December 1, 1999
Web posted at: 5:49 a.m. EST (1049 GMT)

MOSCOW (AP) -- President Boris Yeltsin's temperature was back to normal Wednesday and he worked on government business from a hospital where he is being treated for pneumonia, the Kremlin said.

Presidential spokesman Dmitry Yakushkin said Yeltsin reviewed and signed a package of documents, including a decree on a one-time "compensation" payment to Russian pensioners, the Interfax news agency reported.

Russia's struggling retirees have seen their meager pensions further lose their value to soaring inflation following a financial crisis in August 1998, and most now live below the poverty line. Yakushkin did not say how much the payment would be, or when it would be paid.

Yeltsin, 68, fell ill last Thursday with what the Kremlin described as a viral infection and acute bronchitis.

Doctors ordered him to the Central Clinical Hospital for treatment Monday after suspecting he had come down with pneumonia. Yeltsin was still undergoing treatment Wednesday, Yakushkin said, adding that his condition was stable.

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Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said Tuesday that Yeltsin was in satisfactory condition and remained on top of government affairs.

Yeltsin was feeling well enough Tuesday for a 20-minute talk on the phone with visiting Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, and confirmed plans to visit the city of Bethlehem in early January as part of year 2000 Orthodox Christmas celebrations.

Yeltsin's frequent illnesses have often prompted him to cancel or put off his foreign trips at the last minute.

Russians have long been accustomed to the president's ailments, and the latest illness was not expected to have a major impact on domestic politics.

During the past few years, Yeltsin has been twice hospitalized with pneumonia and frequently been treated for respiratory infections. He underwent quintuple bypass surgery in November 1996 and suffered a bleeding ulcer earlier this year.

Yeltsin insists he remains strong enough to fulfill his duties, even though he rarely puts in a full week at his Kremlin office.

Copyright 1999   The Associated Press. All rights reserved.