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Today's paper. Last Updated: 02/20/2012

06/21/1996

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Blase Muscovites Laud Sacking of Ministers

If Russia was indeed teetering on the brink of a coup Wednesday night, then nobody passing through Pushkin Square Thursday afternoon had heard about it -- and if one had taken place, they were none too concerned. ""A coup? What coup?"" said a bemused Dmitry Gorbunov, a 24-year-old designer, before adding, ""Even if there was one we already had two before."" Some passers-by were quite unaware that some of the most powerful men in the country -- Kremlin Security Services chief Alexander Korzhakov, Federal Security Service chief Mikhail Barsukov and First Deputy Prime Minister Oleg Soskovets -- had been fired. Once informed, however, nobody expressed any regrets. Ruslan, 50 and ""not a very successful businessman,"" said: ""Good, people who shouldn't have been there in first place are at last being removed. Now I can see that Yeltsin is turning his face to us, to people."" One man who works in the media and gave his name as Vladimir Ivanovich, 54, thought Thursday's cabinet reshuffle was a ""natural thing to do.


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