In Latest Retreat, Yeltsin Cancels Meetings

President Boris N. Yeltsin slipped deeper into the background of Russian rule Monday when his aides announced he was canceling even his hospital room meetings during a final phase of preparation for heart surgery.

The president’s latest retreat from the public limelight since his July reelection intensified concern that the 65-year-old leader is too frail to rule this country, although Kremlin officials insisted the work suspension was a routine step ahead of his bypass operation.

No firm date has yet been announced for the surgery beyond the vague recommendation of a panel of cardiologists more than a month ago that it should take place in mid- to late November.

Presidential spokesman Sergei V. Yastrzhembsky said Yeltsin will also refrain from his weekly sessions with Prime Minister Viktor S. Chernomyrdin--brief Tuesday rituals intended to keep the president informed of the actions taken and contemplated by his constitutionally designated stand-in.

Yeltsin issued a Sept. 10 decree ceding some presidential responsibilities to Chernomyrdin for the duration of his illness and has said he will pass on the rest of his powers, including control of the nuclear button, on the eve of his operation.

Although Yastrzhembsky declined to disclose specific information about Yeltsin’s health or the operation, he said it will not be carried out this week.

While Yeltsin remains secluded at the Barvikha spa and medical center in suburban Moscow, political jockeying for power continues in his absence--and despite recent moves to get rid of the most ambitious contenders for the role of Kremlin heir apparent.

Former Security Council chief Alexander I. Lebed has gone on vacation after being sacked for squabbling with the rest of the administration. But former KGB Gen. Alexander V. Korzhakov, his shadowy ally in a campaign to discredit Yeltsin and his entourage, continues to battle with the ailing leader in the public spotlight.

Korzhakov, who was fired as head of the Presidential Security Service in July, last week accused Anatoly B. Chubais, Yeltsin’s chief of staff, of running the country in the president’s absence and claimed that Yeltsin was in no condition to be in command.

Yeltsin struck back Monday by announcing that Korzhakov was being stripped of his military rank.