ALEKSANDR LEBED

— all incapable, in Berezovsky’s view, of managing the economy.

Procedurally, the president now must recommend a prime minister to the Duma for confirmation. The Duma has three chances to approve a name. If the president’s choice(s) fails three times, the president may dissolve the Duma and call new elections — which Yeltsin has said he will do. The Communist leadership has expressed reservations about Kirienko but has not yet taken a position for or against. Neither has the leadership of the second-largest bloc in the Duma, Russia Is Our Home (ROH). The ROH group, which counts about 65 of the Duma’s 451 members, has been the government’s most reliable supporter. But the ROH leader is Viktor Chernomyrdin, now suddenly in a position to play an independent political game. NOTES