Chernomyrdin Says He Will Form Government Without Parliament's Approval By CELESTINE BOHLEN MOSCOW -- While anxiety over Russia's deepening economic crisis spread, Acting Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin said Tuesday he will form an acting government without waiting for parliamentary approval. "In the current, most grave situation, the country cannot stay without a government," he told a meeting of government officials. "Delays and inaction may throw us back several years. This will not happen. We must not allow this under any circumstances." Chernomyrdin did not say who he would name to his acting government, but, given the political calculations of the moment, his statement was seen as an attempt to speed up a languid political process and to force the hand of his opponents. After Chernomyrdin's nomination as prime minister went down to a resounding defeat in the parliament's lower house on Monday, political leaders were still arguing Tuesday whether the second showdown should take place on Friday or Monday. The outcome of the political stalemate remained uncertain, as both sides in Russia's recurring political battle dug in their positions. President Boris Yeltsin, stopping by a Moscow school for the opening of the academic year, vowed to get Chernomyrdin confirmed in a week's time, while leaders of the Communist opposition said they would never approve him, even if it led to the dissolution of the lower house of parliament. Yeltsin, who had ducked from view during the early days of the political crisis, seemed to be regaining some of his fighting form, despite rumors that his health had taken a turn for the worse. Although he seemed tired during a television interview last Friday, Western diplomats reported that he was in good form during private meetings last week with Bulgarian president Petar Stoyanov, showing full command of his material and engaging in give-and-take. But in the current crisis, which is threatening to engulf the entire Russian economy, Yeltsin is still on the defensive, fending off attacks from a Communist-led opposition bent on breaking his grip on power. An attempt to shift some of the powers of the presidency to the parliament collapsed last week, when the Communists backed away from an agreement that they saw as a tactical ruse to win Chernomyrdin's confirmation. Behind-the-scenes jockeying continued Tuesday, with the focus shifting to the parliament's upper house, which is to meet with Chernomyrdin on Thursday. If the upper house, made up of Russia's increasingly powerful regional governors and legislative chiefs, endorses Chernomyrdin, then his chances of approval in the lower house would improve, said Vladimir Ryzhkov, the parliamentary leader of Chernomyrdin's party, Our Home Is Russia. Another option, Ryzhkov said, would be to float new names for the job of prime minister -- Moscow's mayor, Yuri Luzhkov, and the chairman of the upper house, Yegor Stroyev, have both been mentioned -- for Yeltsin's consideration. Another top ally of Chernomyrdin, Aleksandr Shokhin, Tuesday called on Yeltsin to initiate another round of consultations with parliamentary leaders on the choice of a prime minister to replace Sergei Kiriyenko, who was dismissed last week. "The tension is very high so far," said Shokhin. Chernomyrdin's determination to name an acting government even without his nomination being approved could be interpreted as a tactical move to get the political process off dead center or as a desperate appeal for consensus in the face of a national crisis. Tuesday he expressed anger and frustration at the parliament's leisurely pace. "Nobody should get carried away so light-headedly by this game," he said. "What are we doing to the country, to its people? Don't they feel pain, are they not concerned or offended by what is happening in Russia?" As the politicians squabbled, the value of the ruble continued to slip, falling to 11.8 on an electronic inter-bank currency exchange, which, since the shutdown of the Moscow's main currency exchange last week, has served as the best barometer of the currency's worth. According to banking experts, the rate on the electronic exchange is in effect dictated by market forces, and reflects the refusal of the Central Bank of Russia to use its fast-dwindling foreign currency reserves to defend the ruble. But uncertainty about the ruble's true worth continued to pummel Russia's embattled consumers, who are seeing prices skittering all over the place, jumping as high as 60 percent on some items in some stores, although not in all. Some stores have stayed shut, as a way of sidestepping the tricky question of what their merchandise is worth. With faith in the ruble falling fast, Russian consumers have spent the last week sheltering their savings in everything from gold to cars, and television sets to furniture. But now, increasingly, the spending spree has moved on to foodstuffs, as Russians, fearing the worst, flock to wholesale markets and large supermarkets for the few bargains that remain. New stocks of imported goods have been held up in the wake of the economic crisis, as importers halt shipments on orders that have not been paid for. Russia, and Moscow in particular, has become heavily dependent on imports for both food and consumer goods, a situation which many see as fraught with danger given the country's current shortage of money. At the regular weekend wholesale market in Zhukovsky, a town 20 miles outside Moscow, shoppers on Sunday were carting away boxes of sunflower oil, macaroni, long-life milk and sugar, said Lida Botcharova, a 48-year-old local resident. "They were buying everything that will last," she said, noting that prices had already jumped, from 10 rubles to 14 for a bottle of sunflower oil, and from 10 to 19 rubles for a package of detergent. Some goods had run out after a half day of frantic sales, she said, "Who knows what will be there next week." In the absence of any concerted action by the government or the Central Bank, experts Tuesday were predicting that the ruble will only continue to slide, pushing prices up in a self-fulfilling inflationary spiral made worse by merchants' speculating on popular fears. "What the Central Bank has been doing in the past few days defies description," said Dmitri Vasilyev, chairman of Russia's Federal Securities Commission, at a press conference Tuesday. "Shops are closed, there are no goods and no bank payments are made. This should not happen." At his government meeting Tuesday, Chernomyrdin said he was preparing a series of "tough and credible actions" to restore faith in the ruble, and the economy. "We've had enough talk," he said. Among his priorities he said were protecting savings accounts, restoring the currency market, and preserving the banking system. He also said he would move to simplify the Russian tax system, and lower profit taxes in an attempt to stimulate local production. "We have no more margin for mistakes," he said. "In this situation, the government does not have a right not to work." -- Gregory Schwartz Dept. of Political Science York University 4700 Keele St. Toronto, Ontario M3J 1P3 Canada Tel: (416) 736-5265 Fax: (416) 736-5686 Web: http://www.yorku.ca/dept/polisci
