In the coming weeks Yeltsin's handlers will get even more mileage out of their new stock phrase: "The president is working at home with his papers." In other countries this might indicate imminent retirement and the readying of materials for a presidential archive. Not in Russia. "Despite his feeble health, Yeltsin's supporters are talking about him running again in 2000," says Quinn-Judge. "And he's sending out signals that he's not averse to the idea." Of course he isn't. He still has too much fun at those Politburo sessions with Comrade Brezhnev.
Back to Bed, Boris
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MOSCOW: Boris Yeltsin has another "cold" -- a term, says TIME Moscow bureau
chief Paul Quinn-Judge, that Kremlin flacks use for everything from
respiratory ailments to heart trouble. But even more troubling than the
state of the Russian president's body is the condition of his mind: "His
last trip overseas highlighted real problems of mental acuity," says
Quinn-Judge.