Duma Confirms Stepashin

Boris Yeltsin's nominee for prime minister, Sergei Stepashin, sailed through confirmation hearings Wednesday even as new reports about Yeltsin's ill health surfaced.

Russian President Yeltsin was at work Wedesday after reports that he missed a meeting with the Spanish prime minister because he was sick with bronchitis.

Spanish diplomats told The Associated Press that "heavy bronchitis" prompted Yeltsin to cancel a meeting Tuesday with visiting Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar.

But presidential spokesman Dmitry Yakushkin called the reports "absolutely bewildering" and insisted that Yeltsin was not ill.

The Kremlin was also unclear about whether a meeting with Aznar had even been scheduled. Russian officials on Tuesday denied that the meeting was on Yeltsin's agenda, although Kremlin aides had said Monday that the two leaders would meet and Spanish diplomats confirmed it.

The Kremlin has been extremely cautious on the sensitive subject of Yeltsin's health, and has a history of issuing vague or contradictory statements.

Yeltsin spent much of last fall and winter in the hospital or a government sanitarium suffering from pneumonia, an ulcer and other illnesses.

But he has bounded back into the political fray recently. He was quite visible last week, attending several meetings and flexing his political muscle by firing the prime minister and entire Cabinet.

On Wednesday he met with his new prime minister, Stepashin, who won easy confirmation by the parliament.

The State Duma, the lower chamber of parliament, voted 293-55 to approve Stepashin following the dismissal of his popular predecessor, Yevgeny Primakov, last week.

Earlier Wednesday, Stepashin urged lawmakers to confirm him as prime minister, warning that Russia needs urgent and courageous policies to rescue its battered economy and stave off social unrest.

"There is no room for half-measures and compromises any longer," he told the Duma as debate on his nomination began. "Time demands courageous and thoroughly verified steps."

Communists in the Duma ordinarily oppose Yeltsin every chance they get, but the opposition has been humbled since the defeat of its impeachment motion last week.

The impeachment failure was the second Kremlin victory over the Communist opposition in a matter of days. The first was Yeltsin's sacking of Primakov, who had strong support in the Duma. His dismissal stoked anti-Yeltsin feelings in the chamber, leading Communists to think their impeachment motion was a cinch.

It was the third time in little over a year that Yeltsin has replaced his prime minister and Cabinet.

Stepashin warned lawmakers Tuesday they had better approve a package of economic bills required for a new loan from the International Monetary Fund.

If the Duma had rejected Yeltsin's nominee for prime minister three times, the president could have dissolved the chamber and caled for parliamentary elections.