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MOSCOW, September 8: Russian Communist Party leader Gennady Zyuganov warned president Boris Yeltsin today to spare the country from chaos on the streets and demanded that the president not renominate Viktor Chernomyrdin for the post of prime minister.
Yeltsin had not renominated Chernomyrdin till late afternoon today following a second rejection by Russia's Duma the day before.
The speaker of parliament's Communist-led lower chamber, Gennady Seleznyov, said it appeared that Yeltsin was ``prepared to hear our arguments again''. Kremlin spokesman Sergei Yastrzhembsky said a decision was unlikely today.``Now it's the President's turn to speak,'' said Communist Party chief Zyuganov, who pointed out that his faction had ``a rather broad choice'' of alternative candidates.
He later called on Yeltsin to back away from Chernomyrdin, saying if there was no compromise, ``the emotions will spread to the streets and lead to utter chaos''.
Among the names that have been mentioned are those of foreign ministerYevgeny Primakov and Moscow Mayor Yury Luzhkov.
But Primakov, 68, has reportedly said that he is not available. The mayor's spokesperson said Luzhkov was not engaged in ``bargaining'' for the post.Yeltsin, meanwhile, was supposed to have conferred with Chernomyrdin and top aides at Gorki 9, one of his residences near Moscow. Itar-Tass news agency said Chernomyrdin met defence, interior, and secret-service chiefs to discuss how to meet pay arrears owed to their employees.
Under Russia's constitution, the Duma is dissolved and fresh elections scheduled if it votes against Yeltsin's nominee three times. In April, it had confirmed Sergei Kiriyenko as premier on the third vote.
Anatoly Chubais, dismissed as Russia's special liaison to international lending institutions last month, told The Kommersant daily newspaper that Chernomyrdin's return held ``minimal risks for the country''.
But he said the country faced ``a very difficult year-and-a-half or two'' and that hundreds of banks would gobankrupt.
Sergei Dubinin, who turned in his resignation as central bank chairman the day before, told the press today that overheated ``political passions'' had severely hindered his work and that his departure could help calm emotions.Speaking during a meeting of his Russia's Democratic Choice Party, one-time acting prime minister and ``shock therapist'' Yegor Gaidar called Yeltsin's decision to sack Kiriyenko his ``most serious political mistake'' since sending troops into the separatist southern republic of Chechenya in 1994.The result, Gaidar said, was ``unmanageable devaluation, unmanageable inflation, and an unforeseeable monetary policy''.
Yeltsin has a week to nominate his next candidate after yesterday's vote in which most parties in the Communist-dominated Duma asked him to replace Viktor Chernomyrdin. After that the Duma will have a week to consider the nomination. Chernomyrdin urged the Duma yesterday to be quick in approving him, saying a delay could lead to irreversible economic andfinancial meltdown. The Duma could guard against dissolution by launching impeachment proceedings against Yeltsin before the next round of the battle over the prime minister.
But the chairman of the Duma Impeachment Commission, Vadi Filimonov, told mediapersons that the matter had not been put on the agenda this week because formal charges against Yeltsin needed more work.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
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