RUSSIA: President Vladimir Putin severed his last ties with predecessor Mr Boris Yeltsin yesterday, when he sacked Prime Minister Mr Mikhail Kasyanov and his cabinet less than three weeks before an election that the former KGB spy is set to dominate.
Mr Kasyanov was the last senior Yeltsin-era official to survive under Mr Putin, and his dismissal sounds the death knell for a political elite that created and stayed close to the wealthy "oligarchs" whom Mr Putin has vowed to bring to heel.
"In line with Article 117 of the Russian Constitution, I have decided to dismiss the government," Mr Putin said in a surprise television address to the nation.
"This decision is not linked to the government's achievements, which on the whole I consider satisfactory. It is dictated by my wish to set out again my position on what course the country will take after March 14th, 2004," he said, referring to the date of the presidential poll.
"I believe the citizens of Russia have the right to, and should, know who will serve in the government if I am elected president." Mr Putin asked Deputy Prime Minister Mr Viktor Khristenko to fill Mr Kasyanov's post until he names a full-time replacement during the next two weeks. He asked the rest of the cabinet to remain in their posts for now.
Leading political analysts thought most ministers would retain their positions in a new government comprised solely of Putin loyalists, but said the Kremlin leader was keen to be rid finally of Mr Kasyanov.
"I would say that it is not the firing of the government. It's the firing of Mikhail Kasyanov. According to the constitution, Putin can't do it without firing the whole cabinet," said Mr Sergei Markov, head of the Institute of Political Studies.
"I think that the team of reformers headed by (Finance Minister) German Gref will keep their positions," said the analyst, who is considered close to the Kremlin.
Rumours of Mr Kasyanov's departure have circulated for many months, and intensified with the arrest last October of billionaire Mr Mikhail Khodorkovsky, amid a legal crackdown on officials at his Yukos oil company for alleged tax evasion and fraud.
Mr Kasyanov, prime minister for almost four years, was seen as strongly connected to the oil and metals magnates created under Mr Yeltsin, after a string of corrupt privatisations in the mid-1990s. He was also the only senior minister to voice concerns about the arrest of Mr Khodorkovsky, who says the Kremlin is persecuting him for funding opposition parties.
Since his election in 2000, Mr Putin has filled the halls of power with dozens of old comrades from the security services, many of whom are hostile to the country's tycoons and demand more state control and legal vigilance over big business.
Mr Igor Bunin, the head of the Centre for Political Technologies, said Mr Putin had decided to get rid of Mr Kasyanov after they clashed over Kremlin plans to increase tax on income and on the revenue of oil firms, for whom the former prime minister was a perceived advocate.
Mr Sergei Kolmakov, from the Politika Foundation, said the move could energise an election that risks being mired in voter apathy due to the domination of Mr Putin and the state-controlled television channels that often act as his cheerleaders.
"This is an electoral step. Putin is definitively cutting the ties with the Yeltsin era," he said.
"The government's sacking makes the campaign more dynamic. It's the main political intrigue of the season, which will wake people up and boost the turnout in the election."