Yeltsin Gives Powers To Chernomyrdin Keeps ed Button'

Russian President Boris Yeltsin, preparing for heart surgery, has handed his prime minister partial control of several top ministries but kept the nuclear red button, the Kremlin said yesterday.

Yeltsin's order appeared designed partly to curb the ambitions of Alexander Lebed, his national security adviser, who had sought overall charge of key power ministries.

Presidential press secretary Sergei Yastrzhembsky said ministers, including defence and interior, who usually report directly to the president, would coordinate their activities with Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin while Yeltsin is on holiday.

He told Russian news agencies that Chernomyrdin would be able, if necessary, to summon the newly formed Defence Council which comprises top ministers and security supremo Lebed.

 

Yeltsin, 65, announced in a television interview last week that he would undergo heart surgery, probably later this month.

Speculation has been rife as to whether he would pass authority to Chernomyrdin, who is constitutionally number two and his interim successor. Yeltsin has officially been on holiday since August 26 . The Kremlin has not announced when his vacation will end.

President Boris Yeltsin, for the duration of his holiday, has ordered the heads of the power ministries to coordinate with Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin all questions that require a decision by the head of state, Itar-Tass news agency quoted Yastrzhembsky as saying.

Interfax news agency reported the nuclear red button would stay under the control of the Russian leader. It could be activated only by joint action of the president, the defence minister and the chief-of-staff of the army.

Under Russian law, several senior ministers, including those in charge of defence, interior, foreign affairs, counter-intelligence and federal security, report directly to the president rather than to the prime minister.

For Russia, the question of who controls the people with the guns is traditionally extremely sensitive.

Last year, when Yeltsin was in hospital after a heart attack, Chernomyrdin said he was in control of the power ministries but was later forced to play his remarks down.

Medical experts say Yeltsin is likely to have a by-pass operation, routine for those suffering from the ischaemic disease which put him in hospital twice last year.

His illness has prompted speculation of a power struggle in the Kremlin and has worried Western leaders, who see Yeltsin as the guarantor of stability for Russia's fledgling democracy.

German Chancellor Helmut Kohl visited Yeltsin on Saturday and said the Russian president had seemed in full control.

Kohl said they had discussed who would control Russia's nuclear arsenal while he had surgery but would not reveal what Yeltsin had said.

Lebed said on Friday the time had come to name Chernomyrdin to rule temporarily.

The communist Speaker of the State Duma (lower house of parliament), Gennady Seleznyov, also called for Chernomyrdin to step in.

Kremlin chief of staff Anatoly Chubais, who with Lebed and Chernomyrdin completes a trio of jostling Kremlin rivals, said there was no need to hand over power yet.

Interfax quoted Chubais as saying that if Yeltsin did hand over power, it would be for a short time""a matter of hours, days, a couple of days, Chubais said.