Yeltsin Says Nyet to Third Term

  • Share
  • Read Later
MOSCOW: It was an announcement that really didn't have to be made: Boris Yeltsin will step aside when his term expires in 2000. "My term ends in 2000. I will not run anymore," Yeltsin told an unlikely audience children and teachers on the first day of classes at School No. 1253 in Moscow.

Some of Yeltsin's supporters had reportedly been seeking ways for the president to circumvent constitutional term limits not to mention medical reality and seek a third go-round, although Yeltsin himself had made no move in that direction. The roster of possible successors is long but without a clear favorite. Yeltsin hinted today that he would prefer a promotion from within his own administration.