Moscow - President Yeltsin announced he had granted his new, young cabinet greater power and independence from the Kremlin as he finalised the government line-up with the Prime Minister, Mr Sergei Kiriyenko. However, analysts cautioned that Mr Yeltsin's move could be simply a ruse to wash his hands of any future government debacles.
"All decisions of the government used to go through the presidential structures," Mr Yeltsin said on Russian television. "From now on, it will not be this way. Prime Minister Sergei Kiriyenko signs a decision and that's it."