Pneumonia victim Yeltsin 'home next week'

Boris Yeltsin is recovering normally from pneumonia and should be home from the hospital early next week, an aide said today, denying speculation that the former Russian president’s condition had worsened dramatically.

Yeltsin was taken to hospital more than a month ago, on the eve of his 70th birthday, with what aides said was the flu. Doctors said the illness was complicated by pneumonia, but reported last week that he had almost recovered and would be home in days.

Vladimir Shevchenko, Yeltsin’s protocol chief, told the Interfax news agency that recent rumours that Yeltsin was in a coma or near death were 'absolutely groundless'.

Yeltsin, who resigned in December 1999, suffered repeated illnesses and was away from the Kremlin for weeks at a time during his second term in office. He underwent quintuple bypass surgery in 1996, and later fell ill with pneumonia, bronchitis and ulcers among other ailments.