Yeltsin's RI visit postponed

Yeltsin's RI visit postponed

MOSCOW (AFP): The Kremlin yesterday confirmed that Russian President Boris Yeltsin's visit to Indonesia, planned for mid- April, had been postponed until later in 1998 or 1999.

Kremlin spokesman Sergei Yastrzhembsky gave no reason for the postponement, the Itar-Tass news agency reported.

He said that both sides had agreed to put the visit off until later.

Several of Yeltsin's overseas trips planned for the start of the year were canceled following the president's two-week stay in hospital for an acute chest infection.

His first overseas visit this year was to Italy in early February.

Yeltsin, 67, on Tuesday called for an end to the speculation on the state of his health, stressing that a recent medical inspection showed that he was fighting fit.

The visit to Jakarta would mark the first made by a Russian leader since that made by Soviet premier Nikita Khruschev in 1960.