PHOTO: EAST NEWS/AFP PHOTO
Russian President Boris Yeltsin holds his glasses before a TV address in Moscow 09 August, 1999. Yeltsin sacked his third government in a year, replacing his loyalist premier with the head of Russia's security service, as he kicked off what is expected to be a bruising campaign for the legislative elections. The premier minister-designate, Vladimir Putin, replacing Sergei Stepashin, was appointed head of Russia's Federal Security Services, the main Russian successor to the Soviet-era KGB, last July.