Kremlin Names Surgeon For Yeltsin

The operation will take place at Moscows Cardiology Research Centre.A council of doctors, including Akchurin and US expert Michael DeBakey, was meeting on Monday to decide whether Yeltsin was fit for surgery, he said.

Yevgeny Chazov, head of the Cardiology Centre, and Sergei Mironov, head of the Kremlin medical centre, will also take part along with other top specialists.

It had been widely expected that the operation would be led by Akchurin, who trained in Houston under DeBakey, the 88-year-old patriarch of heart surgery.

DeBakey said last week he thought Yeltsins operation