May 18, 1999
Web posted at: 11:24 a.m. EDT (1524 GMT)

MOSCOW (CNN) -- Kremlin officials on Tuesday denied a Spanish government report that ill health caused President Boris Yeltsin to cancel a meeting with the Spanish prime minister.

Despite the denials of the Spanish statement, the incident again raised questions about Yeltsin's health even as he tries to secure the confirmation of a new prime minister.

Spanish government spokesman Josep Pique said Tuesday that the meeting between Yeltsin and visiting Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar was canceled because the Russian leader "has bronchitis and is in bed."

But Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Yakushkin categorically denied the Spanish statement and told CNN's Jill Dougherty it was "utter nonsense."

Yeltsin was at his country residence at Rus, 75 miles (120 km) outside Moscow, the Kremlin said. Yeltsin aides denied that a meeting with Aznar was ever scheduled, although Kremlin aides had said Monday that the two leaders would meet and the session was listed on a schedule released by a news agency.

A Spanish government spokesman traveling with the Spanish prime minister told CNN that the two leaders had spoken for 45 minutes by telephone in lieu of the meeting, and called the discussion "frank and lively."

Yeltsin underwent a medical examination last Saturday for what Kremlin officials described as a "planned routine checkup." It had not been announced previously.

Yeltsin has a long history of health problems, including several heart attacks. There have been persistent questions about Yeltsin's ability to run the country because of his health, but he insists he can perform his duties.

The renewed questions about Yeltsin's health come at a particularly sensitive time, on the eve of the first vote by the lower house of Parliament, the Duma, on the nomination of Sergei Stepashin as prime minister. Yeltsin currently does not have a permanent prime minister and this raises serious constitutional issues.

By law, the prime minister takes over for three months, until new elections are held, if the president becomes incapacitated. CNN asked Yakushkin who would succeed the president if this should happen before a new prime minister is approved. Yakushkin declined to answer, saying there was "no basis" for speculating on such a thing. A senior official in the Constitutional Court told CNN that there is no definite answer, because the Constitution is unclear on that point.

Moscow Bureau Chief Jill Dougherty contributed to this report.

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