Russia's Prime Minister, Mr Vladimir Putin, is struggling for his political life as Kremlin intriguers attempt to persuade President Yeltsin to send him the way of his predecessors - out through the revolving door of Russia's prime ministry.
The possibility that Mr Putin's demise may be imminent has been the main talking point in Moscow political circles for days; so much so that the Kremlin has been forced to issue a statement denying that the axe is about to fall. A similar statement was issued not long before Mr Yeltsin sacked Mr Yevgeny Primakov.
The pressure on Mr Putin is coming from several directions. He has become extremely popular and that is something Mr Yeltsin finds difficult to tolerate. The West, which controls future financial aid, wants him gone because of his hard line on Chechnya. Moscow's powerful mayor, Mr Yuri Luzhkov, wants his head as he could be a strong competitor for the presidency.
Russia's latter-day Rasputin, the billionaire friend of the Yeltsin family, Mr Boris Berezovsky, has been using his media empires to promote the candidature of the Minister for Emergency Situations, Mr Sergei Shoigu.
But Mr Putin is not without support. His total commitment to the second Chechen war has put the army behind him. The chief of the Russian General Staff, Gen Anatoly Kvashnin, wants the war in Chechnya to continue at all costs and most high-ranking officers support him. The Russian military is out to avenge its defeat in the first Chechen war.
The generals have learned their lessons from NATO and are spending most of their time pounding the "enemy" from a safe distance with artillery and air power.
In the first major break from the pro-war ranks, the Yabloko Party under the liberal politician, Mr Grigory Yavlinsky, has called for an end to the bombing and the opening of negotiations with President Aslan Maskhadov of Chechnya, who is a former Soviet army officer.
Yabloko's ranks now include not only Mr Yavlinsky but also Mr Sergei Stepashin who was Mr Putin's immediate predecessor as prime minister until he fatally figured in the polls as being more popular than President Yeltsin.
Mr Putin's biography, issued by the government information service on his appointment as prime minister, was unusual in that 12 years appeared to be missing from his life. It is known that he was a KGB spy based in the East German cities of Dresden and Leipzig. He is also believed to have been responsible for KGB links with the East German Stasi secret police and travelled frequently to West Germany on a diplomatic passport.
The US think-tank STRATFOR, which is dominated by former CIA operatives, claims that he was involved in economic espionage and the recruiting of spies.
Quoted in the Russian business newspaper Kommersant earlier this week, Mr Putin appeared to accept that his term may be coming to an end. "I am Russia's 29th Prime Minister. This means, that after me, whatever time I am given to serve in the office, there will be the 30th prime minister and so on. Because Russia won't disappear. It will always have a government," he said, adding that "concerning firings, we'll all be fired one day."