RUSSIAN PARLIAMENT RECONVENES; YELTSIN’S SCHEDULE IS OUTLINED.

The Russian parliament reconvened yesterday for the first meeting of its spring session. Its first action was to reject a call by Communist deputy Aleksandr Mikhailov that it should demand a report from the Kremlin on President Boris Yeltsin’s health. Deputies seemed reassured by yesterday’s announcement from Yeltsin’s spokesman, Sergei Yastrzhembsky, that Yeltsin will probably end his vacation this weekend and return to work in the Kremlin on Monday, January 19. (Reuter, January 14)

Yeltsin is scheduled to hold a series of meetings in Moscow before going to Italy on a state visit from February 9 to 11, during which he is expected to meet Pope John Paul. He has summoned the members of the government to give an account of their work on February 26, and a cabinet reshuffle may follow. Yeltsin is expected to outline a package of new economic measures in his annual state of the nation address to parliament at the end of February. Also on Yeltsin’s agenda is a meeting of the "Big Four," at which Duma speaker Gennady Seleznev says he will present a blueprint for a coalition government made up of representatives of three or four of the Duma’s leading factions. (Itar-Tass, January 13)

Sverdlovsk Governor Claims He Was Target of Assassination Attempt.