MOSCOW, Aug 28 (Reuters) - President Boris Yeltsin, who has
stayed at a country residence outside Moscow during the last few
days despite a deepening financial and political crisis, arrived
at the Kremlin on Friday, Itar-Tass news agency said.
The Kremlin press service could not immediately confirm the
report, which said the 67-year-old president had arrived at his
office at 9 am (0500 GMT). He has a scheduled meeting with
visiting Bulgarian President Petar Stoyanov at 10 am (0700 GMT).
Yeltsin is also expected to meet acting Prime Minister
Viktor Chernomyrdin and Foreign Minister Yevgeny Primakov later
in the day.
On Thursday rumours swept Western financial markets that
Yeltsin, who has dominated Russia's political stage for nearly a
decade, was ready to step down because of the acute crisis,
which has driven the rouble into freefall and triggered grave
doubts about the future of market reforms.
The Kremlin has denied the rumours but Yeltsin's own silence
about the crisis has kept financial markets on tenterhooks.
The ruling council of the Communist-dominated State Duma
lower house is also due to meet later on Friday to consider
whether and when it should vote to confirm Chernomyrdin as prime
minister.
REUTERS GDJ OS
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