The Telegraph - London - 10/09/98
By Marcus Warren in Moscow
A SENIOR Russian psychiatrist has for the first time dared to question in public the mental health of President Yeltsin.
Mikhail Vinogradov, a psychiatrist for 30 years, believes that Mr Yeltsin may be suffering from progressive senile dementia, or
Alzheimer's disease.
"The President is ill," he told The Telegraph. "He is not aware of his own actions and cannot control them." He stressed that this
was not a diagnosis, only an "assumption" based on watching the Russian leader on television.
Mr Vinogradov, head of the Moscow-based International Centre for Psychophysiology, is calling on Mr Yeltsin to undergo a mental
examination supervised by Russia's Constitutional Court. His comments break an important Russian taboo. Everybody suspects
that Mr Yeltsin is a sick man, but it is not a subject for public debate.
Although Mr Vinogradov claims that many colleagues share his views about Mr Yeltsin, his willingness to comment publicly on the
President's psychiatric state has provoked some unease.
Professor Alexander Goffman, of the Moscow Institute of Psychiatry, said: "It is very unethical and discourteous to speculate on the
health of someone one has not examined properly."
Officials react angrily to suggestions that Mr Yeltsin's state of health and mental acuity are less than satisfactory. All the same, his
appearances on television are now confined to brief glimpses of him greeting ministers in his Kremlin office. During his last
prolonged exposure to the cameras, President Clinton's visit a month ago, his performance was uncomfortable to watch.
Asked a direct question about Russia's political crisis during the summit press conference, Mr Yeltsin appeared dumbstruck,
pausing for more than 10 seconds before attempting a barely coherent response. "He used to stumble in answering questions but at
least made a joke of it," Mr Vinogradov said. "Now he often appears not even to understand the question.
"His walk and gesticulation have changed and his face has a mask-like expression, half-surprised, half-angry, with the eyes bulging.
Often the facial expression does not correspond to what he is trying to say."
Openly questioning the President's mental health is not a step Mr Vinogradov has taken lightly. "My family is more worried than I
am," he said. "I have no fears, although people have rung me up and warned me to be careful." |
