Yeltsin Chalks Up Another Year

Boris Yeltsin celebrated his 68th birthday at a secluded government sanitarium Monday, visited by just a handful of dignitaries while largely ignored by the opposition and ordinary Russians.

The ITAR-Tass news agency reports the ailing president's wife, Naina, said she was planning to cook Yeltsin's favorite foods for his birthday. But because of his stomach ulcer, they would likely be eaten by other members of the family.

Television footage showed Yeltsin, clad in a gray pullover, smiling but moving slowly as he greeted his visitors.

In recent years former allies have abandoned him and many have begun to call for his resignation, saying that poor health has eroded his ability to govern.

Yeltsin has been a part-time president for months because of a string of illnesses that include respiratory infections, pneumonia and prolonged heart trouble.

Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov has most responsibility for the government's day-to-day affairs, including the debate over Russia's struggling economy.

With public appearances and trips abroad now rare, Yeltsin mostly limits himself to formal statements on protecting Russia's constitutional freedoms.

Yeltsin's Communist opponents are pursuing impeachment, and continued their hearings against him on Monday. But the parliamentary impeachment panel failed to decide whether it could prosecute the president on charges of committing genocide against the Russian people.

The opposition claims that Russia's transition to a market economy has impoverished the Russian people so badly, that it has led to a sharp decline in life expectancy.

The constitution makes impeachment all but impossible and Yeltsin retains strong support in Russia's courts, which must approve any motion to oust him. It seems nothing short of the grim reaper can unseat him.

So for now, if he can keep further health problems at bay, Boris Yeltsin won't be going anywhere before his term expires in 2001.