New Concerns Raised About Yeltsin’s Health

Russian President Boris N. Yeltsin on Monday abruptly canceled all his appointments for two days and left Moscow, again raising concern about his health.

Yeltsin, who has suffered from both a heart ailment and depression, was reported by Russian officials to be resting in a country house outside the capital and preparing for his trip later this week to London, the United Nations, Washington and Ottawa.

But the suddenness of Yeltsin’s actions surprised diplomats as he canceled a planned appearance at the latest round of Middle East peace talks, which open here today, and an important meeting with Michio Watanabe, the Japanese foreign minister. He also postponed a television interview.

The concern for Yeltsin’s health is real, for the Russian president, who will be 61 shortly, was forced to rest three times, once for more than two weeks, in the last five months for what his doctors have described as a minor but recurrent heart problem and fatigue. In recent years, he has been hospitalized for both a heart ailment and nervous exhaustion.

“He is in good health,” Pavel I. Voshchanov, the president’s press secretary, declared Monday. “He is in more than good health--he is in an excellent sports condition.”

The confusion grew, however, as Russian officials gave conflicting explanations of Yeltsin’s disappearance. Initially, they reported he had been called away from Moscow to deal with domestic problems; then they asserted that he had not planned to meet Watanabe or address the conference; finally they said he was preparing for his trip this week.

Andrei V. Kozyrev, the Russian foreign minister, said that Yeltsin was at work on a major foreign policy statement, including significant shifts in the country’s military posture, which he will make when he speaks at the summit meeting of U.N. Security Council members in New York on Friday.

“He is working on his preparations for his Security Council meeting, and he has a lot to do in order to go off on his foreign trip,” Kozyrev told correspondents, nevertheless betraying embarrassment over the attention that Yeltsin’s absence was drawing.

Yeltsin had said over the weekend that he would make a statement Monday on Russia’s new military strategy, including recognition of the United States as a “friendly nation,” not a potential adversary, and the consequent shifting of the targets for the country’s nuclear arsenal away from U.S. cities.

Voshchanov said at first that the statement would be made today instead, but later corrected himself to say that it would likely come at the United Nations.

“The statement will come at the proper time, in the proper forum,” another spokesman said. “The president will have important things to say.”

But in Washington, Administration officials said there were indications that Yeltsin would make a major address on military strategy and arms reductions Wednesday.

Vladimir Petrovsky, chairman of the committee organizing the conference here on regional issues in the Middle East, said Yeltsin would not appear at the meeting because he was “now preoccupied with domestic problems and the processes taking place in Russia.”

“There are no plans now that Yeltsin will meet the (peace talk) participants,” Petrovsky added, though Russian Foreign Ministry officials had told delegates last week that he might open the conference and certainly would meet the delegates informally.

Despite all the explanations, the affair Monday was already a minor “incident” to diplomats here, and it seemed likely to add to Yeltsin’s reputation in Western capitals for erratic, even bizarre behavior.

Seiji Morimoto, a spokesman for Watanabe, suggested that Yeltsin’s cancellation of the long-planned meeting showed that the Russian president was little interested in Asian affairs and improvement in relations with Japan despite prospects for economic assistance from Tokyo.

When Kozyrev said perhaps the meeting might be rescheduled for later in the week, Watanabe reportedly replied that it would not fit into his arrangements.

“You don’t cancel major international appearances or meetings with the Japanese foreign minister simply because you are over-scheduled,” a European ambassador commented. “Something is either seriously wrong--perhaps Yeltsin’s health, perhaps domestic problems, perhaps (foreign) policy in disarray--or he is just not a serious person himself.”

A major goal of Yeltsin’s trip this week to London, the United Nations, Washington and Ottawa and another next week to Paris--his real international debut--was to demonstrate his emergence as a world statesman and a worthy successor to Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize.

The affair also led to renewed speculation among many well-informed Russians in the country’s foreign policy Establishment that Yeltsin had been drinking heavily. Rumors of a drinking problem have surfaced before. But Voshchanov angrily dismissed suggestions of alcohol abuse as politically motivated.

“These rumors are absolutely foolish and are being circulated by those who do not want Yeltsin to be the Russian president,” Voshchanov said.

To illustrate Voshchanov’s claims of total health, the Russian Television news program Vesti broadcast file film of Yeltsin kissing babies and sitting up to his neck in a bath of steaming water, but it did not say when the film was shot.

Yeltsin’s health caused concern when he was taken ill in his office after the abortive coup d’etat in August; aides said then that he had a minor heart ailment, and he returned to work after a few days of rest.

In October, he took a 17-day seaside vacation despite major political developments. Aides explained then that he was suffering from fatigue and needed the prolonged rest to recover his strength.

Earlier this month, he canceled his engagements for a day after his doctors ordered him to rest following two trips in as many weeks within Russia, as well as intensive negotiations to establish the new Commonwealth of Independent States, which is made up of Russia and 10 other republics of the old Soviet Union.

Voshchanov said that Yeltsin will leave as planned early Thursday morning for London for talks with British Prime Minister John Major and continue on to New York for the Security Council summit Friday. On Saturday, he is scheduled to meet with President Bush at Camp David outside Washington and then stop in Ottawa en route home. Next week, he plans a two-day trip to Paris.

In Washington, White House officials said they had no reason to question the official explanation of Yeltsin’s departure from Moscow.

Times staff writer Douglas Jehl in Washington contributed to this report.