[PEN-L:472] Yeltsin is 'suffering senile dementia'

["Frank Durgin" <fdurgin1@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

                                         Yeltsin is 'suffering senile
dementia'
                                         By Marcus Warren in Moscow

                           Russia Today October 9, 1998 citing the
Eletronic Telegraph


                                         A SENIOR Russian psychiatrist has
for the first time dared
                                         to question in public the mental
health of President Yeltsin.

                                         Mikhail Vinogradov, a psychiatrist
for 30 years, believes
                                         that Mr Yeltsin may be suffering
from progressive senile
                                         dementia, or Alzheimer's disease.

                                         "The President is ill," he told
The Telegraph. "He is not
                                         aware of his own actions and
cannot control them." He
                                         stressed that this was not a
diagnosis, only an "assumption"
                                         based on watching the Russian
leader on television.

                                         Mr Vinogradov, head of the
Moscow-based International
                                         Centre for Psychophysiology, is
calling on Mr Yeltsin to
                                         undergo a mental examination
supervised by Russia's
                                         Constitutional Court. His comments
break an important
                                         Russian taboo. Everybody suspects
that Mr Yeltsin is a sick
                                         man, but it is not a subject for
public debate.

                                         Although Mr Vinogradov claims that
many colleagues
                                         share his views about Mr Yeltsin,
his willingness to
                                         comment publicly on the
President's psychiatric state has
                                         provoked some unease.

                                         Professor Alexander Goffman, of
the Moscow Institute of
                                         Psychiatry, said: "It is very
unethical and discourteous to
                                         speculate on the health of someone
one has not examined
                                         properly."

                                         Officials react angrily to
suggestions that Mr Yeltsin's state
                                         of health and mental acuity are
less than satisfactory. All
                                         the same, his appearances on
television are now confined to
                                         brief glimpses of him greeting
ministers in his Kremlin
                                         office. During his last prolonged
exposure to the cameras,
                                         President Clinton's visit a month
ago, his performance was
                                         uncomfortable to watch.

                                         Asked a direct question about
Russia's political crisis
                                         during the summit press
conference, Mr Yeltsin appeared
                                         dumbstruck, pausing for more than
10 seconds before
                                         attempting a barely coherent
response. "He used to stumble
                                         in answering questions but at
least made a joke of it," Mr
                                         Vinogradov said. "Now he often
appears not even to
                                         understand the question.

                                         "His walk and gesticulation have
changed and his face has
                                         a mask-like expression,
half-surprised, half-angry, with the
                                         eyes bulging. Often the facial
expression does not
                                         correspond to what he is trying to
say."

                                         Openly questioning the President's
mental health is not a
                                         step Mr Vinogradov has taken
lightly. "My family is more
                                         worried than I am," he said. "I
have no fears, although
                                         people have rung me up and warned
me to be careful."