The liberal daily Izvestia published an angry letter Wednesday from President Boris Yeltsin's chief bodyguard, vehemently denying reports that he is the power behind the Kremlin walls.


General Alexander Korzhakov, who has publicly admitted his dislike of the press and whose influence on the president is the stuff of dark rumors, was responding to a recent Izvestia story, entitled "Who runs the country: Yeltsin, Chernomyrdin or General Korzhakov?"


The story quoted Korzhakov's letter to Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin arguing against the lifting of oil export quotas. The letter, full of figures and economic arguments, made many observers wonder exactly how far the presidential bodyguard's interests spread.


In his response, Korzhakov pointed out that like any Russian citizen he had the right to express opinions on matters of national interest. He called Izvestia's allegation "absurd."


Korzhakov, who is Yeltsin's security chief and frequent tennis partner, also wrote that Chernomyrdin failed to reply to his letter on oil quotas.


Izvestia published the response under the headline "General Korzhakov runs the country as an ordinary citizen."


The newspaper's leading writer, Presidential Council member Otto Latsis, said in a commentary published next to the general's letter that Korzhakov's signature on the missive to Chernomyrdin meant much more than its content.


"Ordinary citizens do not write on Presidential Security Service stationery, do not sign their letters 'Service Chief, Major General' and do not send them through government channels," Latsis wrote. "They just mail them and they know full well that there is a zero chance of the prime minister reading them."


"Excessive interest in defending this state of affairs shown by a man whose work does not concern the matter in question looks very strange," Latsis wrote.