MOSCOW, May 25 (AFP) - Sole survivor of the monetarist team which oversaw last August's ruble and debt debacle, Mikhail Zadornov confounded all expectations Tuesday with his promotion to first deputy premier in charge of the economy. Vilified by leftists for his role in the spectacular ruble devaluation and debt default, many expected the 36-year-old to be axed when Yevgeny Primakov took over the cabinet hotseat last September. Bloodied but unbowed, Zadornov spent the eight months of Primakov's reign fighting a vigorous cabinet rearguard action against the Communists tasked with hauling Russia's crippled economy off its knees. While ousted Communist economy chief Yury Maslyukov preached printing money to pay off huge arrears to state workers and pensioners, Zadornov repeatedly warned that would spark hyperinflation and only deepen Russia's woes. On Thursday, the day after Sergei Stepashin's confirmation as premier, Zadornov welcomed news that monetary emissions in the first quarter had undershot targets. And as Maslyukov ran into difficulties in negotiating the resumption of loans from the International Monetary Fund, the man with the balding pate and shoe-brush moustache re-emerged from the shadows. Now as keeper of the nation's purse strings, Zadornov is expected to push forward a laws-for-loans package demanded by the International Monetary Fund in exchange for fresh financial assistance to Russia. The package includes delays to a proposed cut in value added tax and increases in other levies, and radical reform of the crippled banking sector. The measures could have a stormy ride through the State Duma, the lower house of parliament, reluctant to pass more austerity measures ahead of December legislative elections. But the loans tied to the legislation are vital to Moscow's efforts to secure fresh credits, renegotiate its 141 billion dollar foreign debt and avoid an outright default on its obligations. That could prove a tall order for the brilliant academic, who graduated with honours from the Moscow Agricultural Institute and wrote his PhD on the "efficiency of capital investment in industrial reconstruction." In the Soviet era parliament he quickly shot to prominence, establishing his reformist credentials by contributing to the radical "500 Days" plan, an ill-fated package to free up the Soviet economy in 1990 which was dumped by then Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. The plan was drawn up by Grigory Yavlinsky, leader of the Yabloko party which Zadornov later joined. The Muscovite represented the Kamchatka district in Russia's far east for the party from December 1993. In parliament, the quick-talking finance specialist who speaks fluent English, rapidly rose through the party ranks to become chairman of the Duma's budget committee. But he was forced by Yavlinsky to quit the party last November when he joined the government of then premier Viktor Chernomyrdin in November 1997.  