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Ex-president Yeltsin says he gives Russia stability
MINSK, June 22 (Reuters) - Former president Boris Yeltsin said on Saturday that he remained active in Russian public affairs and helped guarantee the country's stability.
Yeltsin, speaking in Belarus, also restated his backing for an accord proposing a merger between the two ex-Soviet states despite reservations by his successor, Vladimir Putin.
In comments broadcast by Russia's NTV television, he said he was in fine shape and regularly met leaders guiding the country since he stepped down unexpectedly on New Year's Eve 1999.
"During my presidency I withstood five, yes five, heart attacks plus heart surgery. And I remain active -- mentally, physically and emotionally," he said alongside Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko in Brest on the Polish border.
"I have meetings every day, with ministers -- the government, with (Russian Prime Minister Mikhail) Kasyanov, Putin -- all the time. It is like being a guarantor of stability."
Lukashenko, who expresses nostalgia for Soviet times and is accused by the West of running roughshod over his opponents, nodded agreement. The Belarussian leader has differed openly with Putin over the "union treaty" in the last two weeks, with the Kremlin leader refusing to back the pact unconditionally.
Yeltsin and Lukashenko were marking the 61st anniversary of Nazi Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union at the Brest fortress, which held out for a month before falling.
A relaxed Yeltsin said Russia and Belarus should back the pact and "strive for a strong union in economic, political and then constitutional terms. We must not shun such a policy."
He said he was "looking after myself," exercising daily, and had lost 20 kg (44 pounds) in recent months.
Yeltsin, who signed the first treaty on the merger with Lukashenko in 1996, arrived in Minsk on Friday with pledges to smooth over differences between the two presidents.
Moscow and Minsk have signed several agreements on a merged state and set up institutions to underpin it, including a common currency. But terms on implementing the treaty remain vague.
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