Not Quitting, Gorbachev Says : Rumors He Wants Out as Party Chief Called Groundless

President Mikhail S. Gorbachev said today he has no intention of resigning as Communist Party chief, dismissing rumors he might step down as “groundless suppositions.”

Foreign Ministry spokesman Gennady I. Gerasimov said that the rumors were “ill-intentioned” and that Gorbachev was “annoyed.”

The Cable News Network reported Tuesday, quoting an unidentified party source, that Gorbachev had spent eight days holed up at his country house outside Moscow with his top advisers, discussing resigning his leadership of the party. The report rocked stock markets around the world.

The source was quoted as saying Gorbachev would have retained the presidency, a government position he proposes to convert from a largely ceremonial post to a substantive one.

“No one has said this, and I certainly didn’t make any such statement,” Gorbachev said today. “Any such suggestions are groundless.”

“I have no intention of doing so,” Gorbachev said when asked about the report during a photo session at the start of a Kremlin meeting with Brazilian President-elect Fernando Collor de Mello.

President Bush phoned Gorbachev this morning to discuss arms control and other issues. Asked if the two discussed the CNN report, White House spokesman Marlin Fitzwater said, “The President said there was no direct discussion of that.”

Gorbachev said he spent a week in his country home preparing for next week’s important Communist Party Central Committee plenum but had not considered resigning.

“Many rumors and suppositions are circulating worldwide. All this is groundless. It has come into vogue in the international press now to set rumor mills working as soon as we approach a regular plenum of the Central Party Committee,” Gorbachev said in remarks carried by Tass.

He stressed that he will stay to see his policy of perestroika through.

Answering questions at a news conference, Gerasimov repeated that a change of role for Gorbachev is not being planned.

“Any allegations that Mikhail Gorbachev wants to leave the general secretary role of the party and remain as president are groundless,” Gerasimov said.

Gerasimov said Gorbachev is always the subject of gossip.

“There are constant discussions about Gorbachev’s position--whether it is weak or whether it is strong, whether he will stay or whether he will quit. These rumors are ill-intentioned,” Gerasimov said.

Asked how Gorbachev feels about the rumors, Gerasimov said, “I think he is a little bit annoyed. I don’t know how these rumors originate. There are a lot of rumors now. There are no grounds. This makes stock exchanges nervous.”

He said Gorbachev’s dual role as president and party general secretary was debated repeatedly when he took on the presidency last year, and it is not a topic for discussion at the forthcoming plenum.

“It is for Parliament,” Gerasimov said.