Candidates for Soviet Premier Named
President Mikhail S. Gorbachev on Saturday proposed four senior officials as candidates to become Soviet prime minister, the independent Interfax news agency reported.
The candidate selected would replace Prime Minister Nikolai I. Ryzhkov, who is recovering from a heart attack.
Among the four is Finance Minister Valentin Pavlov, 53, an economist who played a key role over the past week in persuading the Supreme Soviet to approve a controversial budget for 1991.
The other candidates, according to Interfax, are Yuri D. Maslyukov, first deputy prime minister; Oleg D. Baklanov, Communist Party secretary for the defense industry, and Vladimir Shcherbakov, head of the state committee on labor.
Interfax, which was shut down Friday by a state official but resumed operations Saturday, said Gorbachev would offer one of the names to the Supreme Soviet in a few days.
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