YELTSIN SHOWN ON RUSSIAN TV.

Publication: Monitor Volume: 2 Issue: 219

President Boris Yeltsin made his first television appearance yesterday following his heart surgery two weeks ago. Looking thin and moving stiffly but speaking clearly and confidently, Yeltsin was seen walking on the hospital grounds with his wife Naina, younger daughter Tatyana Dyachenko, and granddaughter Masha. Yeltsin said his heart no longer hurts the way it did prior to his operation. His doctors say that the Russian president should be able to leave the hospital at the end of this week and transfer to a sanitarium close to Moscow. Yeltsin said he was "ready for action" and eager to return to work, and that he would ask all top official to "account for their actions" during his absence from the Kremlin. (Reuter, UPI, BBC World Service, November 20)

In an interview published yesterday in Izvestiya, Yeltsin’s wife acknowledged that Tatyana Dyachenko’s role on the presidential team is controversial. But she denied allegations that her daughter had made personnel appointments or played a role in issuing presidential decrees. "As long as Boris Nikolaevich works," Yeltsin’s wife said, "I’d like Tanya to help him. She’ll never deceive him. And she’ll tell him what others won’t." (Reuters, November 20)

Kadannikov Returns to VAZ.