Yeltsin Too Sick For Summit

Russian President Boris Yeltsin retreated to one of his country residences on Friday to recover from bronchitis, and the Kremlin said he had asked his prime minister to stand in for him at an Asian summit next month.

There was no suggestion that the 67-year-old leader would be out of action between now and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in November. In fact, the Kremlin said a planned trip to Vienna in late October was still on for now.

Officials in Primakov's office said Yeltsin's cancellation was due to concerns about how the long flight might affect his health.

But dropping a visit so far in advance, and naming Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov to take his place, does little to dispel the image of a leader losing his grip.

"A short ailment is one thing, but if the man cannot work and fulfil his duties then it is necessary to find the will and courage to say so," Interfax news agency quoted Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov, who has already said he may run for the presidency in 2000, as saying.

Yeltsin was not at work on Friday and flew from his Gorky-9 villa outside Moscow to another of his residences further afield, his press service said.

"The president feels satisfactory, but not brilliant," Russian television quoted the Kremlin spokesman as saying.

Yeltsin defied doctors' orders by working on Wednesday and Thursday. The president, who has a history of health problems, fell ill last weekend with tracheo-bronchitis and had to cut short by a day a trip to Central Asia.

Russia's economic crisis has battered Yeltsin's popularity and triggered opposition calls for his resignation. His apparently shaky health has not helped his image.

The hunt for a set of measures to haul Russia out of crisis is not yet over, and there seems to be little sense of urgency despite inflation, a web of debts, and a weakened currency.

Yeltsin has a long history of health problems, including multiple heart bypass surgery two years ago. Each new ailment rekindles speculation about his fitness to govern.

The president and his doctors say Yeltsin has no serious health problems and will serve out the final two years of his term.