During a press conference in England, Yeltsin delivers incoherent statements. In Berlin for celebrations marking the withdrawal of the last Russian troops from Germany, Yeltsin stumbles after a champagne lunch, seizes a conductor's baton to direct an oompah band, grabs a microphone and begins singing. On a refueling stop in Shannon, Ireland, Yeltsin fails to get off his plane to meet Irish Prime Minister Albert Reynolds.
Some aides say there was a mixup.
Yeltsin says he overslept. His press secretary, Sergei Yastrzhembsky, quickly explains that what Yeltsin really meant was that Russia was NOT unilaterally cutting back its nuclear weapons. Yeltsin also mistakenly identifies Germany and Japan as countries with nuclear weapons, and says Russia wouldn't sign the treaty banning landmines, contradicting an earlier commitment. His aides later clarify that Russia would not launch a retaliatory attack against the United States as a result of the Iraq crisis. Boris Yeltsin's Recent Medical History November 1987 - Hospitalized for several days with chest pains after his ouster as Moscow Communist Party boss.