ANOTHER SHOT AT CIS CUSTOMS UNION.

The chairman of Russia’s State Committee for Customs, Anatoly Kruglov, on October 24 came out against President Boris Yeltsin’s promise that value-added taxes on exports within the CIS Customs Union would henceforth be levied in the country of destination. Made by Yeltsin at the Customs Union’s October 22 summit, that promise had been hailed by the CU’s other three members — Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Belarus — as the solution to the union’s impasse. Opposition from the CU’s executive chief, Nigmatzhan Isingarin, Russia’s Finance Ministry, and now Russia’s Customs Committee throws the future of the Customs Union once again into doubt. (Russian agencies, October 24; see Monitor, October 23-24)

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