Russian Lawmakers Blame Economic Ills on Neglect by an Ailing Yeltsin

The ambitious and the confrontational lined up Wednesday to accuse ailing President Boris N. Yeltsin of neglect as the fiery lower house of parliament opened its fall session to a chorus of complaints that reforms have stalled and Russia is foundering.

Opening day at the Duma provided a forum for Yeltsin’s would-be successors to blame the country’s economic ills on his heart trouble and limited work schedule as he prepares to undergo bypass surgery.

But those with less of a political stake in casting Yeltsin as a phantom president contend Russia’s transition to a market economy is loping along and that disappointing investment and privatization figures would be far worse if the country were in the hands of the opposition.

Recovery from more than seven decades of Communist mismanagement may be on automatic pilot, observers say, but a bow to the political rivals demanding a more vigorous leader could cause a crash.

“We are like a car without a driver. We are the passengers and we have the right to know where we are going!” ultranationalist firebrand Vladimir V. Zhirinovsky insisted with characteristic fury and rostrum-thumping. “In order to get anywhere, we need a new driver.”

Communist Party leader Gennady A. Zyuganov, who lost to Yeltsin in this summer’s presidential election, said the Russian federation is on the verge of collapse “because the presidential staff is incapable of functioning.”

Zyuganov’s Communist allies, the largest faction in the Duma, have submitted a draft bill that would require a medical commission to examine all top government figures for physical fitness to hold office. The proposal is set for consideration Friday, but the deputies have already launched their debate in public.

Yeltsin’s health is a legitimate political issue, said liberal economist Grigory A. Yavlinsky, because “reforms simply cannot proceed in conditions of instability.”

Security Council chief Alexander I. Lebed, a member of Yeltsin’s administration but lately a critic of his decision to stay in power, omitted mention of the president’s health in a speech to the Duma outlining the prospects for peace in Chechnya.

But Lebed last week called on Yeltsin to step down and has loudly lamented that the government is gridlocked by the president’s illness.

Lebed is considered the front-runner in an undeclared contest to claim the post of heir apparent, thanks largely to his role in brokering a tentative settlement of the war in Chechnya that he estimates killed more than 80,000 people.

Those more loyal to the president--or more interested in seeing that he stays in power--denounce the political claims that Yeltsin is losing his grip as shameless electioneering.

“Tell me what major setbacks have occurred in the country because the president failed to make a decision?” Kremlin chief of staff Anatoly B. Chubais challenged his boss’ detractors at a news conference. “I don’t want to say we have an ideal situation . . . but I don’t know of any instance in which the president’s action on a dramatic or difficult matter was needed and couldn’t be obtained.”

Yeltsin’s absence from the Kremlin since being hospitalized Sept. 13 and his inability to lobby his pet projects through the obstructionist legislature have taken their toll on the country’s economic performance.

The Russian State Statistics Committee issued woefully disappointing privatization revenue figures for the first seven months of this year, showing that the government has collected only $290 million of the $2.5 billion projected for 1996.

At the same time, the government has fallen further into debt to state workers, running up $7 billion in arrears on salaries and pensions. Ten percent of that total was amassed in just two weeks in September, demonstrating that the cash crunch is getting worse, not better.

But reform champions blame those disturbing indicators on the uncertainty about Russia’s future provoked during the heated presidential election campaign.

Yeltsin borrowed heavily to keep the government finance wheels turning until the election, counting on an investment boom once the threat of Communist budget-busting and renationalizations was defeated. But investors have continued to be wary because of concerns about Yeltsin’s health.

The head of the Duma budget committee, Oksana G. Dmitriyeva of Yavlinsky’s pro-reform Yabloko party, blamed the problems on “a psychological factor.”

“If rumors of his incapacity persist, this has a negative effect on the situation for Russian securities and markets,” Dmitriyeva said.