MOSCOW -- Returning to work for a mere three hours, Boris Yeltsin fired most of his top aides Monday and said he was assuming control of two key government agencies. The shakeup removed several aides who had publicly questioned the Russian president's health.
Afterward, Yeltsin went back to the government hospital where he has been staying for the past two weeks."You can see how vigorous I am," Yeltsin was quoted by presidential spokesman Dmitry Yakushkin as telling the aides.
The 67-year-old president will remain in the hospital as long as necessary to fully recuperate from pneumonia, Yakushkin said.
The president has said almost nothing about Russia's deepening economic problems, yet he remains extremely sensitive to any suggestions that he's not fit to govern.