Ousted Moscow Party Boss Boris Yeltsin Stripped of 2 More Posts

The city government stripped Boris N. Yeltsin, the ousted Moscow Communist Party boss, of two lesser posts Saturday. It linked its action to his officially condemned criticism that the pace of reform was too slow.

The newspaper Evening Moscow reported Yeltsin’s dismissal from the city council’s executive committee and as head of the council’s party group at an unusual Saturday session.

The paper did not make clear how long in advance the session had been scheduled.

The national evening television news program Vremya showed film segments of the city council meeting, reporting on routine business it dealt with but making no mention of Yeltsin.

The unusual omission after publication of the city council’s action may have been tied to rumors sweeping Moscow that Yeltsin suffered a heart attack after he was fired as Moscow party boss on Wednesday.

If Yeltsin has indeed encountered health problems, the state-run broadcast might have spared him the further embarrassment of reporting the city council’s action to the entire nation.

The Evening Moscow newspaper circulates only in the capital.

Vremya said Lev N. Zaikov, who replaced Yeltsin, took part in the city council’s meeting and showed him sitting among city deputies.

Yeltsin, 56, also is expected eventually to be removed from his position as a non-voting member of the nation’s ruling Politburo.

Last month, he criticized resistance in the party leadership to Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev’s social and economic reform programs in a speech to its Central Committee.

Yeltsin was fired Wednesday during a meeting of the capital’s party organization that Gorbachev addressed.

The party daily Pravda disclosed Friday that Gorbachev, who promoted Yeltsin to the Moscow helm two years ago, accused his former protege of putting personal interests ahead of those of the party.

Other speakers at the Moscow party meeting said Yeltsin was guilty of “political adventurism” and of developing a “big-boss syndrome.”