RUSSIA: YEVGENY PRIMAKOV IS COUNTRY'S NEW PRIME MINISTER (2) скачать в хорошем качестве

RUSSIA: YEVGENY PRIMAKOV IS COUNTRY'S NEW PRIME MINISTER (2)

(11 Sep 1998) Russian/Nat Russian lawmakers have overwhelmingly approved Yevgeny Primakov as the country's new prime minister. The vote in the State Duma was 317-63 -- a major show of support for the new government after its two rejections of President Boris Yeltsin's first candidate, Viktor Chernomyrdin. Approval came soon after Primakov -- the country's long-time foreign minister -- called on all political factions to unite behind his government to tackle the country's serious economic problems. Meanwhile, Yeltsin promoted Igor Ivanov from the position of deputy to foreign minister to replace Primakov in his former post. Russia had been without a formal government for weeks -- after President Boris Yeltsin tried to get the Duma to approve his first nominee, Viktor Chernomyrdin. Lawmakers -- led by the Communist majority -- rejected Chernomyrdin twice. And this week, Yeltsin came up with Primakov as a compromise candidate - and won. The Duma, or lower house of parliament, approved Primakov for the job on Friday with a vote of 317-63. Primakov's government is destined to be more left-leaning than the previous with former Soviet economic planner Yuri Maslyukov named as First Deputy Premier and former Soviet Central Bank Chair Victor Gerashenko back as Russia's Central Bank Chief. With Russia's economy in a freefall, Primakov admitted the road to recovery would be long and hard. Meanwhile, experts warned that Gerashenko might revert back to his favourite old-time Soviet policies. They fear the old ways of printing rubles and installing a more state- planned economy could dig Russia that much deeper into a financial quagmire. But the new Prime Minister was confident that with the backing of the Duma, the situation in Russia would improve. SOUNDBITE: (Russian) "We all know how hard everything is for our people, just how difficult of an economic position we are in. I think that these recent political changes will improve the situation but of course much is riding on what kind of cooperation we will have with Parliament." SUPER CAPTION: Yevgeny Primakov, New Russian Prime Minister Russia's communist party has certainly gained ground in this latest political move -- effectively turning the Russian cabinet about face after more than five years of hard economic reforms. Party leader Gennady Zyuganov expressed satisfaction over Friday's vote. SOUNDBITE: (Russian) "Everything that has taken place today has been in a positive direction for Russia, for the whole country and I think that we will all work well together and not only support him but help him. But all the same we very much want to know the real policies, that is what direction this government will take." SUPER CAPTION: Gennady Zyuganov, leader of Russian Communist Party Nationalist leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky was among the few who did not support Primakov's candidacy. He warned of the impending doom that this new government would bring, especially to Russia's fledgling market economy. SOUNDBITE: (Russian) "That is it, all the reforms will be stopped, turned in the other directions, the private sector is just going to run away and fall apart. So this is one more blow to Russia's economy. Our private sector is still weak. The communists are now at the helm, they will take over the cash registers, then they will take over the military, everything including transportation." SUPER CAPTION: Vladimir Zhirinovsky, leader of Nationalist Liberal Democratic Party President Boris Yeltsin also confirmed Primakov's former deputy Igor Ivanov as the new foreign minister for Russia. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...