(Adds Kremlin spokeswoman)
MOSCOW, Aug 15 (Reuters) - President Boris Yeltsin has
returned to the Moscow area to continuing a vacation which poor
fishing in the northern lakes has rearranged but turmoil in
Russia's financial markets will not be allowed to disrupt, the
Kremlin said on Saturday.
"He's just come to vacation in a different place. As he said
yesterday he was not catching good fish, just little ones," said
spokeswoman Ludmila Krylova.
Yeltsin travelled on Saturday from the Valdai region of
northwest Russia to his Rus hunting lodge, 100 km (60 miles)
northwest of Moscow, a short helicopter ride from the Kremlin.
"He will carry out the rest of his holiday there. It
apparently will be until the end of next week," the spokeswoman
said.
During a short visit to Novgorod on Friday Yeltsin
complained about the poor fishing he had experienced during the
last month on vacation. The weather in the area was rainy with
an early autumn chill.
"It's been raining and there are few fish. They were so
small," he said, extending two fingers to demonstrate the puny
size of his catches.
The Russian president, who appeared confused at times on
Friday and had trouble recognising a close aide at one point,
was adamant about not interrupting his holiday because of recent
sharp falls on Russian markets.
"I definitely should not come back (to Moscow) now," Yeltsin
said. "That would signify that there was turmoil, that would
signify that there was a disaster and that everything was
collapsing," he said.
U.S. President Bill Clinton who urged Yeltsin by telephone
on Friday to act quickly to stem the turmoil, which sent share
prices tumbling and treasury bill yields soaring, sparking fears
for the fragile banking system.
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