Rival Takes Final Jab at Summit-Bound Yeltsin : Russia: Western leaders have been too eager to support president, Parliament chairman says in a sharp reminder of troubles at home.

MOSCOW — Russian President Boris N. Yeltsin’s political archrival took a final sharp dig at him Friday just hours before Yeltsin set off for his summit meeting with President Clinton in Vancouver, Canada.

In a potent reminder of the domestic troubles that Yeltsin brings today as baggage to the summit, Parliament Chairman Ruslan I. Khasbulatov said Western leaders have been in too much of a rush to support the Russian president.

“If as a result of this, blood is spilled, then some of the responsibility for that will lie on Western countries,” Khasbulatov told press attaches of several Western embassies, according to the Interfax news agency.

Yeltsin’s chronic conflict with Khasbulatov was one of the main factors that led to the Russian political crisis of the last two weeks. Russia’s Parliament under Khasbulatov’s leadership repeatedly blocked Yeltsin in his reform moves, prompting him finally to declare temporary “rule by decree” on March 20.

Western leaders, including President Clinton, supported Yeltsin even though he appeared to be violating the Russian constitution.

Yeltsin eventually backed away from the attempt to rule by decree but has continued to insist on an April 25 nationwide referendum on popular confidence in him. He survived an attempt by Parliament to oust him Sunday but faces more unrelenting resistance from lawmakers in weeks to come.

So acrimonious have the political differences become that some observers question Yeltsin’s wisdom in going abroad now, leaving the country vulnerable to a takeover by his enemies.

Yeltsin was seen off at the airport by Vice President Alexander V. Rutskoi, who has sided with Yeltsin’s opponents, and the country’s security ministers, Defense Minister Pavel S. Grachev, Security Minister Viktor P. Barannikov and Interior Minister Viktor F. Yerin, all three of whom had supported the president.

An official in Yeltsin’s office said Rutskoi will be a caretaker leader while the president is abroad. But Yeltsin told reporters before boarding his plane: “I have a telephone and I will run the country myself. Be sure the nuclear button is in safe hands. I am not abandoning the controls.”

Khasbulatov, apparently accusing the West of egging Yeltsin on in his decision to declare rule-by-decree, called on world leaders “not to push the president from abroad into moves that have not been thought through,” Interfax said.

The Parliament chairman said he is always very cautious about “any radicals, because they choose the road of forcing society toward happiness. And everyone knows what that ends with--arrests.”

Despite Khasbulatov’s last-minute attack, a Russian Foreign Ministry official emphasized Friday that Yeltsin is not meeting with Clinton to ask for some kind of bailout to save him from his domestic political woes.

Instead, the official told a briefing of Russian reporters, the main thrust is meant to be a shift in focus of U.S.-Russian relations from security issues to economic cooperation.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, he confirmed recent reports that among the aid programs Clinton will offer Yeltsin will be a Moscow-initiated proposal for American help in building housing for Russian officers over a 12-to-16-month period.

American aid proposals will also include more food supplies, support for Russia’s fledgling private sector and training courses for Russians, he said.

Clinton telephoned Yeltsin on Thursday night and they spoke for about 30 minutes about the summit agenda and the U.S. aid package, reported to be worth about $1 billion.

A U.S. official who briefed reporters in Portland, Ore., where the President was directing a meeting about the conflict between environmentalists and the lumber industry, said Yeltsin was “quite pleased” about the direction of “a very solid package that will make a difference this year.”