr Stepashin, long known as one of Mr Yeltsin's most loyal aides, appeared shaken in a farewell speech to the cabinet.
"This morning I visited the President and he signed a decree on my resignation. He thanked me for good work - and fired me," he said solemnly.
The White House vowed yesterday to work with Russia's new Prime Minister, the country's fourth in less than a year and a half, and appeared untroubled by the unexpected reshuffle.
"Clearly this is within President Yeltsin's powers," the spokesman, Mr David Leavy, said. "Beyond that, we work with Russian governments based on their policies, not personalities. We'll continue to do that as we move forward."
China also said it wanted stability in its giant neighbour.
The Finnish Prime Minister, Mr Paavo Lipponen, whose country holds the rotating EU presidency, said it was important that Russia continue joint projects with the 15-nation bloc.
Russian security forces have killed 40 Islamic rebels at the border between Dagestan, where clashes flared over the weekend, and the Chechen republic, ITARTASS news agency reported yesterday.
It quoted the Dagestan interior ministry as saying that fighting continued yesterday between armed Islamic groups and Dagestan forces backed by Russian helicopter gunships and interior ministry special troops.