As a top-level International Monetary Fund delegation in Moscow prepared to start talks on a crucial $6.25 billion standby loan, President Boris Yeltsin and Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin on Tuesday offered a fresh pledge of their commitment to economic reform.


A communiqu? from the president's press service said Yeltsin and Chernomyrdin met Tuesday to discuss "a wide range of economic questions," including the proposed 1995 budget and measures to boost Russia's securities market.


"The president and the prime minister confirmed their stand on preserving the privatization course regardless of the opinion of some cabinet members," the communiqu? said.


It was a clear reference to privatization chief Vladimir Polevanov's suggestion last month that "improperly privatized" industries, including some oil, metals and defense enterprises, should be renationalized.


Polevanov, appointed chairman of the State Property Committee in November, has described foreign investment as a threat to national security and has banned foreigners from the committee's headquarters in Moscow.


As the IMF delegation's visit has neared, Russia's top economic policymakers have been saturating the media with assurances that reforms are still on track.


In a televised address to the nation Monday, Chernomyrdin spoke of the necessity of pushing ahead with radical economic changes.


"I will tell you unequivocally: There will be no movement backward, and in 1995 we will stick with our earlier program," the prime minister said. "We will not revise our financial policy or the privatization drive."


The presidential press service said in its statement Tuesday that the two leaders had also discussed "a number of decrees to stimulate economic reforms."