Saying that Prime Minister Vladimir Putin is "the only option for Russia," President Boris Yeltsin this weekend publicly and forcefully restated his wish that Putin succeed him as Russia's president.
Putin looked uncomfortable Sunday in his televised meeting with Yeltsin at the Gorki-9 presidential residence, as the president, who towers over him, squeezed his arm and sang his praises to the cameras.
"Look at his actions, analyze his deeds. How logical, wise and strong they are!" Yeltsin said. "From the point of view of intellect, willpower, analytical abilities - everything. For this reason, I supported and continue to support his candidacy. My confidence in him mounts with each day."
Yeltsin also shuffled some Kremlin posts to give Putin's chosen lieutenants promotions. But he has also reserved leading roles in foreign diplomacy for himself in coming days, including a trip this week to Turkey for the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe summit and, a few days later, a surprise Kremlin ceremony inaugurating a new era of Russian-Belarussian union.
The Kremlin press secretary announced Monday that Yeltsin, not Putin, would represent Russia abroad in Istanbul on Thursday at the OSCE talks. The summit is also to be attended by U.S. President Bill Clinton, French President Jacques Chirac and German Chancellor Gerhard Schr?der, and a main topic will be Chechnya.
Turkey is cranking up security in anticipation of the two-day meeting, and Monday Russian and Turkish authorities reported that at noon a plastic bag containing a remote-control bomb was thrown into the Russian Consulate in Istanbul. Turkish police defused the bomb, Itar-Tass reported.
The Kremlin also announced Monday that Yeltsin and Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko would sign a treaty in about 10 days unifying the military and economic spheres of Russia and Belarus.
The Nov. 26 signing ceremony is planned for the Kremlin.
It was hard to say Monday how significant the treaty will be, as talk of a Russian-Belarussian union has been drawn out over years, and the details have changed frequently. Some months ago leading Russian politicians and media were describing the union treaty as a Trojan Horse - a tool to create new government structures so that the Kremlin inner circle can stay in power.
The treaty now under consideration does set up a Supreme Council of sorts, whose membership is murky. But in recent weeks there has been very little of the previous alarmed commentary about unification.
Whatever else Russian-Belarussian union may be, however, it does let Moscow and Minsk stand together against Western criticism. Yeltsin said of the OSCE summit that he intended to tell participants "they can't level accusations against Russia while it is fighting against bandits and terrorists on its own territory."
"We will most resolutely reject any attempts of interference in the internal affairs of Russia whatever the pretext may be," Yeltsin said in remarks reported by Interfax. "If somebody tries to do that in Istanbul, a resolute reply will be given there too." (See story page 3.)
Lukashenko on Monday told the OSCE to stop "preaching." The OSCE has called on Minsk - where Lukashenko has cracked down on the opposition - to release political prisoners and allow freedom of speech.
Yeltsin also met in the Kremlin with Central Elections Commission Chairman Alexander Veshnyakov to discuss, among other things, next year's presidential elections.
Afterwards, Veshnyakov told Itar-Tass that Yeltsin wanted to amend the law on presidential elections to force candidates to offer a more detailed accounting of their property, wealth and income, and to provide the CEC with more time for a detailed audit of a candidate's claims. Veshnyakov said Yeltsin also wanted to lower thelegal spending limit for a presidential campaign.
Yeltsin plucked Putin out of obscurity in August, naming him Russia's fifth prime minister in 17 months. At the time, Yeltsin also said that Putin, until that moment the director of the Federal Security Service, or FSB, was his chosen successor.
The Kremlin later seemed to be backing away from its initial embrace of Putin. Yeltsin's spokesman suggested at one point that Putin was no longer the successor, and Yeltsin seemed to be keeping a distance from Putin's war.
Some typically poorly sourced Russian press reports in recent days have reported that a cabal of Kremlin insiders - led by tycoon Boris Berezovsky and first daughter Tatyana Dyachenko - distrust Putin and have been scheming to have him sacked and replaced.
But Putin's popularity has been soaring in the polls, and Friday he hit back. He reiterated plans, first announced in August, to run for president in 2000. He also met twice last week with Moscow Mayor Yury Luzhkov, one of the leaders of the Fatherland-All Russia movement and a harsh Yeltsin foe.
"If one talks about Putin's single-mindedness and persistence, they are worthy of respect," Luzhkov said Saturday at a campaign meeting. "We support him at this moment."
Former prime ministers Yevgeny Primakov, Sergei Kiriyenko and Viktor Chernomyrdin also joined in praising Putin - and Kiriyenko and Chernomyrdin both suggested separately that they would court Putin as their parties' presidential candidate.
Yeltsin joined the Putin lovefest Sunday, and then for good measure repeated his protestations of support Monday.
"[Putin's sacking] will not happen," Yeltsin said, in remarks reported by Interfax. "I supported him and I will strongly support him during the presidential election campaign."
"Vladimir Putin will be on the ballot for president at his consent and on my recommendation," Yeltsin said, adding that presidential elections would take place on schedule next summer.
Yeltsin fell ill with the flu last month and had been resting at his secluded Gorky-9 residence west of Moscow. On Monday he came to the Kremlin for the first time in two weeks. As he often does after absences, the president indulged in some Kremlin musical chairs, appointing Deputy Federal Security Service Director Sergei Ivanov as the new secretary of the powerful Kremlin Security Council.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Yakushkin told Interfax that Putin had recommended Ivanov. Yeltsin also appointed FSB Director Nikolai Patrushev as a permanent member of the council, replacing former Prime Minister Sergei Stepashin. Both Ivanov and Patrushev were promoted at the FSB when Putin was its director.