Moscow - The Russian President, Mr Boris Yeltsin (68), failed to attend a meeting with the Spanish Prime Minister, Mr Jose Maria Aznar, yesterday because he has bronchitis, a Spanish spokesman said.
Mr Yeltsin's press secretary, Mr Dmitry Yakushkin, declined to confirm or deny the report, although Interfax news agency said he had denied the President had bronchitis.
Mr Yakushkin said Mr Yeltsin was at his Rus residence near Moscow, and had met the Kremlin chief-of-staff, Mr Alexander Voloshin, there. He said Mr Yeltsin's schedule had never included a meeting with Mr Aznar, although Spanish officials said it had been on their schedule.
The confusion added to tension as the acting Prime Minister, Mr Sergei Stepashin, a loyal Yeltsin ally, met rival political groups in the Duma, the lower house of parliament, to seek their backing on the eve of a vote on whether to confirm him as prime minister.
