But confirmation may be the easy part for Kiriyenko. "Now he has to prove himself in actually governing the country, and that's going to be a lot more difficult," says Quinn-Judge. Especially with a parliament in no mood to cooperate after Yeltsin forced them to back down. The Duma could be forced to play ball under threat of dissolution but, despite his extensive powers, Yeltsin can't yet dissolve the country.
Russian Reformer Wins PM Battle
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A month ago it appeared as if Boris Yeltsin had chosen a graduate student to lead Russia's government. But after finally prevailing in a bruising confirmation battle, Prime Minister Sergei Kiriyenko looks "articulate, very bright and quite authoritative," says TIME Moscow bureau chief Paul Quinn-Judge. "His standing has definitely improved as he remained unfazed throughout the verbal hammering he's faced." Yeltsin's baby-faced protégé won easily in today's Duma vote after a secret ballot allowed a number of Communists and other opposition members to quietly defect in order to avoid the dissolution of the legislature and new elections.