Past Russian President Boris Yeltsin will carry out "vigorous political and public activities as usual" after his early resignation on December 31 last year, said his former press secretary Dmitri Yakushkin in Moscow Monday. Yeltsin "will continue his contacts with politicians and high-ranking government officials at an informal level," Yakushkin said in the Echo of Moscow radio broadcast. Leading politicians will visit Yeltsin at his Gorky residence and the former president will retain an office in the Kremlin for normal work, said the senior ex-aide of Yeltsin. "There will be many meetings for there are many people who would wish to talk to the first Russian president," he said. "Informal meetings with politicians, ministers and administration officials are most likely to take place in the Kremlin, Gorky or somewhere else," said Yakushkin. Yeltsin is also planning to take trips across Russia and abroad, he said. According to the former Kremlin spokesman, Yeltsin now is feeling well and is in a light and elevated mood. Yeltsin believes this New Year holiday was "one of the luckiest " for him and his family, receiving many congratulatory phone calls from foreign, public, and political figures as well as from many Russian politicians. Yeltsin also received visits by Acting President Vladimir Putin and Defense Minister Igor Sergeyev during the New Year holiday, said Yakushkin. (Xinhua) |