YELTSIN TO ENTRUST NUCLEAR BUTTON TO PRIME MINISTER.

A statement issued yesterday after a meeting between the hospitalized president and his chief-of-staff, Anatoly Chubais, is being seen as the clearest sign yet that, if and when surgery takes place, Yeltsin will hand control of the nuclear button over to Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin. Chernomyrdin is already in effective control of the government. (Reuters, AP, September 19) However speculation is mounting in Moscow that Yeltsin’s condition may be too fragile to permit a major operation at this time.

Duma Speaker Rips U.S., West.