PRESIDENT AND PREMIER MEET, KREMLIN IN-FIGHTING CONTINUES.

Prime Minister Victor Chernomyrdin visited President Yeltsin in the hospital yesterday. Among other topics, the two men discussed personnel appointments. Later it was announced that Yeltsin was nominating Sergei Dubinin to replace Aleksandr Khandruyev as chairman of the Russian Central Bank. This move came only a week after Khandruyev was appointed acting chairman in place of the highly regarded Tatyana Paramonova. This chopping and changing reinforces suspicions that, as soon as Yeltsin was hospitalized, a power struggle broke out behind the Kremlin walls. The announcement that in the Duma Chernomyrdin would handle Dubinin’s appointment suggested that the latest round had been won by the prime minister. Only a week ago, Yeltsin’s aides were contradicting Chernomyrdin’s claim that some of Yeltsin’s powers had been delegated to him. (9)

Russia Receives Another Tranche Of IMF Stand-By Loan.