Russia PM Hints May Quit over No-confidence Vote

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin, raising the stakes in a battle over economic reforms, made clear on Tuesday he would resign if his government loses an imminent no-confidence vote. But he also made a last-ditch effort to reach compromise by holding crisis talks with parliamentary leaders after the Communist-led State Duma (lower house) announced it would start debating the no-confidence motion at noon GMT on Wednesday. President Boris Yeltsin, who is empowered to appoint and fire the prime minister, can simply ignore the Duma if it votes no confidence in the government just once. But he would have to dissolve the government or disband the legislature if it voted no confidence again within three months. Gennady Seleznyov, the Duma`s Communist speaker, quoted Chernomyrdin as saying at private talks on Monday that he might resign if the government lost the no-confidence vote. Chernomyrdin`s comments amounted to a challenge to the Duma, which has rejected a string of economic reform laws and declared the government`s performance in 1997 "unsatisfactory". The 59-year-old former gas industry chief enjoys more trust in the opposition camp than radical government reformers such as first deputy prime ministers Anatoly Chubais and Boris Nemtsov. If Chernomyrdin were ousted or quit under pressure, the Duma would risk Yeltsin venting his anger by nominating Nemtsov or Chubais as the new prime minister. Yeltsin has issued two veiled threats to dissolve the Duma if it does not stop dragging its feet on reform legislation and a Kremlin spokesman continued the offensive on Tuesday. Chernomyrdin and Chubais later held talks with Seleznyov and Yegor Stroyev, speaker of the Federation Council (upper house). No details of the talks were available but they appeared to offer a chance for a compromise. The Communists, the largest group in the Duma with about 140 of the 450 members, proposed the no-confidence motion last week but are not sure of mustering enough support to force it through. At least 226 votes are needed for the motion to pass. The Duma showed signs of compromise last week. Instead of rejecting the government`s draft 19998 budget outright, deputies decided to form a joint commission with the government and the Federation Council to rework the budget.