Lawmakers Back Broad Powers for Yeltsin : Politics: He wins preliminary approval of a resolution that would let him rule by decree.

Boris N. Yeltsin, the Russian Federation’s populist leader, won preliminary approval Thursday for sweeping powers that would allow him to rule the Soviet Union’s largest republic by decree.

Warning that Russia is sliding into chaos that the central government under President Mikhail S. Gorbachev cannot prevent, Yeltsin asked the Russian Congress of People’s Deputies for emergency powers to “preserve civil peace, reestablish public order and prevent social conflicts.”

Despite accusations from conservatives that Yeltsin is power-hungry and could quickly become a dictator, the Congress voted, 588-292 with 23 abstentions, to approve “in principle” a resolution delegating much of its lawmaking authority to the smaller Russian Supreme Soviet, its standing legislature, and to Yeltsin as its chairman. While having much broader powers than the Supreme Soviet, the unwieldy, part-time Congress convenes only rarely. The resolution gives Yeltsin and the legislature “the right to issue obligatory orders. . .on the territory of the Russian Federation within the framework of existing laws.”

Yeltsin said he needed the powers to “lead the country out of crisis, to give Russia real sovereignty and to strengthen the ties among ethnic groups.”

Warning that “social tension is on the rise,” Yeltsin had told the Congress: “These extraordinary powers are necessary to resolve the critical situation in the country. We cannot wait for a new Congress to be held (in May). The Supreme Soviet needs powers now to adopt laws.”

But he laid out no program beyond the broad plans for further political and economic reforms he had outlined last week, and he stressed that any actions would be subject to later review and amendment by the Congress.

The resolution is now being discussed in committee with representatives of the major political factions in the Congress; it will probably be debated, article by article, by the whole Congress before being adopted, possibly today.

Yeltsin supporters expressed concern Thursday that conservatives from the Communist Party would try to reduce or limit the powers the Congress grants Yeltsin; already, conservatives were charging Yeltsin with going beyond the Russian constitution to amass personal power.

In political terms, however, even the preliminary approval represented a significant Yeltsin victory in the Congress, which is the Russian Federation’s parliament, for he had been unable to proceed with legislation establishing a powerful executive president, who would be directly elected, despite its endorsement by 70% of voters in a referendum.

“It is a victory, of course,” said Ruslan Khasbulatov, Gorbachev’s deputy, adding that the vote appeared to have broken an eight-day stalemate between Yeltsin supporters and Communist Party conservatives at the Congress. “The fact that this plan was accepted means that the plotters (wanting to oust Yeltsin) have failed.”

More broadly, the resolution marks a significant step away from a parliamentary system of government for Russia and the Soviet Union toward one based on executive leadership. Although the Congress would transfer most of its legislative authority to the smaller Russian Supreme Soviet, Yeltsin would gain extensive powers himself.

“Yeltsin has had no rights, no authority to take this country out of crisis,” said Col. Gen. Dmitri Volkogonov, a leading reformer, political historian and Yeltsin supporter. “If he is to justify our hopes, he must have these powers.”

By the same token, however, Yeltsin’s rivalry with Gorbachev is likely to be intensified, for both men would now have power to rule by decree, both would have broad political mandates and each has his own view of the problems here and of their solution.

“Gorbachev must reckon with the real power . . . of the Russian Federation,” Khasbulatov commented. “He must know that it exists, that it is called upon to fulfill the will of the people. He must respect this power like any law-abiding citizen.”

For Yeltsin, however, the increased authority also means greater responsibility for the fate of Russia, Khasbulatov pointed out. If he fails to pull the Russian Federation out of its crisis--and effectively the whole Soviet Union out of its own--Yeltsin will face the same charges of irresolution and ineptitude with which he now braces Gorbachev.

The resolution, as now drafted, empowers Yeltsin and the Russian Supreme Soviet to take “urgent measures for taking society out of crisis, defending the economic basis of Russia’s sovereignty, providing for a transition to the market economy, reorganizing and strengthening the system of administration and law enforcement, and averting, limiting and halting strikes.”

Yeltsin still hopes that an executive presidency will be established through a constitutional amendment--and that he will win election to the post. The draft legislation calls for another session of the Congress in late May followed by the election in June.

In its first vote on the resolution, the Congress took an important step toward establishing the political primacy of the republic over the whole Soviet Union by underscoring the conviction of Russian deputies that the country’s problems are best resolved at the republic level.

“The situation is further aggravated by the (central) government’s losing flexibility, its failure to react adequately to events,” Yeltsin had said while warning of the growing dangers, including strikes.

“This resolution calls for urgent and decisive actions. Only in this way shall we be able to influence the most difficult situation Russia is now facing.”

Although there had been hints of a surprise by Yeltsin, his call for such broad powers threw the Congress into an uproar as deputies debated not only these major political questions but also Yeltsin’s controversial leadership of the Russian Federation.

Svetlana P. Goryacheva, a deputy chairman of the Russian Supreme Soviet and a leader of the Communist Party bloc in the Congress, immediately described Yeltsin’s request for more powers as “the unmasking of Boris Yeltsin.”

“Not only for me, but for many, it has become clear that the presidential post is your chief goal,” she said, with Yeltsin sitting directly behind her. “For this, you are ready to deceive, to falsify, and gamble everything.”

Sergei Krasavchenko, another parliamentary leader, replied that Yeltsin’s initiative was, in fact, “an act of a courageous man who has assumed a great responsibility.”

“It would be much simpler to allude to the absence of such powers,” Krasavchenko said, and thus blame his opponents for the deepening crisis. “In the present situation, in fact, it would be more advantageous to resign.”

Yuri Chapkovsky, a hard-line Communist deputy, seemed resigned to approval of the resolution. “It is unfathomable why votes have swung (for and against Yeltsin) the way they have,” he commented.