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Yeltsin's illness won't derail Indo-Russian talks

The Indo-Russian summit in December will take place as scheduled even if President Boris Yeltsin remains unfit to travel to New Delhi, official sources said in Moscow.

All representative functions of the head of the state are likely to be transferred to Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov if the president's bad health continues.

Meanwhile, Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Georgi Karasin, who was in Delhi recently, said there would be joint declaration on strategic partnership at the summit. Moscow and Delhi will also sign eight long-term agreements on technical collaboration in defence, trade and economy, industry, finance and scientific fields.

These would be valid till 2010.

The Voice of Russia said the deputy foreign minister also discussed Indo-Pakistani relations and issues pertaining to nuclear weapons.

Meanwhile, Russia's highest court has said that Yeltsin cannot seek a third term as president. The constitution provides for a person to be elected head of the state only twice.

This finally settles the question whether Yeltsin is permitted to run for re-election in 2000. The constitutional court noted that the president himself has all but ruled out running for a third term.

A presidential aide said the court's decision was correct.

As a guarantor of the constitution, the president has repeatedly said he wouldn't run again. But some of his supporters argued that his first term should not count as it began in 1991, before the current constitution was adopted in 1993.

Yeltsin is currently recuperating from an illness at a resort in southern Russia.

"It is clear. The president said he wouldn't run again,'' Mikhail Mityukov, Yeltsin's envoy to the constitutional court, said after the verdict. "This case has been inspired by the political games ( in parliament).''

Alexi Zakharov, one of the lawmakers who asked the court to rule on the issue, said the decision was a victory for democracy. The verdict entrenches constitutional rule and prevents abuse of power. He praised Yeltsin for his contributions to democracy.

"We should thank the president. He was among those who gave us freedom. But he should leave on time, in accordance with the law, without provoking a riot, and let people use this freedom,'' said the liberal Yabloko faction member.

The president's critics have been saying that Yeltsin is not physically fit to run the country and should resign.

The president, however, had been insisting that he does not have any serious health problem and can serve out his tenure.

The court announcement came on the second anniversary of Yeltsin's quintuple heart bypass surgery, which sidelined him for months in 1996. The president has been ill several times since, and has been working only sporadically in recent months.

UNI

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