Soviet Legislature, in First, Rejects Kremlin Appointee : Ousts Official in Charge of Foreign Economic Policy After 3 Years in Post Because of Poor Performance

The Soviet Union’s new, independent-minded legislature for the first time Tuesday voted to boot a deputy premier out of his job, despite a last-minute change in rules aimed at pushing through the Kremlin’s choice to steer foreign economic policy.

The vote served as proof, if the Soviet leadership needed it, that political maneuvering may not be enough to get an appointee through the current Supreme Soviet. It also demonstrated the importance the legislators attach to improving the stagnant Soviet economy.

The official in question, Vladimir M. Kamentsev, has served nearly three years as chairman of the Foreign Economic Commission, charged with setting foreign trade policy. He has been entrusted, among other things, with establishing joint ventures with Western companies.

He also is a member of the Council of Ministers, the highest executive and administrative body in the country, similar to the U.S. Cabinet.

But deputies accused him Tuesday of incompetence, criticized him for failing to do enough to import foreign medicines and belittled him for an inability to speak foreign languages.

One legislator accused him of nepotism, while another criticized him for thoughtlessly permitting the sale of raw materials and other national assets necessary for domestic industrial expansion.

“Kamentsev has been in this post for a long time, and we know the results,” said Anatoly Sobchak, a lawmaker from Leningrad.

Sobchak told the Parliament that the country’s foreign trade performance was “disastrous” and added, “I feel Kamentsev does not have the moral and professional right to occupy this post.”

Kamentsev’s appointment was the first to be officially rejected by the Parliament, although nine other candidates out of 57 Kremlin nominees were dropped after discussion or stepped down voluntarily.

On Friday, Kamentsev was rejected when he received 246 votes out of the 419 deputies present under rules that required all appointees to receive an absolute majority of the Supreme Soviet’s 542 deputies.

But Monday, the rules were changed, requiring only a simple majority of the deputies present, and Premier Nikolai I. Ryzhkov submitted Kamentsev’s name again. On Tuesday, Kamentsev received 200 votes out of the 419 cast.

The official Tass news agency explained Tuesday that the rules were changed in an effort to do away with “a practice inherited from the old Supreme Soviet,” which met for a few days each year and where voting was usually unanimous.

After the vote Tuesday, Ryzhkov said he would submit a new candidate for the post but added that he still supported Kamentsev.

Kamentsev, 61, a former deputy minister of the Fishing Ministry, revealed in legislative debate last week that the Third World debt to the Soviet Union had reached about $140 billion at the official exchange rate.

He said the Soviet Union hopes to recover about 50% of the debt by methods such as inviting “manufacturers to come and work in the Soviet Union.”

He was interrupted by President Mikhail S. Gorbachev, who said 50% is too little and urged him to “do more work on this problem.”

The Supreme Soviet convened June 26 and was given new oversight powers under Gorbachev. Its members were elected from the larger, popularly elected Congress of People’s Deputies. Previously, members of the Supreme Soviet voted as one in approving Kremlin appointees and decisions.