Yeltsin’s move was designed to serve his own interests. It may also serve Russia’s – by shortening the period of uncertainty between the two sets of elections and hastening the time when the conflict in Chechnya can be taken out of the electoral context.
The economic and political crisis of August 1998 severely weakened Boris Yeltsin’s presidency. His main concern thereafter was to leave office with dignity. He looked for a successor who would be both loyal enough to guarantee his own and his family’s security and popular enough to be electable. This was a difficult equation given the collapse of Yeltsin’s own popularity.
