Date: Mon, 23 Nov 1998
From: Fred Weir in Moscow
MOSCOW (HT Nov 23) -- In what has become a familiar
occurrence of late, Russian President Boris Yeltsin was rushed to
the hospital Monday. His spokesman said he is suffering from
pneumonia.
The Kremlin was quick to downplay this latest in a string of
health problems for the 67-year old leader.
Mr. Yeltsin's spokesman said the President was not too ill
to fulfill his duties, and that he met in the hospital Monday
afternoon with visiting Chinese President Jiang Zemin.
But analysts say the depressing downward spiral of Mr.
Yeltsin's health is taking a toll on Russia's fragile political
stability.
In recent months the ailing President has appeared rarely in
public, and even on those occasions has seemed stilted, feeble
and disoriented.
"The president is no longer the president. It is clear he
can no longer fulfill his functions," says Viktor Kremeniuk, an
analyst at the Institute of Canada-USA Studies in Moscow.
"This is yet another demonstration of how central the
president is in Russia's Constitutional system," he says.
"Without Yeltsin on the job, nothing gets done. So his
illness is worsening our social and political crisis -- as he
goes, so goes the country."
Mr. Yeltsin had open-heart surgery two years ago, and has
since been regularly sidelined by what his aides call minor
illnesses.
But Russia's political and economic crisis is growing
critical. Without a strong President at the helm, the country
appears to be drifting into a harsh and turbulent winter.
The government of Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov has
restored a semblance of stability following a near meltdown of
the economy in August, but has not enacted any comprehensive
program to extract Russia from its crisis.
The apparently political murder of a leading liberal
lawmaker, Galina Staravoitova, at the weekend has greatly
heightened tensions and left many Russians convinced the country
is headed for catastrophe and the return of dictatorship.
"Extremists are already banging on the gates of power," says
Mr. Kremeniuk. "Primakov has very little time to do something,
and
the chances of escaping collapse are getting worse every day."
--
Gregory Schwartz
Department of Political Science
York University
4700 Keele St.
Toronto, Ontario
M3J 1P3
Canada
tel: (416) 736-5265
fax: (416) 736-5686
