Some tried to laugh it off as a bad joke of Russian politics. Others pontificated. But all were stunned.
One thing the colorful Russian press could not agree on Tuesday was the logic behind President Boris Yeltsin's abrupt decision to dissolve his government and place a young political neophyte at its helm.
"What the Devil Beguiled Yeltsin?" read a Moskovsky Komsomolets headline next to a photo montage of the president with tycoon Boris Berezovsky perched on his left shoulder.
Several newspapers, including the sensational Moskovsky Komsomolets, the Communist Pravda and Media-MOST's Segodnya, somehow linked the reshuffle to Berezovsky's return to Moscow last weekend.
The influential tycoon, an enemy of the two dismissed first deputies Anatoly Chubais and Boris Nemtsov, had spent a month in Switzerland recuperating from a bad fall off a snowmobile.
But he was back in Moscow last weekend, speaking ominously on NTV television Sunday about how all the current presidential candidates are either unsuitable or not electable.
Several other papers said the shuffle was part of some Kremlin strategy to find a suitable pro-business candidate for the 2000 presidential elections. But they could not agree if that man was Yeltsin, former Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin or someone else.
"Yeltsin is giving Chernomyrdin a chance, but only in competition with the one who heads the new government. Should Chernomyrdin win that competition -- fine. If not -- that's alright, too. There is also a second horse -- the new prime minister," wrote Vitaly Tretyakov, editor of Nezavisimaya Gazeta.
The newspaper, controlled by Boris Berezovsky, also suggested that their owner was a prime candidate for a post in the new Russian Cabinet.
"Yes, today Boris Yeltsin's chief concern is succession, and by letting Chernomyrdin go he plans to solve this matter," said Izvestia, which is controlled by banker Vladimir Potanin. "But how? That's a big question," Izvestia said. "The selection process is still foggy."
Others tried to have some fun with the biggest political shake-up in years.
Another Potanin newspaper, Komsomolskaya Pravda, in a front-page clip-and-save box titled "How to Fire a Bureaucrat" ran a five-step plan poking fun of Yeltsin's habit of voicing confidence in his officials before firing him.
These steps included "make at least three statements that the person is irreplaceable" and "give the official a medal," which Yeltsin did to Chernomyrdin the morning he fired him.
Segodnya tried to excuse itself for failing to predict the sackings. It featured a report on psychic Raisa Sumerina, noting that even the famous seer does not know who will be Russia's next prime minister
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