(13 Oct 1998) Russian/Nat
Russian President Boris Yeltsin could be out sick for a few more days.
A spokesman says the leader - whose health problems have been a matter of speculation for years - will be at his country home all week.
While aids say he has bronchitis, some observers say his health it too perilous and it is time for him to step down.
It's the latest health scare for Russian President Boris Yeltsin.
The Kremlin's corridors will not see Yeltsin until at least the end of the week.
The public was originally told he had a cold.
Now, say his doctors, it is tracheal bronchitis.
Regardless of which illness Yeltsin really has - many observers from the press say it is time for the ailing leader to step down.
Yeltsin was forced to cut short a trip to central Asia after he caught a cold and was obviously in a bad physical condition.
His press secretary Dmitry Yakushkin said Yeltsin would probably insist on doing some work in his country residence.
SOUNDBITE (Russia)
He has been advised to cut back on his workload by the doctors, that is to stay at home. He won't be at work today and I doubt that Boris Nikolaevich will have any working meetings this week. He has a cold and he needs to rest like any ordinary person."
SUPERCAPTION: Dmitry Yakushkin, Yeltsin's Spokesman
Even so, the press have gone wild speculating what might really be going on with the ailing leader.
Rumours about possible illnesses from heart attacks to Alzheimer's disease are swirling around Moscow.
Commentators like chief editor of Moscow daily Nezavisimaya Gazeta say its time for Yeltsin to give up his role as head of state.
The Russian president, says Tretyakov, should go into hospital for treatment and hand over authority to prime minister Yevgeny Primakov.
SOUNDBITE: (Russian)
"Now it's obvious that his condition is so serious that strictly speaking Boris Yeltsin cannot carry out his obligations as head of state, especially of one so complex and large with nuclear weapons and currently in such a political and financial crisis.
SUPERCAPTION: Vitaly Tretyakov, Editor Nezavisimaya Gazeta
The Kremlin has lost credibility by offering only limited, and sometimes blatantly inaccurate, information on the president's health.
The most serious offense occurred shortly before Yeltsin's 1996 re-election, when the president vanished and the official line was that he had a sore throat.
It was a heart attack, his doctors later conceded.
Against this backdrop, Kremlin reports on Yeltsin's health are treated with deep scepticism.
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