THE appointment of Mr Ivan Rybkin, former speaker of the State Duma, to replace the ousted Gen Alexander Lebed as head of the Russian Security Council and President Yeltsin's representative to Chechnya represents a decision to award these key posts to a safe pair of hands".
Far from possessing any political flair, Mr Rybkin is noted for his ability to do what he is told. The leader of the Communists of Russia" faction in parliament, Mr Rybkin then moved to the Communists' allies, the Agrarian Party, and under that banner became the speaker of the State Duma, the lower house of the Russian parliament.
Thereafter he shifted quickly to become a member of the political establishment, and when Mr Yeltsin, in advance of the Duma elections of December 1995, created two political parties to support him, Mr Rybkin was put in charge of one and the Prime Minister, Mr Viktor Chernomyrdin, of the other.
Mr Chernomyrdin's party did badly with 10 per cent but Mr Rybkin's group did even worse, being almost totally rejected by the electorate.
The lowest point in Mr Rybkin's career came when, as Duma speaker, he led a delegation on a visit to the US. Returning home he had humanitarian aid for Russian children, including toys and clothes, removed from a Moscow bound aircraft to make way for several cases of furniture he had bought in Washington.
The story received major coverage in Russia and in the west, and played a major role in lowering his popularity.
In his first statement on Russian television after his appointment yesterday evening Mr Rybkin said he would ensure that the agreement to end the Chechen war, negotiated by Gen Lebed, would remain in place. But some observers felt that his implementation of the agreement would be considerably more passive than that of Gen Lebed.
His appointment was met with a "wait and see" attitude among the Chechen rebels, although the former rebel military commander, Mr Aslan Maskhadov appointed as prime minister of a provisional government at the weekend, said he would be prepared to work with him.
So, too, did the acting commander of the Russian army in Chechnya, Gen Vladimir Sukhoruchenkov, who said the withdrawal of defence ministry troops would proceed strictly according to the terms negotiated by Cen Lebed, whom he described as someone he greatly admired.
A former prime minister Mr Yegor Gaidar, strongly welcomed Mr Rybkin's appointment, saying: "He is a calm politician who does not seek adventures and who is able to reach compromises."
The Communist Party appeared to be divided on the issue. The chairman of the Duma's Defence Committee, Mr Viktor Ilyukhin, was quoted by the Interfax news agency as saying: "The security council should be headed by a person of remarkably honest and high principles, a person who would be brave enough to hold opinions differing from those of the President more often than we now see it in the presidential entourage."
The pro Yeltsin NTV channel, on the other hand, announced that the leader of the Communist Party, Mr Gennady Zyuganov, had given his support to Mr Rybkin's appointment. Mr Zyuganov was neither shown nor quoted in the news bulletin.
The former Soviet president, Mr Mikhail Gorbachev, described Gen Lebed as a Don Quixote" who went into the administration to change current policy but was allowed to do very little. But his time in the Kremlin had let the people see the chaos and panic which existed there.
Mr Gorbachev, not for the first time, called on President Yeltsin to resign.
