Only a week ago, Anatoly Chubais' resignation seemed a technical step, an essential sacrifice by the president in the name of preserving democracy in Russia and staying the course of market reforms. Having fallen from grace, the first deputy prime minister made no objections to his treatment. Even Yeltsin's reproaches about mistakes made in privatization raised no eyebrows. As things turned out, the most serious mistake was how slowly the president dealt with them, writing them off as momentary political concerns.


Some of the anxiety experienced on financial markets and felt by Western investors was assuaged by the president's and the prime minister's confident declarations of the irreversibility of reform ...


[However], the situation has been changing radically over the last few days. There has been a final parting of the ways between Yeltsin and all those forces in Russia who used to be considered the liberal-reformers.