November 27, 1998
Web posted at: 3:45 p.m. EST (2045 GMT)

MOSCOW (CNN) -- The Kremlin on Friday acknowledged for the first time that President Boris Yeltsin had suffered "several mild heart attacks" while he was seeking re-election in 1996.

When Yeltsin fell ill during the 1996 campaign, his then-press secretary admitted that the president had suffered one heart attack, after first saying he was suffering only from a "sore throat."

But in a statement on Friday, Yeltsin Press Secretary Dmitri Yakushkin spoke in some of the frankest language ever used by the Kremlin about an incumbent leader.

Yakushkin said that a history of repeated heart attacks was "taking its toll" on the Russian president.

Doctors have long said that Yeltsin suffered a heart attack during the re-election campaign, and Russian media have also reported that he has had as many as five.

But Kremlin aides had so far gone to great lengths to portray Yeltsin's health in the best possible light -- a strategy that changed Friday.

"In 1996, the president was working through several heart attacks while carrying out a very active election campaign," Yakushkin said.

Yeltsin campaigning in 1996

The past ailments, combined with the "emotional, physical and psychological pressure endured by the president are taking its toll," and make it harder for Yeltsin to overcome routine illnesses, such as the flu, Yakushkin said.

Doctors and Yeltsin's aides previously made a point of saying that the frequent illnesses suffered by the 67-year old leader in the past two years were unrelated to his heart condition.

Yeltsin has been hospitalized since Sunday, undergoing treatment for pneumonia, the latest in a series of ailments that have raised concerns about his ability to serve out his term, which ends in 2000.

Yakushkin said Yeltsin's temperature was normal and his condition "satisfactory" on Friday. But he said doctors had told the president to stay in bed.

"He's partly bed-ridden, that means he spends some time in bed, but also moves around his room and works at the table," Yakushkin said, adding that the "president's activity has increased."

"He had several telephone conversations and considered several important documents," Yakushkin said.

Doctors banned Yeltsin from seeing visitors, fearing they may infect him with a flu virus going around the Russian capital, Yakushkin said.

The spokesman did not comment on when Yeltsin was expected to leave the hospital.

With Yeltsin hospitalized, Primakov is handling much of the day-to-day running of the country

Both Yakushkin and Yeltsin's first deputy chief of staff Oleg Sysuyev continued to insist that the president was capable of performing his duties until the end of his term.

Sysuyev dismissed suggestions that early presidential elections should be held, saying that would destabilize the nation.

In recent weeks, several prominent Yeltsin supporters have joined his opposition in urging him to step down early.

Yeltsin has rarely appeared in public in recent months, and has said little about the country's economic crisis, the worst in the post-Soviet era.

Yeltsin continues to support Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov but recently urged his Cabinet to work faster to deal with the crisis, Yakushkin said in an interview with Izvestia.

Moscow Bureau Chief Jill Dougherty and The Associated Press contributed to this report.