DATE=9/10/98
TYPE=BACKGROUND REPORT
NUMBER=5-41345
TITLE=PRIMAKOV PROFILE
BYLINE=PETER HEINLEIN
DATELINE=MOSCOW
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: YEVGENY PRIMAKOV, NOMINATED TO BE RUSSIA'S NEXT PRIME
MINISTER, FACES THE DIFFICULT -- SOME SAY IMPOSSIBLE -- TASK OF
BRINGING ORDER TO AN ECONOMY IN CHAOS. MOSCOW CORRESPONDENT
PETER HEINLEIN REPORTS MR. PRIMAKOV IS BEING SEEN AS A
TRANSITIONAL FIGURE AS RUSSIA MOVES TOWARD THE POST-YELTSIN ERA.
TEXT: YEVGENY PRIMAKOV WAS CLEARLY NOT PRESIDENT BORIS
YELTSIN'S FIRST CHOICE TO HEAD RUSSIA'S GOVERNMENT. MR.
PRIMAKOV MADE CLEAR HE WOULD HAVE PREFERRED TO STAY IN HIS JOB AS
THE COUNTRY'S TOP DIPLOMAT.
BUT THESE ARE DIFFICULT TIMES IN RUSSIA. PRESIDENT YELTSIN HAS
BEEN BADLY WOUNDED POLITICALLY BY HIS SEEMINGLY WHIMSICAL HIRINGS
AND FIRINGS.
KREMLIN INSIDERS SAY MR. YELTSIN HAD NOT EVEN CONSIDERED MR.
PRIMAKOV -- A FORMER SOVIET POLITBURO MEMBER AND SPY AGENCY CHIEF
AS A CANDIDATE FOR PRIME MINISTER UNTIL THIS WEEK. BUT WHEN BOTH
THE COMMUNISTS AND THE LIBERAL YABLOKO FACTION SUGGESTED HIM AS A
POSSIBLE COMPROMISE, MR. YELTSIN SAW IT AS A WAY TO SALVAGE HIS
ENDANGERED PRESIDENCY.
AS FOREIGN MINISTER, MR. PRIMAKOV HAS WON RESPECT BOTH AT HOME
AND IN THE WEST. HE HAS ESTABLISHED A SOLID RELATIONSHIP WITH
U-S SECRETARY OF STATE MADELINE ALBRIGHT.
/// OPT /// BUT HIS MOST IMMEDIATE TASK AS PRIME MINISTER WILL
BE TO TACKLE RUSSIA'S FORMIDABLE FINANCIAL CRISIS, AND HE WILL
HAVE TO CHOOSE FROM AMONG SEVERAL OPPOSING STRATEGIES.
/// OPT /// COMMUNISTS HAVE PUT FORWARD A PLAN TO BRING BACK
STRONG CONTROLS REMINISCENT OF THE SOVIET-ERA PLANNED ECONOMY.
ACTING DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER BORIS FYODOROV, ON THE OTHER HAND,
IS PUSHING AHEAD WITH REFORMS REQUIRING STRICT FISCAL AUSTERITY.
THE KREMLIN HAS A SEPARATE, BUT VAGUE PLAN THAT FALLS SOMEWHERE
BETWEEN THE TWO.
/// OPT /// A PROFESSOR OF FINANCE AT THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF
BUSINESS AND FINANCE IN MOSCOW, PETER EKMAN, SAYS THERE ARE
HOPEFUL SIGNS MR. PRIMAKOV WILL BE PERSUADED TO CONTINUE ON THE
PATH OF REFORM.
/// OPT // EKMAN ACT ///
MR. PRIMAKOV HAS NO ECONOMIC QUALIFICATIONS
WHATSOEVER, BUT HE DOES SEEM TO HAVE SUPPORT FROM JUST
ABOUT EVERY SECTOR. ONE THING I NOTICED, HIS NAME WAS
FIRST PUT FORWARD BY GRIGORY YAVLINSKY FROM THE YABLOKO
PARTY, AND MR. YAVLINSKY IS A VERY GOOD ECONOMIST, AS
FAR AS I CAN TELL.
/// END ACT // END OPT ///
DESPITE HIS LACK OF ECONOMIC EXPERTISE, POLITICIANS ACROSS
RUSSIA'S POLITICAL SPECTRUM HAVE WELCOMED THE PRIMAKOV
NOMINATION, DESCRIBING HIM AS A MAN WITH A GOOD INTERNATIONAL
REPUTATION.
HE IS KNOWN AS A STUBBORN DEFENDER OF RUSSIA'S INTERESTS, WHICH
AT TIMES HAS PUT HIM AT ODDS WITH THE WEST.
/// OPT /// HE IS A MIDDLE EAST EXPERT KNOWN FOR HIS CLOSE
RELATIONSHIP WITH IRAQI LEADER SADDAM HUSSEIN. HE PLAYED THE
MAIN ROLE IN MOSCOW'S FAILED EFFORT TO AVERT THE 1991 GULF WAR,
AND MORE RECENTLY HAS TRIED TO MEDIATE BETWEEN IRAQ AND THE
UNITED NATIONS.
HE WAS A MEMBER OF THE SOVIET COMMUNIST PARTY FROM 1959 UNTIL THE
SOVIET UNION COLLAPSED, A MEMBER OF THE POLICY-MAKING CENTRAL
COMMITTEE, AND BRIEFLY A NON-VOTING POLITBURO MEMBER UNDER SOVIET
PRESIDENT MIKHAIL GORBACHEV. IN 1991, PRESIDENT YELTSIN
APPOINTED HIM HEAD OF THE FOREIGN INTELLIGENCE SERVICE, THEN
TAPPED HIM AS FOREIGN MINISTER IN JANUARY, 1996, TO REPLACE THE
WEST-LEANING ANDREI KOZYREV. /// END OPT ///
MOST ANALYSTS SAY MR. PRIMAKOV'S ACCEPTABILITY TO FACTIONS
ACROSS RUSSIA'S POLITICAL SPECTRUM STEMS FROM HIS LACK OF ANY
PARTY AFFILIATION, AND HIS CLEAR LACK OF POLITICAL AMBITION. AT
THE AGE OF 68, SOON TO BE 69, HE WILL NOT BE A CANDIDATE IN THE
NEXT PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS, WHENEVER THEY COME.
HE IS BEING VIEWED AS A TRANSITIONAL FIGURE, SOMEONE WHO CAN
GUIDE RUSSIA THROUGH THE END OF THE YELTSIN ERA, WHICH MANY SAY
IS ALREADY UNDERWAY. (SIGNED)
NEB/PFH/JWH/RAE
10-Sep-98 11:56 AM EDT (1556 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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