The Russian Prime Minister, Mr Sergei Stepashin, has until Wednesday to complete his new cabinet, but with the key posts already filled the make and shape of policy seem clear.
Most of the old cabinet, including the outspoken anti-NATO Foreign Minister, Mr Igor Ivanov, are retained, but the hand of the sinister businessman, Mr Boris Berezovsky, is seen behind the appointment of important newcomers.
The man who is to take charge of Russia's parlous economy, the little-known Railways Minister, Mr Nikolai Aksyonenko, has been described as Mr Berezovsky's protege, while the controversial new Interior Minister, Mr Vladimir Rushailo, has denied accusations of being a close associate of the man described as the new Rasputin.
Mr Berezovsky, a mathematician turned car dealer and media magnate, has become one of the richest and most influential men in Russia, using his links with President Yeltsin's daughter, Ms Tatyana Dyachenko, as political leverage.
Strong attacks were made on Mr Berezovsky, including the issuing of a warrant for his arrest on charges of money-laundering, in what turned out to be the dying days of the government of Mr Yevgeny Primakov.
After Mr Yeltsin's sacking of Mr Primakov, ostensibly for being too tied economically to the IMF, the charges were dropped.
Mr Yeltsin has made several unsuccessful attempts to sack the prosecutor-general, Mr Yuri Skuratov, who initiated the legal proceedings.
After the upper house of parliament, the Federation Council, failed to confirm the President's decree dismissing him, Russian television aired a video clip showing a man resembling Mr Skuratov in bed with two young prostitutes in an apartment just across the Moskva river from the Kremlin. Another of Russia's oligarchs, Mr Alexander Smolensky, whose SBS-Agro bank was the first to have its licence revoked in the economic crisis last year, has also had a charge of money-laundering against him dropped as a consequence of the change of power.
Economic policy is therefore expected to favour the small number of business tycoons which has emerged since the collapse of the communist system in 1991, while foreign policy, with the reappointment of Mr Ivanov, is likely to be strongly against NATO's bombing campaign in Yugoslavia.
The Defence Minister, Mr Igor Sergeyev, who has been as strongly critical of the West as has Mr Ivanov, has also retained his post, and Mr Pavel Krasheninnikov retains his position as Minister for Justice.
Some cabinet posts remain to be filled, but it is understood Mr Stepashin is having difficulty filling economic and financial portfolios because of lack of confidence in Mr Aksyonenko from leading contenders in that sphere.