MOSCOW AP A wide coalition of democratic leaders seeking to prevent Communists from returning to power will soon be officially inaugurated a member of the group said Tuesday. The founding conference of the umbrella group ``should take place in the near future'' said Oleg Sysuyev the deputy head of the Kremlin administration who called for forming the coalition. A declaration signed last week ``calls for uniting democratic forces for combating extremism and fascism'' he said. The idea for the coalition has gathered strength since the killing of outspoken liberal lawmaker Galina Starovoitova on Nov. 20. Sysuyev has said President Boris Yeltsin endorsed the idea. Her death focused the fears of Russia's splintered liberals that they might lose more power to Communist or nationalist forces. Other organizers of the coalition include Yegor Gaidar former prime minister and leader of the reformist party Democratic Russia former Prime Minister Sergei Kiriyenko and ex-deputy premiers Anatoly Chubais and Boris Nemtsov. The group calls itself a ``center-right'' bloc a term Russian liberals use to distance themselves from Communists who heavily dominate the ``left'' of Russia's skewed political spectrum. Russian liberal groups have been torn apart by rivalry in the past and the prospects of their union remained unclear. Parliament speaker Gennady Seleznyov a Communist has predicted that the group will quickly self-destruct in a battle over leadership. ad/adc APW19981201.1042.txt.body.html APW19981201.0974.txt.body.html