THE US Vice President, Mr Al Gore, quashed doubts about the Russian President's health yesterday, saying he found Mr Yeltsin in "very good spirits" during talks at a rest home near Moscow. The talks covered the Chechnya crisis and disarmament.
Meanwhile in Chechnya, at least 13 civilians were killed, many of them burned alive by Russian soldiers during a massive military offensive on the outskirts of Grozny, the Republic's pro-Moscow government said yesterday.
Mr Gore, speaking after a one hour meeting with the Russian president, said he had "a very enjoyable and productive conversation" with Mr Yeltsin (65), who had abruptly postponed a meeting with him on Monday.
"Mr Yeltsin was in very good spirits," Mr Gore said, adding that they had held an in depth discussion on matters concerning Russia and the US "and issues around the world".
However, a journalist who accompanied Mr Gore on his trip described the difference in Mr Yeltsin's appearance is striking. "The man I saw in April was full of vigour. The man I saw yesterday had a hard time walking," he said. "His head staring at the floor, Mr Yeltsin clearly was concentrating intently on walking perhaps in the hope of keeping his muscles from tightening up.
Asked why the meeting was postponed on Monday at the last minute, Mr Gore said. "It's not unprecedented for a head of state to move a meeting from one day to the next. The subject never came up during the talks."
The meeting, which was also attended by the Russian Prime Minister, Mr Viktor Chernomyrdin, took place at a rest home in Barvikha near Moscow where Mr Yeltsin recovered from a mild heart attack last October.
The Kremlin announced on Monday that Mr Yeltsin had gone to Barvikha for two week holiday to recover his strength after the exertions of the presidential elections.
Mr Yeltsin told Mr Gore the Election campaign was "very tense" and he was "very tired" after making trips to more than 30 regions of Russia in the run up to the crucial vote on July 3rd.
Mr Yeltsin not only rested at Barvikha last year after his second bout of heart trouble in four months, but also spent several days at the country residence before the July 3rd second round vote, in which he beat the Communist challenger, Mr Gennady Zyuganov.
The Kremlin said that during Mr Yeltsin's current two week vacation doctors planned to give him a full medical examination. However, a Kremlin spokesman insisted that the president was in good health.
Mr Yeltsin would continue working on official documents, he said, and would hold meetings with senior officials, go on walks, swim and perhaps play tennis and hunt in the woods.
The Chechen government yesterday accused a "war party" in Moscow of trying to torpedo the peace process in advance of a visit there by the new Kremlin security commander, Gen Alexdander Lebed.
Rebel leaders said 25 civilians were killed. "Russian soldiers' have begun exterminating the Chechen people in an unprecedented barbaric and cruel way," they said in a communique.
In one incident, Russian troops, "fired point blank on cars and civilians" in a Grozny suburb. "Those who tried to flee were caught and shot at by armoured vehicles or bayonetted to death. Others were burned alive."
The action, allegedly carried out by "mercenaries" in two Russian vehicles, caused 19 deaths, including 10 people burned alive.
In nearby Pervomayskaya, a similar attack caused six deaths. One witness quoted by the pro-Moscow Chechen interior ministry said soldiers had poured petrol over the wounded and set them on fire.
The spokesman of the official administration, Mr Ruslan Martagov, said a "war party" in Russia was responsible for the escalation.
"These inhuman murders of civilians near Grozny on the eve of a meeting of the state commission for the regulation of the conflict and ahead of a visit expected here by the Russian Security Council Secretary, Mr Alexander Lebed, proves the existence in Russia of a war party," the spokesman said.
Tension has been high in Grozny since Russian forces unleashed a major air and land offensive against pro-rebel villages in southern Chechnya a week ago, shattering a ceasefire that had held for six weeks.
Only a week after President Yeltsin's re-election, Russian forces launched an all out assault against rebel strongholds aimed at crushing all organised resistance and destroying the separatists' command structure.
The Russian Interior Minister, Mr Anatoly Kulikov, earlier yesterday defended Moscow's massive operation against the rebels, saying they had to be wiped out.