Moscow - A hospitalization forced former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev to skip a meeting of Nobel Peace Prize winners in Paris this week.

Russian eye doctors advised the 77-year-old former leader against the trip, the Interfax news agency reported on Thursday.

Gorbachev won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1990 for his work in democratizing the Soviet Union

A spokesman said Gorbachev might be able to leave the clinic in the next few days. (dpa)