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Yeltsin Pushes Plan for Coalition Rule, New Economy : Soviet Union: But lawmakers block debate of his proposal for a directly elected Russian president.

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TIMES STAFF WRITER

Russian republic leader Boris N. Yeltsin, mounting a new challenge to Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev, laid out a broad program of action Friday, calling for creation of a coalition government and rapid moves toward radical economic reform.

His bass voice booming for 90 minutes through the airy Grand Kremlin Palace hall, Yeltsin told the Russian republic’s Parliament that Gorbachev’s reforms had turned out to be “not restructuring but rather the last phase of the stagnation period.”

Speaking the day after tens of thousands of his supporters defied a government ban on rallies despite heavy troop deployments in the streets, the towering Siberian demanded an end to the Kremlin’s use of the army “for political purposes” and the start of a new era of reconciliation.

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Yeltsin blamed the Communist Party for the country’s ills in his usual fierce style but notably refrained from the direct personal attacks on Gorbachev that he has made in recent weeks.

The country must “leave military pressure on anyone, political intrigues, the use of force, ambiguity and disagreement in the past,” Yeltsin said.

His somewhat softer tone came after he suffered a painful tactical defeat earlier Friday, when lawmakers refused to even discuss creating the post of a popularly elected Russian president--a position that Yeltsin would be virtually certain to win.

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Despite the Russian leader’s insistence that he needs the enhanced powers of an executive presidency to run Russia better and the 76% approval rate that voters gave to such a presidency in a March 17 referendum, the Parliament, following the lead of conservatives, voted against putting it on the agenda.

Yeltsin’s allies acknowledged that the presidency vote was a major blow but said they still hope to raise the question again--and if that does not work, they said, he will “go to the people,” presumably in another referendum.

The economic program Yeltsin proposed for his Russian Federation, the resource-rich republic stretching across three-quarters of the Soviet Union, hinges on shoring up the ruble’s buying power, encouraging entrepreneurs and foreign investors with financial incentives, and selling off state-owned land and factories to private owners.

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The program is basically the same as the “500-Day Plan” worked out last year to make a crash transition to a market economy, Yeltsin said.

That plan was opposed by conservatives, and Yeltsin said that his government now realizes that such fundamental economic reforms cannot be carried out under conditions of political confrontation. That is why he is seeking round-table talks with other political forces and a coalition government for the country.

Because Communist ideology still takes precedence over economic realism in Soviet politics, Yeltsin declared, “Once again we are facing a threat of famine, total shortages, hyper-inflation, dictatorship and spiritual poverty without getting a single step closer to the (economic) models used in prosperous countries.”

Applause punctuated the speech more than a dozen times, capping a boisterous day that went beyond the usual tumult of the Russian Parliament.

Indignant deputies clapped in protest for nearly a minute when it appeared that Yeltsin would not give his scheduled speech until today, and the day’s session included repeated rounds of booing and furious accusations that the electronic voting system, which was malfunctioning once again, was rigged.

There was none of the tension that preceded the rally on Thursday, however, and deputies applauded when it was announced that Gorbachev had fulfilled his promise to pull the extra troops and police off the streets of Moscow.

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Yeltsin’s deputy, Ruslan I. Khasbulatov, told Parliament that up to 200,000 Muscovites had participated in Thursday’s rally, but Interior Minister Boris K. Pugo said Friday that the number had been closer to 50,000.

Oleg D. Kalugin, the former Soviet spymaster who has become a national legislator and vocal critic of the KGB, said he believes the confrontation between Soviet troops and demonstrators Thursday was a sign of Gorbachev’s “absolute loss of reputation and authority in the country.”

“He resorted to his last argument, which is military force,” Kalugin said in an interview outside the Parliament hall. “And he will resort to the same argument until he exhausts his resources.”

Another national deputy, Igor Shamshchev of Yaroslavl, said he fears the ban on rallies and the Parliament’s refusal to create an executive presidency will deepen the Soviet Union’s political schism.

“The will of the people is in clear contradiction to that of the authorities,” Shamshchev said.

He added that he worries that even Yeltsin, the most popular politician in the country, might lose public support if he is unable to fulfill the expectations he raises. Then, Shamshchev argued, people would be left with no leader they can trust.

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Yeltsin faces a barrage of criticism as the Parliament session continues today, first in questions from the floor and then in a scheduled counter-report by Vladimir B. Isakov, one of six leaders of the Parliament seeking Yeltsin’s removal.

“The Six,” as they have come to be known, have accused Yeltsin of pursuing his own policies instead of those mandated by Parliament. More than 200 conservative deputies supported them and signed a petition to convene the 1,068-member Parliament this month.

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