World IN BRIEF : RUSSIA : Yeltsin Resolute in Face of Crisis

President Boris N. Yeltsin will deal with the current political crisis as firmly as he resisted the 1991 hard-line Communist coup, his spokesman said. The Congress of People’s Deputies has sharply curbed Yeltsin’s authority and canceled his plan for a nationwide referendum on whether the president or Parliament should have supreme power. A group of 57 pro-Yeltsin deputies asked Russia’s Constitutional Court to overrule Congress’ actions, contending that it overstepped its authority. German Chancellor Helmut Kohl lined up behind President Clinton in declaring support for Yeltsin.