MOSCOW, May 25 (AFP) - President Boris Yeltsin handed his finance chief the poisoned chalice of reviving Russia's ailing economy Tuesday, a move which could please the IMF but set up a clash with parliament over a Fund-approved loans-for-laws deal. Confounding expectations that respected Harvard-educated lawmaker Alexander Zhukov would get the post, Yeltsin promoted Mikhail Zadornov to first deputy premier in charge of macro-economics and finance. The 36-year-old, who retains the finance ministry portfolio, will be tasked with drumming up more cash for Russia's bare public coffers while ensuring that a key package of IMF-approved measures make it to the statute book. The International Monetary Fund has tied disbursement of 4.5 billion dollars over 18 months to increased levies, postponement of a valued added tax cut, and radical reform of the crippled banking sector. IMF funds could open the door to further credits and help Russia to avoid outright default on its 141-billion-dollar foreign debt. But media reports say the Duma's budget committee -- ironically chaired by Zhukov -- is opposed to three-quarters of the proposed measures. On June 9 deputies in the State Duma, the lower house of parliament, are slated to pick up debate on the austerity package which is deeply unpopular with a leftist-led chamber facing re-election in December. However, after a series of crushing political defeats by Yeltsin in recent weeks, few economists expect the Duma to pick a fresh fight with a Kremlin chief who has won virtually every major stand-off with parliament during his eight-year tenure. Zadornov, a former member of the liberal Yabloko faction in parliament where he chaired the budget committee, is the lone survivor of the team of monetarists that ran Russia until last August's financial crisis erupted. Duma leftists have vilified him for his role in the debacle, which could complicate his efforts to get the IMF-approved bills through a parliament increasingly antagonistic towards the Washington-based Fund. Zhukov could play a key role in smoothing their passage, said premier Sergei Stepashin, who said promoting Zadornov and keeping the budget committee chairman in his post was his personal initiative. "We found it useful to be working in tandem -- Mikhail Zadornov in the government, Alexander Zhukov in the State Duma budget committee. "They are like-minded people, brother-in-arms in the good sense of that term. They are people who can contribute a lot and solve serious problems, including the budget and problems with the International Monetary Fund," said Stepashin. Julia Dawson, an emerging markets analyst with ING Barings in London, said the Zadornov appointment sent a positive signal to the Fund and was a sign of committment by Yeltsin and Stepashin to pursue market reforms. "He (Zadornov) is very much somebody that the IMF can do business with. Also it's a signal that Stepashin and Yeltsin are still committed to that, even though it might be tempting to loosen policy in the run up to elections," she added. "Zadornov will be able to get the bills through the Duma on June 9, even if that appears more difficult than with (ex-economy chief Yury) Maslyukov and Primakov in government," added another western economist. The stock market shrugged off the politicking, the main RTS index closing down 2.93 percent on the day at 98.62. Traders said investors were more interested in improved world oil prices and the failure of moves to impeach Yeltsin than cabinet changes. However, the new economy supremo may also have to fight his cabinet opposite number Nikolai Aksyonenko, who has been tasked with industrial policy, if he is to keep Russia on course to secure international financial assistance. Zadornov has been a leading advocate of milking Russia's cash-rich corporates for badly needed federal revenues, which could explain why Aksyonenko reportedly tried to keep the economic portfolio for himself. Russian media say Aksyonenko sought to block the appointment of a second first deputy premier, attributing the move to his close ties to powerful businessman Boris Berezovsky. The billionaire's enemies charge that he has systematically used his Kremlin contacts to sacrifice the Russia's economy in order to protect the interests of his own media-to-oil business empire. -=-=- 