Yeltsin vows to quit 1 of his posts

MOSCOW Russian President Boris N. Yeltsin rode once again to hisown political rescue on Friday, appeasing his enemies in parliamentwith a promise that he would soon resign as prime minister andproudly accepting credit for keeping Russia from splitting apart.

After sitting, stone-faced, for more than two days asconservatives at the Russian Congress of People's Deputies savagedhis government and policies, Yeltsin swung into action Friday anddelivered a one-two punch.

In open concessions to his conservative critics, he promised toresign from his post as prime minister - although remaining president- in about three months, as well as hiring and firing some ministersand changing the government's structure by the end of the year.

And he won an ovation for his Federation Treaty, the agreementmeant to prevent Russia from falling apart as the Soviet Union did,after the congress ratified it in an 848-10 vote.

"Russia was, is and will remain whole, unified and strong,"Yeltsin declared majestically to the deputies in the Grand KremlinPalace.

The 61-year-old president did not appear to need much persuasionto resign as prime minister. He took on the job late last year toput his authority behind the economic reforms his Cabinet hasundertaken but acknowledged he had a hard time coping with his doubleposition.

"I realize that the combination of posts of president and primeminister is very hard, above all on me," Yeltsin said. "In anotherthree months, once it is clear that there will be no return to thepast, that the reforms are irreversible. . . . I'll introduceproposals on a candidate for prime minister."

Yeltsin also promised to formulate a new law - which would, ineffect, deprive him of his interim powers to rule by decree - butasked to be given until December before it must take effect.Deputies had proposed a one-month deadline, but Yeltsin argued that amonth was far too little time.

The Russian president pledged to streamline his personalbureaucracy, shake up his cabinet and appoint an additional ministerin charge of industry.

A final vote was not scheduled until this morning, but deputiesappeared amenable to Yeltsin's request for more time and wereexpected to agree to it.

Along with the president's charisma, Yeltsin's backers also hada political lever: the threat that if conservatives made too manyincursions on the president's power, they would "appeal to thepeople" by launching a referendum on the president's role and perhapscalling early parliamentary elections.