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Yeltsin sick, cancels meetings
Yeltsin appeared healthy Thursday on Russian television Being treated at home
MOSCOW (CNN) -- Russian President Boris Yeltsin canceled his meetings Friday and went to his country home to recover from an acute respiratory infection and sore throat, according to a statement released by the Kremlin press office.
Yeltsin did not require hospitalization but is being treated with antibiotics at the country residence outside Moscow.
A brief statement said Yeltsin has "acute laryngotracheitis," defined in medical dictionaries as an "inflamed condition of the larynx and trachea." His temperature was normal but he was experiencing discomfort in speaking.
A scheduled meeting Friday with German parliament members was to be handled instead by Deputy Prime Minister Anatoly Chubais.
A member of the German delegation, Rudolf Seiters, said an upcoming "troika" summit between Yeltsin, German President Helmut Kohl and French President Jacques Chirac in the Urals city of Yekaterinburg on March 25 and 26 was not called into question during the meeting with Chubais.
Appearing on Russian television Thursday, Yeltsin sounded slightly hoarse, but seemed to move without difficulty as he gave out awards to artists and intellectuals. In a meeting with Chubais, he said his health was no longer an issue, and criticized journalists for harping on the subject.
Chubais (left) and Yeltsin The 67-year-old leader has a history of health problems since undergoing heart surgery in 1996. Most recently, he was hospitalized for two weeks in December with what the Kremlin called a bad cold.
Since then he has moved back and forth between work and rest homes outside the capital, raising concerns about his ability to govern.
The opposition-controlled State Duma, parliament's lower chamber, appeared rather calm.
"Everyone can fall ill. It's simply age," said the Communist speaker of the Duma, Gennady Seleznyov.
Nonetheless, reports of his illness sent the Russian Trading System index down nearly 2 percent from Thursday's closing within the first 30 minutes of trading Friday.
Reuters and Correspondent Steve Harrigan contributed to this report.
Newsmaker profile:
- Boris Yeltsin - Russian President
Related stories:
- Yeltsin repeats he won't run for third term - January 30, 1998
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