After been rushed to hospital with a bleeding ulcer, it seems unlikely that President Yeltsin will be able to visit France as planned later this month.

It was to be his first scheduled trip abroad since one to Central Asia in October.

That trip was cut short by on doctor's orders, after he looked frail and confused in public appearances.

Earlier the same month there was intense speculation in Moscow that President Yeltsin's foreign travels had come to an end when he failed to attend an EU meeting in Vienna.

He never got off the plane in Ireland

As well as taking the strain off Mr Yeltsin, this was seen as a likely source of relief for his countrymen, given the embarrassment that the president caused on some of his foreign trips.

End of an era

It now seems highly unlikely that Mr Yeltsin will carry out another foreign trip.

Russians are embarrassed at Mr Yeltsin's displays

If this is the case, then it marks the end of an era in Russian foreign policy.

Mr Yeltsin's visits have generally been far from dull. He seemed to strike up a good rapport with other leaders, notably the former German Chancellor, Helmut Kohl, whom he visited in November 1991 on his first official visit as Russian president.

But the spectre of Mr Yeltsin's fondness for a drink has too often overshadowed his foreign visits. As far back as 1989, when Mr Yeltsin was still coming back from his ousting as head of the Communist Party in Moscow, he caused a stir on a visit to the USA.

His drinking bouts led the Italian newspaper, "La Repubblica", to accuse him of treating the US like "a bar 5,000 km long".

Low spot

In November 1992, Mr Yeltsin brought a large trade delegation with him on a state visit to Britain.

Boris Yeltsin shares a drink with George Bush in June 1992

The visit was deemed a success; but was rounded off by Mr Yeltsin attending the concluding news conference in a far from sober condition.

But the low spot - and the height of the Russian people's embarrassment with their president - came two years later. In August 1994, after a good lunch with Chancellor Kohl, President Yeltsin snatched the baton from the conductor of the Berlin police orchestra, and pretended to conduct them while blowing kisses to the crowd.

And a month later, he was unable to get off the presidential plane in Ireland for a meeting with the Irish president, following a trip to the USA.

More recently, it has been Mr Yeltsin's failing health which has been a source of great discomfort to his fellow countrymen, as he has been unsteady and confused on foreign trips.