Yeltsin, Under Fire From Foes, Stays In Hospital

Interfax news agency quoted top US cardiologist Michael DeBakey as saying doctors would meet on Wednesday to decide when and whether to operate on the 65-year-old Russian president.

DeBakey, who conducted the world's first successful bypass surgery, will join the team of doctors advising the president, but is not expected to participate in the operation itself.

Yeltsin said earlier this month that he had agreed to have a heart operation. He has been in hospital for the last 10 days and doctors have expressed concern about whether he is fit enough to undergo surgery.

Top Russian surgeon Renat Akchurin suggested at the weekend that the operation might be delayed for six to eight weeks