Mr. Yeltsin listens to him more faithfully than he listens to anyone other than his wife, Kremlin insiders say.

Mr. Khloponin, for his part, is supported by the empire of Vladimir O. Potanin, the former Kremlin insider who controls a large metals producer.

What the Russians will do with Mr. Rust remains unclear, but one Kremlin insider made a most unconventional prediction.

Today's ruling was a major defeat for Boris Berezovsky, the financier and onetime Kremlin insider who controls the network from self-imposed exile in London.

That is why he was hired: he helped secure interviews with key Kremlin insiders.

Its creation was heavily supported by Kremlin insiders, who were wary of what looked like a certain OVR victory.

He was a high-handed Kremlin insider who lost out in a struggle for power and position.

Behind him stands a tiny group of Kremlin insiders who include top members of his administration and his daughter Tatyana Dyachenko.

Mr. Putin reassigned those duties to a presidential aide who is seemingly a more loyal Kremlin insider, Igor I. Shuvalov.

At a press conference on Dec. 28, Andrei Illarionov, a respected economist and Kremlin insider, derided the government's "utterly incompetent interference" in the economy.