Moscow, Tuesday

PRESIDENT Boris Yeltsin, whose absence from the political fray has

stirred rumours that his political powers might be failing, said today

that September would see battles to decide the fate of Russia.

His chief political rival, parliamentary chairman Ruslan Khasbulatov,

told a largely military audience he believed the outlook for Yeltsin's

administration was grim.

''We are dealing today with an executive power that is virtually

incapable of governing the country,'' Khasbulatov told a meeting on

social problems in the armed forces.

Yeltsin, 62, rejected suggestions in Russian newspapers that his

virtual absence from the political limelight this month, despite an

offensive by parliamentary opponents, indicated a crisis in his

administration.

''If I don't appear often on television, this does not mean I am ill,

by any stretch of the imagination,'' he said in a brief interview.

''September will be a super-combative month. It is the month when we

must decide the question of the constitution, the question of elections,

when in essence we must decide the fate of power in Russia.''--Reuter.