Yeltsin Hospitalized as Surgery Is Delayed

Ailing Russian President Boris N. Yeltsin was hospitalized Saturday for what his spokesman described as routine testing before a heart bypass operation, but the apparent delay of the surgery has given rise to fresh concern that the president’s condition could be worsening.

The 65-year-old president will spend the weekend at the Central Clinical Hospital for “preoperative examinations,” spokesman Sergei V. Yastrzhembsky said.

He and other Kremlin officials insisted that the hospitalization had been planned and in no way reflected a deterioration in Yeltsin’s condition.

“We are not talking about a sudden rush to the hospital. He is there for tests and examination,” said Igor Ignatiyev, head of the president’s press office.

But the announcement last week that foreign heart specialists would be invited to consult with Russian cardiologists on the forthcoming operation and indications that the surgery is unlikely before October have prompted speculation that complications are expected in the procedure.

“It may be that his condition has deteriorated to the point where he has to be in the hospital under constant doctor’s supervision,” said Vladislav L. Ovchinnikov, a cardiologist at Moscow’s Sklifosovsky Emergency Clinic.

Another possibility, the heart specialist said, is that additional treatment may be needed to make sure Yeltsin is strong enough for the operation.

Yastrzhembsky, however, said that Yeltsin will remain in the hospital only a few days.

Yeltsin told Russian television viewers in an unusually frank address Sept. 5 that he would undergo surgery later this month to correct a constriction of blood flow to the heart known as myocardial ischemia.

Kremlin officials now say the date, hospital and operating team will not be decided until after a Sept. 27-29 cardiologists conference in Moscow.

It was announced last week that two German heart surgeons will consult with those operating on Yeltsin, and Kremlin medical chief Sergei Mironov disclosed that pioneering American cardiologist Michael DeBakey will also be invited to advise and observe during the operation.

Although few details have been disclosed about the planned surgery, a former associate of DeBakey’s, Rinat Akchurin of the Moscow Cardiac Research Center, is most often named as the likely head of Yeltsin’s surgical team.

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Yeltsin signed a decree Monday deeding control of defense and security matters to Prime Minister Viktor S. Chernomyrdin during his operation and convalescence. But the president retains the “nuclear button” needed along with two other top-security devices to launch nuclear missiles.

Chernomyrdin convened a meeting Saturday of top Kremlin officials to discuss the next steps in shoring up a truce with separatist rebels in Chechnya.

The meeting was newsworthy more for its participants than its decisions because it brought together the three men considered rivals in the struggle to become Yeltsin’s successor: Chernomyrdin, security chief Alexander I. Lebed and Kremlin chief of staff Anatoly B. Chubais.

The three joined forces to reiterate that the breakaway southern republic must remain part of Russia despite the Aug. 31 peace agreement that leaves the sovereignty issue unresolved for five years.