President Boris Yeltsin gave his government another televised tongue-lashing Thursday, promising to fire Cabinet ministers who have hindered the pace of economic reforms.
"By the end of the session we will be short three government members," Yeltsin declared as he opened a daylong government meeting called to assess last year's economic performance.But Yeltsin left the hall after 90 minutes without firing anyone. Russian news agencies said he went to tape his weekly radio address and prepare for a meeting with visiting Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma.
Yeltsin's spokesman Sergei Yastrzhembsky said later that the president might not announce the dismissals Thursday. The delay was in line with Yeltsin's habit of keeping his advisers off-balance.
The ITAR-Tass news agency quoted unidentified Kremlin officials as saying that Yeltsin would decide on possible firings in the next couple of days, but they wouldn't be announced until another Cabinet session next week.
Yeltsin regularly scolds top officials in public in an effort to show that he's fully in charge and to distance himself from government failures.
Sober-faced Cabinet members flanked him on either side during the televised session. Lower-ranking officials filled the hall, where the Communist Party's Central Committee used to meet during Soviet times. The president maintained his serious tone and a frown through most of his remarks.
There was no word on which officials might be dismissed, but Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin and other senior Cabinet members were believed to be safe.
After years of sharp declines, Russia's economy has stabilized.