Away from work again

October 22: An ailing President Boris Yeltsin skipped another day of work in the Kremlin to pay a flash visit to the hospital on Wednesda...

October 22: An ailing President Boris Yeltsin skipped another day of work in the Kremlin to pay a flash visit to the hospital on Wednesday for a check-up apparently linked to a bout of bronchitis that has sidelined him this month. Yeltsin 8220;for a very brief time left his suburban residence for a planned checkup at the Central Clinical Hospital,8221; presidential spokesman Dmitry Yakushkin told the Moscow Echo radio station.

The Russian President underwent an X-ray, the Kremlin said, after which he returned to the Gorky-9 suburban Moscow residence where he has spent most of the past nine days recovering from a reported chill and throat condition that developed during his aborted trip to Central Asia. Yakushkin said doctors diagnosed Yeltsin8217;s condition as 8220;normal8221;.

The 67-year-old Kremlin Chief has suffered a long list of ailments, including a series of lung ailments and several heart attacks that resulted in a November 1996 quintuple bypass operation. His hospital visits and frequent coughs and sneezes areclosely watched both by Russian politicians keen to succeed the President and policy makers abroad grasping for clues on Yeltsin8217;s true state of health.

Yeltsin often vanishes from view for long periods and this year he has mostly abdicated daily management of Russian affairs to his ever-changing governments. But while Yeltsin has ruled out running for a third term as President in 2000, he has ignored Opposition calls for him to step down on health grounds before the term runs out.

Yeltsin8217;s approval ratings, undermined both by his physical frailty and his inability to pull the country out of a financial nosedive, have hovered barely above zero in recent weeks.

His aides have insisted that Yeltsin will still attend an EU-Russia summit in Vienna next week, although European officials said last weekend there were 8220;serious doubts8221; the Russian President would attend.

Meanwhile, a top cabinet official said Yeltsin must swallow his pride and find himself a vice president who can attend to state affairs ona daily basis. The suggestion by First Deputy Prime Minister Vadim Gustov cut at the heart of Yeltsin8217;s constitutional powers. The Russian President in 1993 abolished the post when it belonged to arch-rival Alexander Rutskoi, and later attacked the parliament with tanks for disagreeing with his decision.