Yeltsin Deputies Will Give Up Multiple Posts

MOSCOW —  President Boris N. Yeltsin appeased his rivals with a compromise Wednesday in a scandal over book fees: All his deputy prime ministers will give up their other government posts.

The concession appeared to break Yeltsin’s deadlock with the Duma, the lower house of parliament, over passing next year’s budget. Senior lawmakers said they would no longer make approval of the budget conditional on the dismissal of First Deputy Prime Minister Anatoly B. Chubais, one of the officials in the book scandal.

The Duma was scheduled to debate the budget Friday. The rejection of the budget, a key element of the government’s economic recovery program, would be a serious blow to the Kremlin.

The scandal involves $450,000 in advances to Chubais and four other officials for a book on privatization in Russia. Critics contend that the money was a thinly disguised bribe, but Chubais and the others have denied any wrongdoing.

The opposition has called for Chubais’ dismissal from all government posts, but Yeltsin rejected that demand.

Instead, the president agreed to a plan Wednesday that calls for Chubais and others to give up their ministerial portfolios but keep their deputy premier posts.

That means Chubais would step down as finance minister while remaining a deputy prime minister. The measure is largely cosmetic because Chubais would almost certainly remain the government’s chief economic policymaker.

Vladimir Ryzhkov, deputy speaker of the Duma, said the post of finance minister has been offered to Mikhail Zadornov, head of the Duma’s budget committee.