Boris Yeltsin taken to hospital

Fears for Yeltsin's health dogged his period in office

MOSCOW, Russia -- Former Russian President Boris Yeltsin has been taken to hospital with what doctors believe is an "acute viral infection".

He is likely to spend his 70th birthday on Thursday in bed, one of his aide's has said.

Vladimir Shevchenko said Yeltsin was taken to the elite Central Clinical Hospital on the outskirts of Moscow with a high temperature.

"The doctors are doing what they have to do and they need to examine (Yeltsin's) health closely," Shevchenko said. "In any case this will take two or three days."

Yeltsin has largely fallen out of the public eye since his surprise resignation on January 31, 1999, staying at his country residence and working on his memoirs, recently published.

But the 70th birday of a man who steered Russia's transition from communism to capitalism in nine years of his rule is likely to become a major public event.

Yeltsin has a history of health problems, including a multiple heart bypass in 1996. Most of his last year in office he spent in the Central Clinical Hospital.

However his aides say he has had no health problems since his resignation.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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Books
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October 20, 2000

Kremlin
The Government of the Russian Federation
Britannica.com: Yeltsin, Boris

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