Three top aides to Defense Minister Pavel Grachev resigned over the weekend in response his announcement that the army remained loyal to President Boris Yeltsin.


The defense minister's statement and the reaction of his aides were two among a series of opaque events in the government that have left an impression of confusion and crisis among the country's leaders.


Grachev said on television Friday that the Russian Army was still squarely behind the president, and that if anyone wanted to challenge Yeltsin they would have to take account not only of political resistance but of force.


He was responding to rhetoric from Yeltsin's opponents as they prepare for a session of the Congress of People's Deputies, Russia's highest legislative body, on Dec. 1, where they are expected to challenge the president's extensive powers.


But Grachev's statement caused his three longest standing aides to hand in their resignations Saturday, complaining that the minister had dragged the army into politics and that it was being "nudged into a union with reactionary forces", Interfax reported.


A curious report by the usually reliable Interfax news agency added to the confusion on Saturday.


Interfax carried several reports stating that Yeltsin had convened the Security Council to discuss the threat to the executive branch of the upcoming session of the Congress.


According to the reports -- which quoted unnamed "informed sources" -- acting Prime Minister Yegor Gaidar was not present at the meeting. Interfax also suggested that the council's secretary, Yury Skokov, might be recommended to replace Gaidar as prime minister.


The report was carried by the television news program "Vesti". But it later retracted, commenting that in politics as in the weather, Moscow had become "foggy".


Gaidar attempted to clear the fog away Sunday, when he told reporters in Togliatti that Yeltsin had expressed his continuing support for the Gaidar team in a meeting on Saturday. Gaidar predicteri only minor changes in personnel before the Dec. 1 Congress.


In the feud between executive and legislature, the ball is now seen to be in Yeltsin's court.


That has caused speculation that Yeltsin might reshape the government enough to take the wind from the sails of his harshest critics, replacing members of Gaidar's team with industrialists.


That interpretation was encouraged Friday, when Yeltsin dismissed the Health Minister, Andrei Vorobyov.


And when "Vesti" ran reports of a Security Council meeting on Saturday, it appeared that a large-scale cabinet reshuffle could be in the works.


Interfax has not withdrawn its report, but Gaidar threw cold water on the story Sunday when he told reporters in Togliatti, "The announcement of a meeting of the Security Council surprised me and President Yeltsin as well".