Yeltsin unfazed by rouble woes

He said that he saw no need to rush back to Moscow from his vacation in lakeland Valdai. "That would signify that there was turmoil," he told reporters.

US president Bill Clinton, who spoke to Yeltsin by telephone for 40 minutes on Friday, had a different opinion. US officials said Clinton urged Yeltsin to act quickly and decisively to restore confidence in the Russian economy.

White House spokesman Mike McCurry’s account implied that Clinton and Yeltsin had not discussed the possibility of further international aid to Russia, which only last month agreed a $22.6 billion bailout with international lenders.

McCurrysaid that the two talked about the rouble. He gave no details. Russian share prices meanwhile halted a week of near free-fall, moving higher so sharply that trading had to be briefly suspended.

But while stocks closed up nearly 14 percent, traders said volume was too thin to signify an end to fears of Financial collapse.

The rouble stood at between 6.37 and 6.70 per dollar, well below the central bank’s floor for the day of 6.31. Its fall shows the market is betting on devaluation, in spite of adamant denials from Yeltsin the central bank.

Some foreign exchange booths shut down in central Moscow, blaming a lack of hard currency. Others would sell dollars only at premium rates ranging up to eight roubles.

Some banks refused to allow depositors to withdraw dollars from savings accounts — a first sign of currency trouble for ordinary Russians.

But Yeltsin told reporters: "There will be no devaluation — that’s firm and definite." Central bank spokeswoman Irina Yasina said central bank chief SergeiDubinin and Kremlin debt negotiator Anatoly Chubais were returning from holiday this weekend but denied there was any plan to devalue the rouble while markets were closed.

Yeltsin’s Communist opponents said they were ready to agreeto a session of the State Duma, the lower house of parliament, where they are a dominant force. But they made clear they wanted to take the cabinet to task rather than talk about rushing government proposals onto the statute books. Yeltsin signed an appeal to the Duma to break into its summer recess.

Prime minister Sergei Kiriyenko has been urging the Duma to return next week to pass a dozen tax and other bills which ministers say are a vital part of their crisis measures.