CRIME AND PUNISHMENT

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The purge touched off an unseemly political tug-of-war between the Kremlin and Moscow's city hall. Sergei Gerasimov, the prosecutor appointed to take Ponomaryov's place, quickly resigned. In Parliament Yeltsin's opponents pushed through a lopsided vote of no confidence in Interior Minister Victor Yerin, who is in effect the national chief of police. Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov, once a strong Yeltsin ally, fumed that only "criminals and bandits" would be in favor of firing senior police officials. Then he threatened to resign.

Ponomaryov, the fired prosecutor, says those who use the killing to demonstrate that crime is out of hand are aiming for a political payoff. "Some dishonest leaders use it to their advantage," he says, "claiming the reforms are going nowhere because of crime." He argues that compared with the rest of the world, "the situation in Russia has not reached levels that warrant extraordinary measures."

Perhaps not, but if Russians come to believe the criminals have taken charge, they may favor a return to more authoritarian rule, even if they lose their civil rights in the process. As one of Listyev's colleagues, TV commentator Nikolai Svanidze, puts it, "One day we'll follow any bastard who will promise us law and order."

The Kremlin is beginning to respond to the growing get-tough mood. Two weeks ago, Yeltsin spoke favorably of methods used in Uzbekistan, where he claimed the government grabbed members of six criminal gangs and shot them. He may not be considering measures quite that harsh. But if it is true that Yeltsin is surrounded by officials more hard-line than he is, some of them may be wishing they could take a page from the Uzbek crime-busting book.

--Reported by John Kohan and Yuri Zarakhovich/Moscow