Yeltsin to try Chinese treatments

Former Russian President Boris Yeltsin travelled to China today for a holiday and medical treatment based on traditional Chinese medicine.

Yeltsin, 70, was visiting China on the invitation of Chinese President Jiang Zemin.

After a brief stay in Beijing, Yeltsin, his wife Naina and daughter, Tatyana, were scheduled to travel to the port city of Dalian tomorrow, the ITAR-Tass news agency reported.

The Yeltsins will stay at a Communist Party and government retreat in Dalian, where the former Russian president will be put on a 12-day health regimen based on traditional medical methods, ITAR-Tass said. It did not specify what specific ailments the treatment would address.

Yeltsin has stayed largely out of public view since resigning unexpectedly on December 31 1999 and handing over power to his then-prime minister, Vladimir Putin.

Yeltsin has suffered repeated illnesses in recent years and was hospitalised for more than a month this year with pneumonia.