Yeltsin Expands Powers, Seizes Energy Facilities

Russian Federation President Boris N. Yeltsin flexed his expanding political muscle on Thursday by taking over control of his vast republic’s government and nationalizing all energy facilities on Russian territory.

With his decree making the Russian Council of Ministers subordinate to the presidency, Yeltsin put into law the broad powers conferred on him by the crumbling Soviet leadership since he defied a Communist coup attempt and spared the country another era of hard-line rule.

But the action may intensify fears in other republics that Russia, the largest and most populous of the Soviet Union’s republics, is usurping the absolute power of the discredited Communist Party.

The move to seize all Soviet oil, natural gas, coal, hydroelectric and nuclear power facilities in the Russian Federation served as a sobering reminder to other republics of who commands the vital resources needed to survive the winter.

Although the Soviet Union has long been the world’s largest producer of oil, production has been slumping in recent years, and many Soviets fear that widespread fuel shortages may occur during the approaching cold months.

Oil output fell by 6% last year and production may drop by as much as 20% this year because of labor unrest and antiquated equipment.

Besides threatening distribution of fuel and heating oil to distant republics of the emerging union, Russian control of the resources will deprive what remains of the Soviet leadership of its most important trade commodity.

Energy exports account for more than 60% of Soviet hard-currency earnings.

As Soviet power structures have eroded after the failed coup attempt, the Russian Federation under Yeltsin’s leadership has assumed virtual self-rule, as well as the lead role in deciding how to dismantle what remains of the national administration.

The Russian Federation government also indicated Thursday that it plans to move into the former headquarters of the Communist Party in central Moscow--a gesture laden with symbolism as Russian leaders fill the power vacuum created by the party’s demise.

Russian Prime Minister Ivan S. Silayev’s ministers will move into the Gargantuan building on Kuybyshev Street, the Tass news agency reported. It said the move will be temporary, until a court determines whether nationalization of the party assets is legal.

Such unilateral conscription of party property by Russian authorities has angered leaders of the other Soviet republics.

Republic representatives on the provisional committee overseeing day-to-day administration of the Soviet Union on Wednesday accused Silayev of taking positions to the detriment of other republics.

After what news agencies described as a stormy debate over who controls the former party purse strings, Silayev announced that he would step down as head of the interim National Economy Committee, effective Monday.

But his resignation may have been intended to rattle committee members from rival republics who have more to lose than powerful Russia should the last, teetering organs of Soviet power completely collapse.

Silayev on Thursday held out the possibility of returning to head the National Economy Committee, saying that the question of his resignation “is up to the State Council.”

After an eight-man Communist junta failed in its attempt to oust President Mikhail S. Gorbachev, the Soviet leader disbanded the federal Council of Ministers for conspiring with the coup plotters. Gorbachev also resigned from the Communist Party, thereby banishing the once-omnipotent force from the halls of power.

The interim State Council, headed by Gorbachev and composed of representatives from all Soviet republics, has served as the titular leadership since the party’s downfall, and Silayev’s economics committee has acted in the place of a Soviet cabinet. The economics committee is expected to dissolve as soon as a new accord on economic cooperation among the republics is concluded.

But now that the transitional committee appears mired in internal conflict, Silayev may have decided to abandon it to bolster his position as government leader of the Russian Federation.

It was not immediately clear what effect Yeltsin’s takeover of Russian government functions would have on Silayev’s position as federation prime minister. The consolidation may be aimed at establishing a clearer chain of command between Yeltsin and the provinces, or it could indicate dissatisfaction with republic ministries or industries.

The decree, in effect, establishes an executive presidency and gives Yeltsin the right to hire and fire government officials across the breadth of the republic, which is home to 150 million people and spans 11 time zones.

“The Russian Cabinet shall now be subordinate to the Russian president and act under his leadership,” the Interfax news agency reported. “The president shall control the work of the Cabinet and if need be preside over its sessions.”

In a further indication of the volatile nature of central power in the troubled Soviet Union, two more top KGB officials were fired Thursday, including the head of a commission formed only two weeks ago to investigate secret police activity during last month’s failed coup.

More Shake-Ups at the KGB

Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev’s continued his housecleaning of the KBG secret police agency:

Gennady Titov: Dismissed as KGB deputy chairman and as chief of the KGB’s second directorate, which is responsible for combatting foreign intelligence activities inside the Soviet Union.

Removed from committee investigating KGB role in the coup. His replacement on the committee: First KGB Deputy Chairman Anatoly Oleinikov.

Maj. Gen. Valery Lebedev: Dismissed as KGB deputy chairman in charge of the information analysis department. His replacement: Maj. Gen. Nikolai Scham.

At least four other senior KGB officials, including Chairman Vladimir A. Kryuchkov, have been arrested and two others fired in the aftermath of the failed coup. Tass, the official Soviet news agency, did not explain why Titov or Lebedev were fired.

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