PRESIDENT Yeltsin formally backed a global ban on all nuclear tests for the first time yesterday, but said Russia reserved the right to resume them and leave a planned test ban treaty if its supreme interests were threatened.
He was speaking at the beginning of a high-powered international conference on nuclear safety, attended by his opposite numbers from world capitals including Washington and London.
But the Russian president's plan to use the meeting as a stage on which to demonstrate his international stature to a sceptical electorate was fast falling flat last night as a fierce domestic dispute broke out over Chechnya, and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) threatened to postpone payments in a $10 billion (£6 1/2 million) loan.
The summit's agenda - what to do about the world's ageing power stations, lethal radioactive dumps, and poorly guarded fissile materials - was also sidelined by the tragedy in Lebanon, which produced a flurry of statements from the assembled leaders calling for a ceasefire.
Like a recurring fever, the Chechen war flared up again when the Communist-dominated lower house of parliament summoned the Russian Defence Minister, Gen Pavel Grachev, to explain the death of at least 53 federal troops in a Chechen ambush on Tuesday - in a war that Mr Yeltsin claims has ended.
The general offered to quit, prompting speculation that he is about to be sacked, although his move was more of a gesture, as the president is the only official empowered to accept his resignation.
Mr Yeltsin pledged to punish the responsible commanders. His problems were compounded still further by rumblings from the IMF that it may withhold at least one installation of the $10 billion loan it recently agreed to make to Russia.
It was a clear warning that payments may be stopped if Russia fails to meet the IMF's strict fiscal conditions.
None of this fits into the plan that Mr Yeltsin must have had in mind when he invited the G7 to Moscow nearly a year ago. Yesterday he said he was "fighting fit, despite his difficulties".
The G7 leaders, who last night attended at a lavish banquet in the Kremlin marking the summit's opening, have come to Moscow to discuss nuclear safety and security, but it is also a demonstration of western support for Mr Yeltsin before June's presidential elections. They are keen to prevent a victory by the resurgent communists, whom they believe could stop Russia's reforms dead.
They are, however, usually careful not to admit this publicly. Asked whether he supported Mr Yeltsin's efforts to win a second term, the British Prime Minister, Mr Major, yesterday replied: "That is a matter for the Russian people. It would be impertinent for me to express a preference. We do have a strong view that the reform process is very important and wish to see it proceeding."
But Mr Major also said he had a "brief half-hour" meeting with Mr Yeltsin's chief rival, the Communist Party leader, Mr Gennady Zyuganov. "Mr Zyuganov discussed the areas of the campaign he was most interested in." For his part, Mr Major "indicated to him the importance we attach to reform."