Candidates drop out as word from Yeltsin is awaited

As politicians waited for word from President Yeltsin as to whether he would renominate Mr Viktor Chernomyrdin or not, two of the "compromise" candidates for the premiership have dropped out of the race and a third, Moscow's mayor, Mr Yuri Luzhkov, has issued an equivocal statement on the issue.

Russia's Foreign Minister, Mr Yevgeny Primakov, proposed as a possible prime minister by the democratic opposition leader, Mr Grigory Yavlinsky, issued a statement yesterday in which he categorically refused to be considered for the post. So too did Mr Yegor Stroyev, chairman of the Federation Council, the upper house of Russia's parliament.

Mr Luzhkov's office simply issued a statement saying that a report that he would be prepared to become prime minister while remaining as mayor was untrue. Last night the Itar-Tass news agency reported Mr Luzhkov as saying there was no possibility of his being nominated.

In what could signal a possible compromise, Mr Yeltsin's spokesman said the President would not immediately send a letter to the Duma renominating Mr Chernomyrdin for a third time. A decision on the matter would, he said, be made today.

The communist leader, Mr Gennady Zyuganov, in what initially appeared as quite an inflammatory statement, called (for the second time in two weeks) for the army to defend the Duma in the event of dissolution. Predictions of civil war had have been bandied about for years but even the bloody events of October 1993 fell far short of qualifying as such.

What is happening however is a gradual devolution of power from Moscow to the provinces. While the politicians in the capital are huffing and puffing provincial governors are beginning to take power into their own hands.

In Moscow, where prices have increased three-fold in three weeks, politicians are talking instead of impeaching President Yeltsin.

Such a course is little more than a charade as Mr Yeltsin's new constitution was framed in such a way as to make impeachment a theoretical possibility but practically unachievable.

The rouble was trading on the streets of Moscow yesterday at between 20 and 25 to the dollar against six when the crisis began 23 days ago.