Dispute Persists Over Yeltsin Reforms

Russian officials were struggling to make sense of the nation's newly muddied political landscape after ex-prime minister Viktor Chernomyrdin's decision Friday to run for the Russian presidency and an announcement from Russia's communist party that it would not back President Boris Yeltsin's choice for prime minister.

Chernomyrdin held the prime minister post before being let go by Yeltsin last week as part of a government overhaul. Now his previous position and the post he's running for have become sources of controversy in Russia.

Communist leader Gennady Zyuganov said his party would not back young, untested Sergei Kiriyenko—Yeltsin's choice for prime minister—to take over Chernomyrdin's spot.

Yeltsin last week named Kiriyenko, 35, to take over as prime minister from the veteran Chernomyrdin to give reforms a boost. He threatened on Friday to dissolve the State Duma lower house of parliament, where the Communists are the largest faction, unless it backed his choice.

By Saturday, Chernomyrdin had confused matters further by announcing unexpectedly he would run in the presidential election in the year 2000. He said in a television interview: "Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin and I discussed this, and I understood that he agreed with my position."

But Interfax news agency, quoting two apparently different sources in the presidential administration, said Chernomyrdin did not necessarily have Yeltsin's unequivocal blessing and that Saturday's announcement was "somewhat unexpected."

The representative noted the Constitutional Court had yet to rule whether Yeltsin can theoretically stand for a third term. Even if it says he can, Yeltsin has yet to say categorically whether he would run.

"With this in mind...Chernomyrdin's statement 'should not be interpreted as if the president has authorized him to run in the 2000 election as the sole representative of the party of power and the present president'," Interfax quoted the aide as saying.

This week had already promised to be another hot one for Russia. The Duma is likely to consider Kiriyenko's candidacy on Friday, and Zyuganov's dismissive comments appeared to increase the likelihood of a showdown between Yeltsin and the Duma.

Yeltsin has sweeping powers under the constitution to dissolve parliament if it votes three times against his candidate for prime minister.

That would mean an early election. But some analysts doubt whether the Communists will call Yeltsin's bluff and risk dissolution as they may struggle to match their strong showing in the last parliamentary poll in 1995.

In past confrontations, the Communists, who hold 138 of the Duma's 450 seats, have tended to pull back from the brink rather than give Yeltsin an excuse to dissolve the chamber.

©1998, CBS Worldwide Inc., All Rights Reserved. Reuters contributed to this report