Illness Alters Yeltsin Schedule
Russian President Boris Yeltsin canceled his meetings Friday after doctors said he was suffering from an acute respiratory infection.
The Kremlin press service said Yeltsin, 67, was suffering from a sore throat because of the infection and was being treated with antibiotics. It did not say how long it would be before Yeltsin resumed official duties.
Yeltsin's illness could affect his plans to host a summit of leaders from the former Soviet republics in Moscow on March 19 and to hold a meeting with French President Jacques Chirac and German Chancellor Helmut Kohl in Russia in late March.
Presidential spokesman Sergei Yastrzhembsky could not say Friday whether any of the events next week would be canceled.
Yeltsin was staying at his country home outside Moscow and had not been hospitalized, according to officials.
Yeltsin has suffered from heart troubles and other health problems in recent years, raising concerns about his ability to govern and Russia's political stability if he were to be incapacitated.
A brief statement said Yeltsin was experiencing discomfort in speaking. It said the president had "acute laryngotracheitis" defined in medical dictionaries as an "inflamed condition of the larynx and trachea," but his temperature was normal.
The president "has a cold, and his voice is a bit hoarse," Yeltsin's chief of staff Valentin Yumashev told a Kremlin meeting of TV officials that was to have been chaired by the president.
First deputy premier Anatoly Chubais, speaking to a visiting group of German lawmakers, apologized on Yeltsin's behalf.
"There is some kind of flu epidemic in Russia," Chubais said, adding that Yeltsin "had hoped to meet you today but the doctors advised him it would be better not to do so."
On the stock market, the Russian Trading System (RTS) index went down by nearly 2 percent from Thursday's close as traders heard the news of Yeltsin's illness, but rebounded soon.
"This has happened so many times before. Like a cat, Yeltsin has nine lives," noted Dmitry Tsarenko, equity trader at Regent European Securities Ltd. in Moscow.
The president was shown on Russian television Thursday after meeting with officials and appeared to be relaxed and in good health.
Earlier this week, Yeltsin complained that he faces too much media scrutiny about his health. Yeltsin underwent bypass surgery in November 1996 after suffering a heart attack. He came down with pneumonia two months after that surgery.
By VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV, Associated Press Writer. ©1998 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed