Putin, left, and Yeltsin

August 13, 1999
Web posted at: 3:37 a.m. EDT (0737 GMT)

MOSCOW -- Russia's newest nominee for prime minister could be approved on Monday by the Duma, the lower house of parliament, Russian President Boris Yeltsin reportedly has said.

Yeltsin was quoted on Friday as saying he was confident that his candidate, Vladimir Putin, would be approved Monday.

"My opinion is that the candidacy of Putin will go through on the first vote in the (State) Duma," RIA news agency quoted Yeltsin as saying before meeting the presidential representative in the Duma. "If it does not go through the first time, this is no tragedy, it will go through the second time."

Putin must get a simple majority in the 450-seat lower house to be confirmed in office. Former Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin and ultra-nationalist Vladimir Zhirinovsky have already said their parties would support him. Putin is due to hold more meetings before Monday's Duma vote.

Yeltsin shocked Russia last Monday when he abruptly sacked then Prime Minister Sergei Stepashin and nominated Putin, the former head of the security service with little political profile. Yeltsin compounded the shock when he said he thought Putin was the best person to become the country's next president.

Yeltsin was quoted by Interfax news agency as saying his meeting with the presidential representative in the Duma, Alexander Kotenkov, would focus on how the Kremlin should approach the vote in the Duma.

Yeltsin was fiercely criticized for sacking Stepashin, who had been in power for just three months, and who most commentators said had been doing a good job.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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