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Russia: Yeltsin Back In Kremlin On Monday


Moscow, 20 December 1996 (RFE/RL) - A Russian government spokesman said today President Boris Yeltsin will return to work at the Kremlin next Monday, six weeks after undergoing open heart surgery.

Yeltsin's press secretary, Sergei Yastrzhembsky, told a news conference today that the 65-year-old president is to return to Moscow during the weekend from the country residence outside the capital where he has been convalescing.

The spokesman says doctors recommend that for now Yeltsin not work too hard. Yeltsin, who has been largely absent from the Kremlin since he was re-elected for a second four-year term in July, underwent a quintuple heart bypass operation on November 5.

Yastrzhembsky, quoted by Interfax news agency, also said Yeltsin plans to make his first televised address to the nation since his operation later today.

He said Yeltsin's plans for his first days back at work included meetings with Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin, Kremlin chief-of-staff Anatoly Chubais and other senior officials.

Touching on problems in Russia's cash-strapped armed forces and with tax collection, Yastrzhembsky said Yeltsin would also attend meetings of the Defense Council and of a special tax commission, but did not say when the meeting would take place.
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