Chernomyrdin Calls For Unity In Yeltsin'S Absence

Focusing on a looming battle with parliament over next year's budget, Chernomyrdin told a cabinet meeting he would not stand for ministers bickering or lobbying in parliament for extra cash.

If members of the government start playing any kind of game there, in the State Duma (lower house of parliament), I warn them that whoever they are, whatever their rank, they will not work here, Interfax news agency quoted him as saying.

His brusque words were aimed at ensuring unity in the ranks in a prolonged period of political uncertainty as Yeltsin awaits a heart bypass operation. The delay could increase the risk of political infighting and jostling for power.

 

Chernomyrdin's comments represented a warning to his colleagues not to follow security tsar Alexander Lebed down the path of outspoken criticism to defend their own interests and increase their profile. But he held out an olive branch to Lebed, widely seen as his main power rival, by saying defence spending should be reviewed because the ministry had not had a fair hearing.

The defence ministry had not been listened to at all, Interfax quoted the 58-year-old prime minister as saying.

Lebed wrote to Yeltsin and Chernomyrdin last month to demand more spending on defence. He appeared unusually assertive the day after a team of doctors said Yeltsin should not be operated on for at least six more weeks.

The doctors said the 65-year-old President had a good chance of a full recovery, but he would be likely to need about two months to recuperate after the operation, grafting in veins from the leg to bypass clogged heart arteries.

That leaves plenty of scope for more of the jostling for position in the Kremlin which political analysts say has intensified since Yeltsin fell ill.

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