Moscow - President Yeltsin yesterday cancelled all engagements to recover from what aides describe as a bad cough. The Russian president appeared ill and disoriented during a state visit to central Asia, which he cut short on Monday.
The Moscow press, usually respectful of Mr Yeltsin, boldly braced itself for the president's death and called his performance abroad - the first since last May - a national humiliation.
"We do not foresee a resignation by Mr Yeltsin for health reasons," the Kremlin spokesman, Mr Dmitry Yakushkin, said.
