Rivals say Yeltsin should step down due to poor health

January 13, 1997
Web posted at: 12:30 p.m. EST (1730 GMT)

MOSCOW (CNN) -- As Russian President Boris Yeltsin recovers from pneumonia, his opponents stepped up their calls for him to resign for health reasons.

Yeltsin was hospitalized last week. "In the doctors' opinion, the president is in a stable condition," presidential spokesman Sergei Yastrzhembsky said on Monday. "His temperature and other indicators are in the normal range."

Yastrzhembsky said he had no confirmation on reports that the 65-year-old president could leave the hospital Tuesday or Wednesday. A top Kremlin doctor said late last week that Yeltsin would probably stay in the hospital for two or three more days, and then be released to a country residence for about three weeks of convalescence.

Yeltsin had quintuple heart bypass operation on November 5, and returned to work on December 23. Doctors said his current ailment is not related to the heart problems.

Yeltsin's chief opponent, Communist leader Gennady Zyuganov, continued his assault on the president's ability to carry out the duties of his office on Monday. Yeltsin, he said, should step down.

'Time to have a rest'

"We have said this for a long time," Zyuganov said. "I think his close relatives, friends and close circle will say, 'Boris Nikolayevich, it is time to have a rest.'"

Yeltsin's other rival, Gen. Alexander Lebed, also called for the president to resign.

Yeltsin defeated Zyuganov and Lebed in last summer's elections, but Parliament member Sergei Kovalyov said that Russians voted for Yeltsin out of fear the Communists could return to power.

"And now that the Communist Zyuganov hasn't been elected," he said, "people are scratching their heads thinking, 'My God, whom did I vote for?'"

Newspapers have echoed concerns about Yeltsin's ability to serve. Pravda, one of the country's largest newspapers, said that Yeltsin's bout with pneumonia made it clear that "he has no strength to do real work."

Political analyst Andre Kortunov said that such attitudes are to be expected from Yeltsin's rivals, while those in the government want to appear loyal.

But popular television commentator Yevgeny Kiselyov said that focus on Yeltsin's health distracts attention from Russia's real problems.

"The slightest indication that something is wrong or might be wrong with Yeltsin's health and in a matter of a few seconds the press of the whole world is full of stories about new rounds of political instability in this country," Kiselyov said.

Still, some Russian citizens are growing weary of Yeltsin's problems, and long for a president who would get on with the work of guiding Russia out of its current round of economic and social crises.

One man, for example, said he wished Yeltsin a speedy recovery but thought he should resign and "be a great grandpa playing with his grandchildren and taking care of his health."

Correspondent Betsy Aaron and Reuters contributed to this report.

 

Special section:

• Pivotal Elections: Russia

Related stories:

• Yeltsin to stay in hospital for at least 3 more days - January 10, 1997
• Yeltsin 'satisfactory,' being treated for pneumonia - January 9, 1997
• Yeltsin goes back to work on Monday - December 20, 1996
• Russian president Yeltsin has surgery - November 5, 1996

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• ITAR-Tass Homepage (Russian News Service)
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