Chubais stays deputy premier despite scandal

The announcement followed a meeting between Yeltsin and Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin, who yesterday faced calls from the communist-dominated Lower House of Parliament, the state Duma, to dump Chubais altogether.

It remained unclear whether replacing Chubais with Zadornov as Finance Minister would be enough to placate Opposition deputies, some of whom had threatened to block passage of the 1998 budget and a new tax code unless Chubais went.

Zadornov, 34, from the liberal, but anti-government Yabloko Party, has so far worked as chairman of the Duma’s budget committee, where he has won widespread plaudits. Zyuganov was later to hold a meeting of communist and other leftist groups in Parliament, possibly to call for sweeping changes to the government’s free-market reforms, Interfax reported.