Chernomyrdin

From CNN Moscow Bureau Chief Jill Dougherty

MOSCOW (CNN) -- Russian President Boris Yeltsin has formally asked the lower house of Parliament to confirm Viktor Chernomyrdin as permanent prime minister.

Yeltsin today is scheduled to meet with Chernomyrdin and address the nation on television. The president also will meet with his defense Minister and Internal Ministry officials.

Yeltsin named Chernomyrdin acting prime minister Sunday night, after firing the entire government of Sergei Kiriyenko who had held that post for only four months. Chernomyrdin was the man he sacked when he named Kiriyenko to the prime minister post last spring.

Chernomyrdin is saying Monday his first task will be to deal with Russia's financial markets, including the stock market. Russia is in severe economic crisis. The ruble is being devalued, the stock market has basically shut down, and many banks are teetering on the bring of insolvency. ~ Monday, Russia officials were scheduled to present a plan on how it will pay back $40 billion worth of short-term debt that's it's put on hold for 90-days. That announcement is expected to go ahead.

The parliament must now vote on accepting Chernomydrin as permanent prime minister. But many members already are criticizing Yeltsin's move. They say they're happy that Kiriyenko is out. But they doubt Chernomyrdin can do any better to get Russia out of its crisis.

Clinton and Yeltsin

U.S. officials on Sunday urged Russia to implement economic reforms in the wake of Yeltsin's government shakeup, and said President Clinton will visit Moscow in September as planned.

U.S. Vice President Al Gore, on vacation in Hawaii, spoke with both Kiriyenko and Chernomyrdin on Sunday, urging the new Russian government to fulfill pledges of reform, according to a senior administration official.

White House press secretary Mike McCurry said Sunday that the Clinton administration would have no direct comment about the turmoil in the Russian government except to say "our relations with the Russian Federation depend less on personality and more on policy."

"We are interested in what course of reform the government pursues, and we hope there will be continuity in taking steps to get the Russian economy stable and growing," McCurry said.