Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev has skipped an annual meeting of Nobel Peace Prize laureates because he is receiving treatment at a German hospital.
Gorbachev's spokesman, Vladimir Polyakov, said on Monday doctors have told the former Soviet leader not to interrupt the treatment. He did not provide details.
Polyakov says "this is not an emergency" and "you should not forget that he is 82".
The 13th annual meeting is being held in Poland to mark 30 years since former Polish President Lech Walesa was awarded the prize for leading Solidarity movement that toppled communism in Poland. The meetings were initiated by Gorbachev in 2000.
Iran's Shirin Ebadi, former South Africa President Frederik de Klerk and the Dalai Lama are among the participants.
