Yeltsin Offers Congress Foes Control of 4 Cabinet Posts

President Boris N. Yeltsin, struggling to win support for the reformist premier he wants desperately to keep, handed hostile Russian lawmakers a surprise concession Tuesday by offering them control over four top Cabinet posts.

Yeltsin told deputies he made the offer in hopes of persuading some of them to back Acting Prime Minister Yegor T. Gaidar, the young economist who has pushed Russia through 11 months of painful free-market reforms, in voting expected today. But even after Yeltsin’s proposal, most deputies said that Gaidar’s confirmation was still in doubt.

The Russian president on Tuesday formally proposed Gaidar as permanent prime minister, touting him as “courageous, devoted to his work and”--here Yeltsin paused for maximum comic effect--”just plain smart.”

“He feels the pulse of the reforms and, most important, he sees their prospects,” Yeltsin told members of the Congress of People’s Deputies, Russia’s Parliament. He promised a “purge” of the government bureaucracy as well if the Parliament would elect Gaidar.

To hold on to Gaidar, Yeltsin effectively signaled his readiness to sacrifice Foreign Minister Andrei V. Kozyrev, a frequent target of hard-liners.

The Russian president’s proposal was couched as a constitutional amendment that would require him to gain Parliament’s confirmation for appointments of the defense minister, national security minister, interior minister and foreign minister. Of the four men now serving in these posts, only Kozyrev is expected to have trouble garnering enough votes to be confirmed.

“Kozyrev should have resigned long ago,” said opposition member Vladimir Isakov, expressing sentiment widespread at the conservative Congress. “At best he’s not the foreign minister of Russia but the envoy to Russia of other foreign states.”

By offering his compromise, Yeltsin was clearly indicating that the economic reforms Gaidar has been overseeing, aimed at weaning Russia from decades of Communist state planning, are his absolute policy priority for the coming months.

Deputies also speculated that Yeltsin could not do without Gaidar because he could need a scapegoat further down the line as the Russian economy continues to crumble. A scapegoat who had received parliamentary approval, so that responsibility for failure would effectively be shared by lawmakers, would be even better.

“Yeltsin won’t propose anybody else because Gaidar is his shield,” said Yuri Gecht, a centrist deputy. “That’s why Yeltsin is prepared for a compromise to save Gaidar.”

Although the compromise appeared dramatic after Yeltsin warned last week that giving Parliament too much power over appointments was “dangerous for the country,” it did not seem to be swaying many deputies.

“I welcome any compromise that brings results,” said opposition Deputy Boris Tarasov. “But in this case, the compromise is unacceptable because the candidacy of Gaidar is unacceptable.

“A person can’t keep leading a government when the Congress has expressed no-confidence in it,” Tarasov said. “For them to give him a failing grade and then approve his appointment is just not logical.”

The 1,041-member Congress voted Saturday to declare the reforms that Gaidar has overseen as “unsatisfactory” and “not in the interests of most of the people.” It did not follow up its report card with a vote on no-confidence in the government, however, and Gaidar maintained Tuesday that he will forge onward with his reform program if allowed to remain.

“If I didn’t have tough moral fiber, I would get insulted and resign, as many people have advised me to do,” he told deputies at a lunchtime meeting.

Gaidar acknowledged that Russia’s economic crisis has yet to bottom out. He said that industrial production, already shrinking at an annual rate of about 20%, will continue downhill through next year but might begin to turn around in 1994.

By this April, he said, he hopes to bring inflation, now about 2,200% per year, down to 1% a month.

According to most scenarios offered by the deputies, even if Gaidar does not win a majority at this Congress, Yeltsin will be able to keep him on as acting prime minister until the next Congress convenes in April.

By then, however, the economy is expected to be in even worse straits and Yeltsin’s political troubles even greater.