A U.S. intelligence report warns that Boris Yeltsin's military campaign against secessionist Chechnya may prompt a significant shift in Russia's power structure, the Boston Sunday Globe reported.
The memo from Moscow said the power shift likely would come in the next few days, if it came at all, the newspaper reported, citing a unidentified CIA source.The report did not specify whether the change was expected to involve a constitutional shakeup of top government officials or a coup attempt.
But unidentified sources familiar with the report told the newspaper it was a cautiously phrased warning of a move against Yeltsin.
In the past week, U.S. diplomats and Russia experts have warned that the military campaign against Chechnya has caused deep divisions in Yeltsin's government.
The operation was launched Dec. 11 with predictions of a swift victory over Chechen leader Dzhokhar Dudayev.
But a week of Russian bombings of the capital Grozny stirred deep dissent within the Russian armed forces. Some senior officers denounced the operation; others said they will refuse orders to invade Chechnya, a small, mostly Muslim region of southern Russia.