Yeltsin Surgery Date to Be Secret, U.S. Cardiologist Says

Kremlin officials have been instructed by Boris N. Yeltsin’s daughter to keep the timing of the Russian president’s heart bypass operation a secret until after the surgery, American cardiologist Michael DeBakey said Friday.

The disclosure by the heart surgery pioneer shed light on recent squirming by Yeltsin’s spokesman and top aides over how, when and whether Russians will be told that their leader has been rendered unconscious and gone under the knife.

“I’ve already been informed that Tatyana [Dyachenko], Yeltsin’s daughter, has asked that no press release be made until after the operation is over,” DeBakey said in a telephone interview from his office at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. “I think it’s unrealistic for them to believe they can keep the operation date a secret. There’s too many people involved and no way there won’t be a leak.”

Dyachenko, 36, has come under Russian media fire in recent weeks in her capacity as liaison between her father and the Kremlin administration. Although there is no evidence to support claims that she is trying to influence political decisions in Yeltsin’s absence, Dyachenko has taken on responsibility for her father’s personal affairs, such as the heart operation, while her mother recovers from recent surgery.

Dyachenko’s reported intervention to stifle Kremlin officials, who have been unprecedentedly open--by Russian standards--about their leader’s health, seemed sure to provoke more criticism once Yeltsin’s political opponents get wind of it.

DeBakey said he had long experience with the futility of keeping the players in a major operation mum.

“We’ve had high-profile people here that we’ve admitted under another name and taken all precautions, and still, I’ve always had some reporter calling to find out the details within half an hour,” the 88-year-old surgeon recalled with a tone of amusement.

Despite his doubts about the wisdom and effectiveness of trying to keep Yeltsin’s operation a secret, DeBakey indicated that he will abide by his Russian medical colleagues’ wishes even as he tries to talk them out of it.

“It’s stupid to think you can keep this a secret,” said DeBakey, who plans to arrive in Moscow on Sunday to be on hand for the operation. “It’s so much better to be open, honest and truthful.”

Dyachenko has acted as liaison between the Yeltsin family and the Kremlin administration since the president left office days after his July 3 reelection for treatment at the Barvikha state sanatorium and the Kremlin hospital.

A senior Kremlin official acknowledged that Dyachenko has “gotten quite involved in things related to the upcoming surgery.”

He declined to say whether advance word will be issued about Yeltsin’s operation, hinting that the issue is still being debated.

Presidential spokesman Sergei V. Yastrzhembsky also danced around direct questions about the surgery date at his briefing Friday.

Asked if the press would be informed “before the start of the operation,” a clearly uncomfortable Yastrzhembsky replied: “There will be information for the press about the start of the operation.”

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A team of cardiologists is expected to convene Monday to discuss Yeltsin’s condition and establish when the surgery should be done. But recommendations of that medical team are unlikely to be disclosed in much--if any--detail, the senior Kremlin source said, partly out of concern that unscrupulous political opponents might take advantage of the president’s incapacity and attempt a coup.

“Our first concern is that the operation be successful,” the official said. “Anything else is secondary, or even less important.”

He said the global media spotlight on the Yeltsin family and doctors “exerts a lot of pressure on those involved” but expressed understanding of the worldwide attention.

Yeltsin broke new ground in openness by officials here when he announced Sept. 5 that he would undergo an operation and temporarily hand over power to Prime Minister Viktor S. Chernomyrdin.

But the pull of tradition has been strong lately, as Kremlin officials give increasingly vague answers about the surgery and deflect inquiries--raising further questions.

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In a country still struggling through the withering transition from communism to a market economy, stability and prosperity hang in the balance as the 65-year-old president with a lifetime of health problems prepares for the triple or quadruple bypass.

Russia’s Constitution specifies that the prime minister takes over for up to three months in the event of the president’s death or incapacitation but would then be obliged to hold presidential elections.

Chernomyrdin could be expected to carry through with the watershed reforms that have been executed under Yeltsin, but he is believed to be too unpopular and distrusted to win any free and fair election.

He would also face strong challenges from Gennady A. Zyuganov, the Communist Party leader Yeltsin defeated in July, and from Alexander I. Lebed, the recently sacked but still widely popular former Security Council chief.

There are also rumors that Anatoly B. Chubais, Yeltsin’s chief of staff, also harbors presidential ambitions and is aligned with Dyachenko in acting as regent while Yeltsin is out sick.

A victory by the Communists, or even by the unpredictable Lebed, could bring market reforms to a halt and scare off foreign investors.