Date: Mon, 23 Nov 1998 From: Fred Weir in Moscow MOSCOW (HT Nov 23) -- In what has become a familiar occurrence of late, Russian President Boris Yeltsin was rushed to the hospital Monday. His spokesman said he is suffering from pneumonia. The Kremlin was quick to downplay this latest in a string of health problems for the 67-year old leader. Mr. Yeltsin's spokesman said the President was not too ill to fulfill his duties, and that he met in the hospital Monday afternoon with visiting Chinese President Jiang Zemin. But analysts say the depressing downward spiral of Mr. Yeltsin's health is taking a toll on Russia's fragile political stability. In recent months the ailing President has appeared rarely in public, and even on those occasions has seemed stilted, feeble and disoriented. "The president is no longer the president. It is clear he can no longer fulfill his functions," says Viktor Kremeniuk, an analyst at the Institute of Canada-USA Studies in Moscow. "This is yet another demonstration of how central the president is in Russia's Constitutional system," he says. "Without Yeltsin on the job, nothing gets done. So his illness is worsening our social and political crisis -- as he goes, so goes the country." Mr. Yeltsin had open-heart surgery two years ago, and has since been regularly sidelined by what his aides call minor illnesses. But Russia's political and economic crisis is growing critical. Without a strong President at the helm, the country appears to be drifting into a harsh and turbulent winter. The government of Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov has restored a semblance of stability following a near meltdown of the economy in August, but has not enacted any comprehensive program to extract Russia from its crisis. The apparently political murder of a leading liberal lawmaker, Galina Staravoitova, at the weekend has greatly heightened tensions and left many Russians convinced the country is headed for catastrophe and the return of dictatorship. "Extremists are already banging on the gates of power," says Mr. Kremeniuk. "Primakov has very little time to do something, and the chances of escaping collapse are getting worse every day." -- Gregory Schwartz Department of Political Science York University 4700 Keele St. Toronto, Ontario M3J 1P3 Canada tel: (416) 736-5265 fax: (416) 736-5686