PRESIDENT Yeltsin yesterday sacrificed his pro western Foreign Minister, Mr Andrei Kozyrev, in an attempt to appease communists and nationalists who proved popular in parliamentary elections in December.
But Moscow hastened to assure the world it would maintain a steady foreign policy. Western countries should not regard the resignation of Andrei Kozyrev from the post of Foreign Minister as any kind of threat or as an indication of change in Russia's foreign policy," Mr Yeltsin's spokesman, Mr Sergei Medvedev said.
The Interfax news agency broke the news of the resignation, saying Mr Kozyrev had sent a letter to Mr Yeltsin. The presidential press service said later the Kremlin leader had released him although he had yet to name a successor.
The news was not a surprise, as Mr Kozyrev had been a political whipping boy for months. He provided an easy scapegoat for Mr Yeltsin, who is not obliged to shuffle the cabinet following the elections, but who nevertheless needs to make some sacrifices in order to keep his reformist Prime Minister, Mr Viktor Chernomyrdin.
Mr Kozyrev (44), had served Mr Yeltsin loyally since 1990. Pro western at heart, he toughened his rhetoric when communists and nationalists began gaining influence in 1993.
But this was not enough for the hardliners, who saw him, in practice, continuing to co operate with the west over a range of issues including ending the war in the former Yugoslavia.
Last autumn, Mr Yeltsin made clear he would not hesitate to drop Mr Kozyrev if his own political survival depended on it. On the eve of the US Russia summit in New York, he publicly humiliated the Foreign Minister by saying his job was on the line, only to reprieve him and include him in the summit team anyway.
Mr Kozyrev saw the writing on the wall and stood in the parliamentary election as a candidate for the far northern constituency of Murmansk, which elected him. Under the Russian political system, a deputy cannot at the same time be a minister. Mr Kozyrev saw Mr Yeltsin a few days ago and evidently realised his time at the Foreign Ministry was running out. In his letter of resignation, he said he had decided to work for Murmansk.
Pressure from the hardliners clearly brought about Mr Kozyrev's downfall, but it is by no means certain that Mr Yeltsin will choose a new foreign minister from the ranks of the communists, who now form the biggest bloc in parliament.
Extreme nationalists have even less chance although Mr Vladimir Zhirinovsky lost no time yesterday in putting himself forward as a replacement for Mr Kozyrev.
The favourite for the job, Mr Vladimir Lukin, comes from the liberal Yabloko grouping, whose support the Government is trying to win in order to keep the communists and nationalists at bay. Yesterday Mr Lukin, former Ambassador to Washington, welcomed Mr Kozyrev's resignation, saying he should have departed even sooner.
Other candidates are also mostly from the diplomatic service, the best known among them being Mr Vitaly Churkin, formerly Moscow's envoy to Yugoslavia.
Reuter adds:
The deputy Foreign Minister, Mr Sergei Krylov, will take charged of Russian foreign policy for the time being, Interfax said yesterday, quoting a ministry spokesman.
The spokesman, Mr Grigory Karasin, said the first deputy Foreign Minister, Mr Igor Ivanov, who outranks Mr Krylov, would return from holiday early next week.