Yeltsin Slams Government For ad Budget'

President Boris Yeltsin, making a comeback after illness, sharply criticised his own government on Friday for producing a bad budget and said he had no option but to take finance matters into his own hands to avert a crisis.

In a brief radio address, the 66-year-old Kremlin leader said he was not sure the 1997 budget was realistic but had signed it reluctantly to avoid political turmoil. He gave few clues, however, on a cabinet reshuffle expected for next week.

He avoided personal criticism of Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin, who some media reports say could be sacked. Calling for reforms of the bloated and disintegrating armed forces, Yeltsin made no mention of Defence Minister Igor Rodionov, another target of the media's reshuffle speculation.

 

I have just signed Russia's 1997 budget. I'll tell you straight it was not an easy decision, he said. There are very major doubts over whether the budget can be fulfilled.

The government had failed to prepare it properly and put in an array of unrealistic articles, Yeltsin said, before the communist-dominated State Duma lower house of parliament made things worse with amendments inspired by populism.

But he said: I signed it with a heavy heart. Because to send back the budget today would have meant pushing the political situation in the country to the limits of bitterness.

A new wave of instability would hurt our most defenceless citizens hardest of all, he said, adding it would have placed economic recovery in peril and fuelled inflation.

A bad budget is no excuse to give up, Yeltsin said. But the main conclusion for the future is the president must much more closely control the process of preparing the 1998 budget, otherwise we'll end up like we are today.

The most obvious victim of such a vicious attack could be Finance Minister Alexander Livshits.

Avoiding a direct personal attack on the prime minister, Yeltsin said only: Viktor Stepanovich Chernomyrdin has reported that even within the framework of the budget that was passed, it is possible to meet promises to pay people.

Russian media have speculated the 58-year-old premier, an icon of stability for the business community and foreign investors, could be sacked after Yeltsin's annual state of the nation address to parliament next Thursday, March 6.

Millions of Russians are still waiting for pensions and wages long after the president promised during last year's re-election campaign that all the backlogs would be paid off.

However, other reports suggest a lack of viable alternatives to Chernomyrdin means that the former Soviet state gas company boss will continue to lead the government on a cautiously reformist course, as he has since December 1992.

Yeltsin was due to meet his chief-of-staff, Anatoly Chubais, on Friday morning.

There is speculation Chubais, 44, could step into Chernomyrdin's post. But promotion for the youthful liberal would incense both the communists and many of Yeltsin's allies.

Chernomyrdin has vowed to make serious changes in the team he last shook up last August and says they must get tough on tax collection in order to finance government spending.

The International Monetary Fund, which last year agreed to bankroll Russia to the tune of $10 billion over three years, is watching the government's budget performance closely.

Devoting half his four-minute speech to defence matters, Yeltsin reaffirmed his intention to end conscription. Russia will have a professional army. Only this will enable us to maintain the combat ability of the armed forces and the potential for nuclear deterrence in the 21st century, he said

Yeltsin told Defence Minister Rodionov on Wednesday to stop whining for more money and get on with reforms, a remark that triggered speculation that the president would sack him.

Yeltsin did not address that issue on Friday.