GORBACHEV MAY EXAGGERATE PROBLEMS.(Main)

Byline: Associated Press

Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev is exaggerating his political problems - warning of economic trouble and a possible coup against himself - in a bid to consolidate his power, some U.S. analysts say.

"There has been a deliberate creating of a sense of crisis so that he can undercut the conservatives," said Jerry Hough, a scholar of Soviet affairs at Duke University.

U.S. government analysts divide into two main camps on Gorbachev's troubles, which stem from severe shortages of consumer and other goods and nationalist movements that have gained steam with the relaxation of political controls.

Conservatives at the …