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MOSCOW - In an unlikely alliance, pro-Kremlin and opposition lawmakers
forged
ahead Tuesday with a proposal that could force President Vladimir Putin
to choose
between firing his cabinet or dissolving parliament.
The leading members of the State Duma, the lower house of parliament,
scheduled a vote on a motion of no-confidence in the cabinet for March
14,
Communist Party chief Gennady Zyuganov told reporters.
If the motion is passed twice within three months, Putin must fire
Prime Minister
Mikhail Kasyanov and his ministers or disband parliament, prompting
early
elections.
The discussion left many Russians wondering what political upheavals
were in store
after a year of relative calm since Putin entered office.
"One gets the impression that those in power are tired of the political
calm and
have decided to get down to business," the daily Izvestia commented.
The Communists proposed a no-confidence vote last month, saying they
were
motivated by the cabinet's failure to improve the nation's living
standards.
Few thought the measure stood any chance until Monday, when legislators
from the
pro-Kremlin Unity party announced they would support it — prompting
many to
conclude the move had Putin's backing.
Unity members met Tuesday to decide how the party would vote but
apparently
failed to reach an agreement. Unity leader Boris Gryzlov said a
decision would be
made the day before the no-confidence vote.
Meanwhile, Gennady Raikov, the leader of another pro-Putin group of
legislators,
dismissed the no-confidence bid as a misguided "political game" and
said his
faction would likely vote against it.
Earlier, Gryzlov said he favored early elections that he predicted
would give his
party even more seats.
But many politicians and analysts say the Kremlin would not benefit
from new
elections, and suspect other motives. After sweeping the 1999
parliamentary
elections, Unity and other pro-Putin factions have enough seats to push
through
most presidential initiatives.
"If Unity wants the Duma dismissed and thinks this Duma is bad and the
next
Duma elected will be made up of only Unity, I would say it is very
confused,"
Raikov said on Echo of Moscow radio. "The Communists won't lose
anything. They
will take the same percent, if not more. But everyone else could lose
something."
Deputy Duma speaker Vladimir Lukin of the liberal Yabloko party
suggested Putin
wanted Unity to support the no-confidence vote to get rid of Kasyanov.
The prime
minister has ties to ex-president Boris Yeltsin's former team, which
has been
plagued by corruption allegations.
Others say Unity's move is aimed at threatening the Communists with
early
elections to make them stop criticizing the government.
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