PRESIDENT Boris Yeltsin promised yesterday to clean up government and bring order to Russia, acknowledging in his first major political speech since returning from illness that people's patience had reached the limit.
The annual state of the nation speech to parliament was Mr Yeltsin's most important, vigorous appearance for eight months, signalling that he intends to reassert authority after being incapacitated by heart disease and pneumonia.
"It is time to restore order, especially in the authorities. I will do that," he said in his 27-minute address, which was broadcast live on national television.
Mr Yeltsin listed Russia's problems as the struggling economy, falling production, crime, government corruption, the chaotic state of the military and falling living standards.
He accused the government of incompetence and said a general strike announced by the trade unions for March 27th "is a warning sign that people's patience is running out".
The Prime Minister, Mr Viktor Chernomyrdin, attending a post-speech cabinet meeting, called the criticism "correct and serious".
He said the government needed streamlining and singled out the finance ministry for "excessive bureaucracy".
Despite the general economic gloom, Mr Chernomyrdin noted that for the first time in 10 years Russia had recorded economic growth in January and February, compared with the same period last year.
But the Communist Party leader, Mr Gennady Zyuganov, the runner-up to Mr Yeltsin in the 1996 presidential elections, said the speech was just hot air.
"I was ashamed to sit in that hall. There was no analysis and no details on how to carry out what the President was promising to do," Mr Zyuganov said.
What cabinet changes Mr Yeltsin had in mind remained unclear. The defence minister, the procuror general and the finance minister have come under particularly heavy criticism over the last days.
Interfax quoted Kremlin and government sources that Mr Yeltsin's chief of staff, Mr Anatoly Chubais, could be named today as first deputy prime minister.
Rumours have been circulating that Mr Chubais, an original architect of post-Soviet reforms, will be appointed head of general economic policy. However, Mr Chubais is deeply unpopular with the left wing-dominated parliament.
Calling the situation in Russia "extremely complicated", Mr Yeltsin said economic reforms had been left incomplete.
He called for a balanced budget by 1999, excluding debt-servicing, and promised to take the 1998 budget under his control.
He also instructed the government to draft new laws to overhaul the pension system by December and clear the chronic pension arrears by the middle of this year.
He also promised fundamental reforms to the 1.7 million-strong armed forces, which consist mainly of poorly trained conscripts, and were humiliated by the war in Chechnya.
On Chechnya, Mr Yeltsin said: "The most important thing is that peace has been restored"
On foreign policy, Mr Yeltsin highlighted the need to resolve the dispute with NATO over the alliance's plans to give memberships to former Soviet bloc countries in eastern Europe.