Russia: Heads of Government: 1991-1992

Vacancy in the Offices of Predsedatel' Soveta Ministrov RSFSR and Predsedatel' Pravitel'stva RSFSR/Rossijskoj Federacii

The resignation of Ivan Silaev on 26 Sep 1991 caused vacancy in the office of Председатель Совета Министров РСФСР (Predsedatel' Soveta Ministrov RSFSR) and its functions devolved on the next in line, Заместитель Председателя Совета Министров РСФСР (Zamestitel' Predsedatelja Soveta Ministrov RSFSR) Oleg Lobov. The head of state, Boris El'cin, hesitated to appoint a successor to Silaev until the meeting of the Fifth Congress of People's Deputies. Addressing the Congress on 28 Oct 1991, El'cin called for radical economic reform, pledging for additional powers and offered to take over the chairmanship in the government. The Congress supported his proposal and passed a resolution "On Organisation of Executive Power in the Period of Radical Economic Reform" (1 Nov 1991), authorizing Президент РСФСР (Prezident RSFSR) to consolidate power. On 6 Nov 1991 El'cin signed a decree on the structure of a new government "under direct leadership of the President of the RSFSR" without a designated chairman. Gennadij Burbulis was appointed (6 Nov 1991) to the highest post in the Government - Pervyj Zamestitel' Predsedatelja Soveta Ministrov RSFSR. Burbulis solely supervised day-to-day activities of the Government until 2 Mar 1992 when El'cin elevated Egor Gajdar to the same office as Burbulis. After a brief period of power sharing, Burbulis submitted his resignation which became effective 14 Apr 1992. Gajdar took over as the senior official in the government and was officially appointed Исполняющий обязанности Председателя Правительства Российской Федерации (Ispolnjajuščij objazannosti Predsedatelja Pravitel'stva Rossijskoj Federacii) 15 Jun 1992.