vlad.tribnet.com / Issue #163 / Special reports / Reading article...

Foreign media were describing it as «stunning» and «a bombshell announcement that shocked the nation.»

But while few in Vladivostok had foreseen Yeltsin’s dismissal of his government Monday, most people said they expected little to change. And there was little sympathy for Prime Minister Victor Chernomyrdin, First Deputy Prime Minister Anatoly Chubais, and others fired by Yeltsin.

Yeltsin said the government failed to deal with the nation’s economic problems, including wage non-payment.

Anatoly Noskov, a City Fire Department worker who was fire-proofing a new building amid the odor of fire retardant, said the government has done nothing for the people. «They should have been sued long ago – Chubais and the other guys,» he said.

His co-worker Gennady Rybalkin added, «They all are crooks and swindlers, and they got together and stole all the budget, and now they don’t know what to do. Can you imagine their salaries? They get $24,000 a month, while the workers are getting 200 rubles ($32).»

Victor Kondratov, FSB chief and presidential representative in Primorye, said he assessed the situation positively. A crisis was coming to a head in the government, and the president took care of the situation. There was also a political rationale for the dismissals, Kondratov said.

«This is preparation for the events of 1999 and 2000 – I mean elections,» Kondratov said. (Despite the dismissal, the president asked Chernomyrdin to prepare for the 2000 election campaign, and some media are speculating that the move was an attempt to free Chernomyrdin up for full-time campaigning.)

Primorye Duma Speaker Sergei Dudnik said the dismissals were a legitimate and constitutional means of dealing with a severe situation. «If the president sees economic reforms going at a slower pace than planned and social tension is not reduced, then he has the right to make this decision,» Dudnik said. «And I think it is the right one.»

For some, anger against the government boiled over into support for Vladimir Zhirinovsky, the radical leader of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia. Yelena Chiminkova, a cook on a fishing trawler, said she doesn’t care about Yeltsin’s action; the country would be better without a government. But although Zhirinovsky has been criticized for a State Duma speech in which he lambasted his colleagues and sprayed them with mineral water, Chiminkova likes his fiery temperament.

«I watch programs on TV in the Duma,» she said. «I saw it with my own eyes – everyone sitting and sleeping there, and he’s the only one who’s awake.»

Alexander Reznichenko paused while washing his car with a bucket of water and shrugged off the decisions of Moscow, 7,000 miles away. Nothing will change with a new Yeltsin-appointed government, he said, and thus he too looked to Zhirinovsky.

«Unlike the rest of them, Zhirinovsky at least can accomplish something,» he said.

Victor Ryzhkov, spokesman for the Russian Pacific Fleet, said the military doesn’t comment on political matters. But asked for his personal opinion, he expressed exasperation with the government.

«We are sick and tired of all those political games,» Ryzhkov said. «The proper people should finally take the government’s place and do what they were supposed to do.»

Antonina Pererva, a 74-year-old pensioner, sat on a couch abandoned outside the door of an apartment block and savored the morning sun. Yeltsin’s decision meant nothing to her, she said, but her comments suggested a nostalgia for a time when the Party told people how to interpret such events.

«I want to be together with the rest of the community; whatever they decide, I’ll support,» she told a foreign reporter. «If you give me a piece of advice on whom to support, I will do that.»

Tatiana Skupko paused while laying out towels, underwear, plastic purses and sweaters at a stand where she sold clothes.

«Hardly anything will change,» she said. «For so long, we’ve been waiting, and nothing changes. People are hungry, and there’s no hope for my children and grandchildren.»