PRESIDENT YELTSIN has strengthened his hand in his effort at re election following a day of political convulsion not seen in Moscow since the events which led to the shelling of the parliament in October 1993.
In a series of fast moving developments, Mr Yeltsin, who thrives on crisis, first sacked the powerful head of his bodyguard, Gen Alexander Korzhakov. Then came the dismissal of Gen Mikhail Barsukov, who headed the Federal Security Service, a successor agency to the KGB.
The third head to roll was that of the first deputy prime minister, Mr Oleg Soskovets, the man who came down the steps of the aircraft at Shannon to say Mr Yeltsin was unable to meet the former Taoiseach, Mr Albert Reynolds.
Mr Yeltsin's new security adviser, Gen Alexander Lebed, who finished third in the first round of the elections last Sunday, prompted Mr Yeltsin to fire the three men, who were accused of plotting to cancel the second round of voting on July 3rd.
The crisis which took Moscow by storm could only help Mr Yeltsin, Russian analysts said. When such events occur, said Sergei Parkhomenko, editor of the news magazine, Hogi, the people usually rally round their leader.
Gen Korzhakov, who for the past two years has been regarded as the power behind the throne in the Kremlin, openly called for the elections to be cancelled earlier this year. He was a regular tennis partner of Mr Yeltsin and issued political "suggestions" to members of the Russian government.
He, like Gen Barsukov, is an officer of the former KGB. Mr Soskovets belonged to the political establishment. All three men were accused of involvement with shadowy Russian business figures.
Later yesterday, Mr Yeltsin named another former KGB officer, Lieut Gen Yuri Krapivin, to replace Gen Korzhakov. Gen Barsukov is replaced by his deputy, Gen Nikolai Kovalyov. Mr Oleg Lobov, one of the chief negotiators in Chechnya, was asked to take over from Mr Soskovets.
Gen Korzhakov pledged his loyalty to Mr Yeltsin but assailed the President's campaign manager, Mr Anatoly Chubais, whom he described as "the scourge of Russia".
The former Soviet president, Mr Mikhail Gorbachev, said earlier this week he had information that Mr Chubais had been involved in financing the election campaigns of both Mr Yeltsin and Gen Lebed.
The crisis began late on Wednesday when two Yeltsin aides, Mr Yuri Yevstafyev and Mr Sergei Lisovsky, were arrested for allegedly trying to take a box containing half a million dollars in cash out of government buildings in the Moscow White House.
They were interrogated by security officers under the command of Col Valery Streletsky, who had been appointed earlier in the day as deputy head of the National Sports Foundation (NSF). He replaced Mr Boris Fyodorov, who had been shot and stabbed in a Moscow street. The NSF receives the tax revenue from all alcohol and tobacco imported into Russia.
