ONE of the strongest images portrayed by President Yeltsin during his re-election campaign was that he was a "new man" who had broken with his old ways and was prepared vigorously to work again for reform. The latest episode in which US Vice President Mr Al Gore was snubbed points to a return to old ways.
It also raises further questions as to the health of a President who, with one brief exception, has not been seen in public since June 29th.
Mr Gore who, it is understood, was due to express US concern at the resumption of full scale hostilities in Chechnya, the direct opposite of what Mr Yeltsin had promised his electorate, was visibly annoyed yesterday when told that his meeting in the Kremlin had been postponed, just an hour before it was due to take place.
The postponement, at such short notice, was particularly surprising as the Clinton administration in Washington has been one of the most supportive governments of Mr Yeltsin's position. Mr Gore abruptly told reporters that his meeting had been called off and when asked to elaborate gave the curt reply "You have had my comment."
The meeting has been rescheduled for today at the Barvikha sanatorium complex outside Moscow where Mr Yeltsin cast his vote in the second round of the presidential elections as world media representatives bad been herded to a polling station in Krylatskoye in western Moscow.
At that time the official explanation was that Mr Yeltsin was suffering from no more than a sore throat and yesterday Kremlin officials stressed that Mr Yeltsin was not ill but suffering from some tiredness alter a gruelling campaign.
But to call off a meeting with the Vice President of the US at such extremely short notice justifiably raises doubts as to Mr Yeltsin's fitness.
There has been a long list of previous occurrences in which Mr Yeltsin has surprised foreign dignitaries by his absence and sometimes, by his behaviour when he did show up. The former Taoiseach, Mr Albert Reynolds, the president of the International Olympic Committee, and the former US secretary of the treasury, Mr Lloyd Bentsen, have been victims of "no-shows" by Mr Yeltsin.
In March 1993 a dishevelled Mr Yeltsin spoke in parliament slurring his words and in August 1994 in Berlin he turned in a remarkable performance by attempting to conduct a German police band while singing a band was playing.
Mr Yeltsin has been hospitalised twice in the past year with heart trouble while reports from two retired Russian diplomats in March 1994 that he was suffering from cirrhosis of the liver were denied by officials.
His periodic disappearing acts have often been accompanied by hard line actions, prompting suspicions that shadowy forces have been at work in the Kremlin. On this occasion the Chechen war has resumed with renewed brutality including the bombing of the town of Gekhi with the reported loss of up to 300 civilian lives.
Following two bombings of trolley buses in Moscow, up to 6,000 people have been detained because they were considered to be "acting suspiciously".
In a separate development yesterday Mr Yeltsin appointed Mr Anatoly Chubais as his Chief of Staff. Mr Chubais, a former privatisation minister, was sacked last year but re-emerged as a leading Yeltsin election campaigner.
The sackings of three close associates of Mr Yeltsin between the first and second rounds of the elections were announced by Mr Chubais who was then tipped for high office.
But the Kremlin, aware of his extreme unpopularity as the man who oversaw the transfer of state property, often into the hands of former communist officials denied that Mr Chubais would be given an important job in the administration.
