THE Russian prime minister yesterday dismissed opposition calls for Mr Boris Yeltsin to step down and one of the president's doctors said there was no question of cancelling his planned heart surgery.
Mr Viktor Chernomyrdin, who met Mr Yeltsin for more than 30 minutes, rebuffed demands by the opposition Communist Party for the Kremlin leader to resign if he cannot work normally.
"This is out of the question now," Interfax news agency quoted Mr Chernomyrdin as saying after he had met Mr Yeltsin at the Moscow Central Clinical Hospital, where the 65 year old president is preparing for a heart bypass operation.
A Kremlin spokesman said a team of doctors, including a US specialist Mr Michael DeBakey, would meet Mr Yeltsin in the hospital at around noon today and discuss a possible date for the operation.
Top Russian surgeon Mr Renat Akchurin, who suggested at the weekend that the operation could be postponed or cancelled, said yesterday there was no chance of cancelling the surgery.
Mr Yeltsin has already handed over some powers to Mr Chernomyrdin and said the prime minister will take over all his duties while he has the operation. This will include assuming control of the "red button controlling Russia's nuclear missiles.
The president had two heart attacks last year and Mr Akchurin said at the weekend that he probably had a third one this summer just before the run off in a presidential election.
The communists, defeated by Mr Yeltsin in the election, accused the president and his team this week of misleading the electorate by concealing information about his health.
Mr Gennady Seleznyov, the communist chairman of the lower house of parliament, called yesterday for more openness on Mr Yeltsin's health and said doctors should release full details when they discuss whether to operate on him.
The communists say Mr Yeltsin's absence has created a power vacuum and top politicians are jockeying for position to prepare to launch presidential bids if he steps down.
Mr Chernomyrdin dismissed reports that the leadership was split. "I do not recognise any factions, there are no factions and there will be no factions while we are here," he said.
Cardiologists at an said Mr Yeltsin's liver, lungs, kidneys or another vital organ could pose the biggest threat to his life. "The post operative problems are the most serious risk," a leading heart specialist said.
Russian shares fell an average of three per cent on Monday and prices tumbled further yesterday.