LEBED SECURES KREMLIN POST FOR CLOSE ASSOCIATE.

Open sniping between the various factions in the Russian leadership continued yesterday with the promise of more to come as Aleksandr Lebed finally succeeded in having his close associate Sergei Glazyev appointed to a senior Kremlin post. Glazyev is to be director of the Security Council’s Department of Economic Security Department. (Russian Radio, August 19)

Born in Zaporozhe (western Ukraine) in 1961, Glazyev was a professional economist before entering politics. From 1992 to 1993 he was minister of foreign economic relations (i.e., foreign trade). Elected to Duma at the end of 1993, he chaired the parliamentary committee on economic policy and was instrumental in the inclusion of tight restrictions on foreign investment in last year’s law on production sharing. (Glazyev defended the restrictions as necessary to safeguard Russia’s natural resources from Western predators; Anatoly Chubais deplored them as sure to scare off foreign investment.) Currently leader of the Democratic Party of Russia, Glazyev is better known as a founder-member of the nationalistic Congress of Russian Communities (KRO), where he worked with Lebed.

Glazyev’s appointment is likely to move the Security Council further into opposition to the government of Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin. In his first press interview yesterday, Glazyev was highly critical of the economic policy of the present government. He also criticized the Communist faction in Duma, accusing them of ducking their responsibilities by approving Yeltsin’s nomination of Chernomyrdin as prime minister. Asked whether the Security Council would take on the responsibility of opposing government policy, Glazyev replied, "If by opposition you mean are we are going to take on trust and blindly support all the initiatives that come from Chernomyrdin’s government, then clearly we are not." (ORT, August 20)

Russian Arms Contracts Surge.