VLADIVOSTOK, Russia -- Russian President Boris Yeltsin's sacking of his fourth prime minister in 17 months left Far Eastern residents shaking their heads and complaining that the aging president is unfit to rule the country.

But the firing of Sergei Stepashin on Monday may have a more concrete effect on the region, damaging the accord Moscow had cobbled together with local officials to provide fuel and provisions for their people. The ousted Stepashin spent only three months in office.

In one of the erratic moves that Yeltsin employs to keep his opponents off guard, the president endorsed his new prime ministerial appointee, the nation's security chief and former Soviet spy Vladimir Putin, as his choice to succeed him as chief of state in next year's elections. Yeltsin told the nation in a television address that Putin "will be able to unite those who will renew a great Russia in the 21st century."