THE CHAIN of events culminating in the dismissal of three of President Yeltsin's leading aides involves attempted murder, drug charges, a box containing half a million dollars and a Kremlin intrigue reminiscent of the days of Ivan the Terrible.
The climax saw the dismissal of the first deputy prime minister, Mr Oleg Soskovets, the chief of the Federal Security Service, Gen Mikhail Barsukov, and the head of the presidential bodyguard Gen Alexander Korshakov.
But the story began on Tuesday at 11.55 pm. when Mr Boris Fyodorov, head of the National Sports Foundation (NSF), was walking with his girlfriend in a Moscow laneway.
An assailant opened fire with a Luger pistol, hitting Fyodorov in the stomach and his girlfriend in the hip. The Luger then jammed and Fyodorov was stabbed four times in the chest. Amazingly, he survived.
Mr Fyodorov, charged and released earlier this month for possession, of cocaine, had been involved in two operations, one lucrative, the other a dismal failure.
In his private capacity he headed the National Kreditny bank which was foundering with debts of $100 million. As deputy chairman of the NSF he was at the top of an organisation which creamed off all state taxes from imports of alcohol and tobacco.
A former small time businessman, he made it into the NSF through an acquaintance with the organisation's chairman Mr Shamil Tarpishchev, who also happens to be President Yeltsin's tennis coach.
Mr Fyodorov, unable to fulfil his duties, was replaced in the NSF by Col Valery Streletsky who also kept his job in what was once the KGB.
Almost precisely 24 hours later, two men from Mr Yeltsin's reelection team were arrested by security agents as they were leaving the Moscow White House.
The two, Mr Arkady Yefstafyev and Mr Sergei Lisovsky, were said to be in possession of a box containing $500,000 in cash.
Mr Yevstafyev, who worked on economic reforms, and Mr Lisovsky, a showbiz impresario who organised rock concerts in support of Mr Yeltsin's campaign, were questioned for 11 hours. Their interrogator was none other than Col Streletsky, the NSF's new deputy chairman.
Events developed quickly. The commercial TV station NTV headed by Mr Igor Malashenko who is also on the committee to re elect Mr Yeltsin, issued a special non scheduled news bulletin in the early hours of the morning to announce that the arrests were part of a plot by Gen Korzhakov, Gen Barsukov and Mr Soskovets to have the second round of the presidential election cancelled.
Just before dawn, Mr Yeltsin's new national security adviser, Gen Alexander Lebed, went on the state owned Russian TV channel to say that "any mutiny will be crushed cruelly".
As daylight crept in from the east, the Security Council presided over by Mr Yeltsin met in, closed session. A statement from the office of Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin announced there was no crisis and the arrest of the two men was an insignificant event.
Mr Yell sin went on TV to announce in solemn tones the dismissal of his three close associates. When he finished, A broad smile crept across his face.
Then Mr Anatoly Chubais, sacked by Mr Yeltsin as privatisation minister last year, called a press conference in the plush Slavyanskaya Hotel. It was clear that Mr Chubais was back in favour.
"There has been a struggle between two parts of Mr Yeltsin's administration. Soskovets, Korzhakov and Barsukov wanted to stop the elections being held. They have been fired. This is the last nail in the coffin of the illusion that things can be changed in Russia by force," he announced triumphantly.
Yes, he said, the sackings and the attempted murder of Mr Fyodorov were linked. The $500,000 had been planted on the two arrested men.
The "no crisis" statement had not been Mr Chernomyrdin's but that of an aide. Mr Yeltsin was a man with "unique political intuit ion who can make precise and dramatic decisions".
There are now important vacancies in the Russian administration, and Mr Chubais is likely to fill one of them.
