Yeltsin meets with his cabinet in Moscow Thursday

MOSCOW (CNN) -- Officials at the Kremlin and Russia's Central Bank may be in a tailspin as they try to avert a national economic crisis, but ask the average Muscovite if he or she is worried about pending financial doom and the typical response is: "What crisis?"

On Thursday, the Russian markets and ruble began to rebound after President Boris Yeltsin and his officials urged investors and the Russian people to remain calm. They promised not to devalue the ruble while defending it against speculative attacks.

"Russia's financial market will not collapse," Yeltsin said after meeting with Prime Minster Sergei Kiriyenko and other members from the Kremlin's economic policy-making team.

Yeltsin shakes hands with Kiriyenko

"What the central bank is doing now is defending the people's interests, defending their savings by averting any attacks on the Russian ruble," Central bank chief Sergei Dubinin said at a news conference.

In a land where residents long have been acclimated to poverty, many Russians seem to think only the rich and the politicians will be hurt by further economic turmoil.

'Our life is one permanent crisis...'

"Crisis? Our life is one permanent crisis, so what's new," pensioner Albert Belsky quipped with a shrug of his shoulders.

Many Russians, used to economic instability, prefer to keep their money in non-Russian currencies, and most Russians don't have extra money to invest.

"Most Russians don't understand capital markets," observed an engineer named Vladimir. "This is still a very abstract crisis for us."

Yeltsin to consult IMF, Clinton, Kohl

Yeltsin was expecting the arrival of a team from the International Monetary Fund, which late Wednesday said it was not considering a bailout plan for Russia's economy.

Yeltsin also planned to consult Thursday by phone with U.S. President Bill Clinton and German Chancellor Helmut Kohl.

He was also expected to sign a decree permitting officials to seize debtors' property, Kiriyenko told reporters. Such a decree would enable the government to immediately boost its revenues.

Kiriyenko has blamed the current crisis on a disparity between government revenues and spending. That arises from low tax collections, he said.

It is Yeltsin and his young prime minister Kiriyenko, who has been in office only a month, who may have the most to lose if the economy doesn't stabilize.

Yeltsin, who helped bring down the former Communist regime and wants to be remembered as a reformer, has yet to say whether he intends to seek a third term in 2000. He could also face a political backlash in Parliament because he bullied lawmakers into approving the inexperienced Kiriyenko by threatening to dissolve parliament and call new elections.

"Why should we have any trust in them?" said Ivan Deyushin, who was selling stationary near a subway station, referring to the Kremlin officials. "They tell us one thing and do another. They told us the weather would be fine today and it goes and rains on us."

Correspondents Betsy Aaron and Jill Dougherty, The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

Related stories:

• CNNfn - A ruble rescue with punch - May 27, 1998
• CNNfn - Russia interest rates soar, stocks plunge - May 27, 1998
• CNNfn - Rueing the Russian ruble - May 26, 1998
• Russia sees growth by 2000, problems with IMF now - November 21, 1996

Related sites:

• International Monetary Fund
• Russian Government Internet Network
• ITAR-TASS Russian News Agency
• Russia Today
• Interfax News Agency