Yeltsin hospitalized for bleeding ulcer

By Mitchell Landsberg, Associated Press writer

MOSCOW -- Russian President Boris Yeltsin was hospitalized yesterday for at least the fifth time since his 1996 re-election, this time for what the Kremlin described as an acute bleeding ulcer.

Yeltsin was in stable condition at the Central Clinical Hospital, his press service said. His press secretary, Dmitri Yakushkin, described the president as "cheerful" and said he was expected to be hospitalized for "the next few days."

The latest health setback was sure to intensify calls for Russia's first democratically elected president to resign. The next presidential election is scheduled for next year, but many leading political figures have called for early elections, arguing Yeltsin is not capable of leading the country out of its severe economic crisis.

As recently as Saturday, Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov said Yeltsin should consider calling early elections. Luzhkov, a nationalist and longtime Yeltsin ally, is considered by many people to be the strongest potential candidate for the presidency.

If Yeltsin were to die, become disabled or resign, Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov would assume the presidency for three months until elections could be held. With Yeltsin sidelined, Primakov has handled many presidential duties since his appointment in September.

House Speaker Gennady Seleznyov urged Yeltsin yesterday to give Primakov power over the police, army and Foreign Ministry during his illness, the Interfax news agency reported. However, the Kremlin said Yeltsin would turn over none of his powers.

The White House was aware of Yeltsin's latest health problem, said spokesman P.J. Crowley. "We hope for a speedy recovery," he said.

Yeltsin, 67, has been ill repeatedly in recent years. His health has appeared to be in decline since he suffered multiple heart attacks during his 1996 re-election campaign.

He underwent quintuple heart bypass surgery later in 1996. Since then, he has suffered several serious respiratory ailments, including two bouts of pneumonia, the most recent in late November and early December.

According to Yakushkin, Yeltsin had several meetings Saturday that ended late in the day. "He felt normal after the meetings," Yakushkin told a Russian television station. "Today, his condition deteriorated and the doctors decided that hospitalization was necessary."

Yakushkin quoted Yeltsin's doctor, Sergei Mironov, as saying the attack was probably brought on by "a combination of factors," including stress.

"During the next week, a new examination will be carried out, and it will indicate how long the treatment will last and, second, whether or not the president needs to undergo surgery," Yakushkin said.

Dr. German Basner, a prominent surgeon in Moscow who has not been treating Yeltsin, speculated the ulcer was caused from taking aspirin daily, a common treatment for heart patients to prevent arterial blockages.

"There is no need for an operation," Basner said, according to the ITAR-Tass news agency. "The ulcer will be sealed and heal quickly."

Dr. Anthony Kalloo, chief of gastrointestinal endoscopy at Johns Hopkins University Hospital in Baltimore, agreed surgery is unlikely. He said the vast majority of ulcer cases are treated with endoscopic therapy, in which a telescopic device is inserted through the mouth into the stomach.

Yeltsin underwent a diagnostic procedure yesterday involving an endoscope, the Kremlin press service said.

Kalloo said most ulcer patients recover quickly and are unlikely to relapse. However, he said, "If you have underlying medical problems, you might not do as well as a younger, healthier person might."

He also said blood loss from an ulcer could aggravate an underlying heart condition.

Dr. Michael DeBakey, the Houston heart surgeon who observed Yeltsin's bypass surgery, predicted the president would recover in about a week.

Yeltsin has been keeping a low profile for months, spending almost all his time at his country residence in the woods just outside Moscow. He canceled plans to go to his Kremlin office Thursday and Friday, although aides insisted at the time that it had nothing to do with his health.

He was scheduled to go to France for an official visit on Jan. 28, but that trip appears threatened now. "It is possible that the visit will be postponed," Yakushkin said.

Yeltsin's last foreign trip, to Central Asia in October, was cut short by bronchitis. Later that month, he canceled a trip to Austria, again because of poor health.

His frequent illnesses, which have made him a part-time president for much of his second term, have fueled calls for his resignation.

In October, the upper house of parliament, which has consistently supported Yeltsin's government, voted 79-18 in favor of a resolution demanding his resignation. The lower house of parliament, which has staunchly opposed him, has been holding impeachment proceedings against him.