Russia's parliament refuses to back down in its battle with Yeltsin

By PAUL QUINN-JUDGE /MOSCOW

he slugfest between Boris Yeltsin and his parliament went into a third round last week when the Duma, Russia's lower house, refused for the second time to confirm 35-year-old Sergei Kiriyenko as Russia's new Prime Minister. Yeltsin immediately renominated his man. The bell for the final round of the bout will ring Friday: if the Duma rejects Kiriyenko a third time, Yeltsin must dissolve parliament and call elections.

The outcome is by no means certain. In the week since the first vote Kiriyenko spent his time lobbying the Communist-dominated parliament while Yeltsin aides twisted deputies' arms and offered inducements to back Kiriyenko. Both efforts failed. The second vote for Kiriyenko was 115 for, 271 against--28 less than the first time and far short of the 226 needed for confirmation. Afterwards Kiriyenko was defiant. "They can refuse to elect me, but they cannot break me," he said.

There were several reasons for Kiriyenko's defeat. The Communists were joined by other deputies in calling for a vote by a show of hands--an easy way of checking who defied the party line. Another was Yeltsin's crass attempt to capitalize on persistent hints of scandal. Some members of parliament claim that support can be bought--with cars, cash, apartments, or prime real estate. The President announced on TV last week that he was ready to help solve deputies' "economic problems" if parliament showed a "constructive approach." This offer backfired when some deputies complained that anyone switching to Kiriyenko would be suspected of having sold his vote. But the decision to vote openly was probably the decisive blow. Communist deputies and members of Vladimir Zhirinovsky's Liberal Democratic Party had broken ranks in the first--secret--ballot. This time there were few defectors.

The next vote will be less dramatic. Deputies are speaking of a secret ballot again and Kiriyenko may finally be confirmed--grudgingly. A vote for Kiriyenko, said deputy speaker Alexander Shokhin, will not be for a new premier, but against dissolution.